BY LIAM KEITH

Truman easily defeated a district opponent, opening the season with a 18-point win over Van Horn. Truman’s stars came out with junior Dallas Winda as well as seniors Gavin Mock and James Minks leading the way in scoring The team played extremely well defensively, grabbing 42 rebounds, while also holding Van Horn to a 41% field goal percentage. Fortunately, Truman won the turnover battle by having five less than Van Horn and also drew 26 fouls. Truman used their athleticism to capitalize off the fast break earning 22 transition points. 

The seniors showed out for the season opener with Jaeson Townsend and Deshawn Muldrew grabbing a collective 11 defensive boards. Minks, Mock, and Townsend combined for a collective 41 points. Junior Dallas Winda led the team with 18 points by shooting 56% from the floor and 72% from the line.  Make your free throws is a sentiment most teams preach, the whole team did solid in that department shooting 63% from the line, capitalizing off of the 26 fouls from Van Horn.

The standard with this team has been consistently shown year in and year out, coach Morefield has exemplified that this team is going to play clean basketball, and they have gotten less fouls and less turnovers since then. Though, their record last year wasn’t as appealing as they’d like they showed growth throughout, and this year’s results are the dividends of all of that growth through hard work. The talent on the team is so rich that even if the starters are struggling the bench can come and strongly influence the course of a game. They will be playing in the Phog Allen Classic tournament held at William Chrisman from November 30th to December 2nd, where how they perform will determine future opponents.