Saturday night was a hard fought cross town rivalry battle between the Wauwatosa East Red Raiders and the Wauwatosa West Trojans resulted in a 60 to 55 loss for the Trojans.

From the tip off, you could tell that the game was going to be fairly evenly matched. Our ball handling was superb, our defense was relentless, and a tight and in-your-face basketball kept the game close. Senior Reggie Cason and Junior Zach Veit contributed early, keeping the Trojans neck to neck with the Red Raiders.

The first quarter was everything the Trojans wanted, with a beautiful block by Zach Veit, West’s defense remained on their toes. The offense was explosive on both sides of the ball, it was a shootout. No team had the particular advantage from the looks of how the game was going, until the Trojans got into some foul trouble. The end of the first was kept close, however, 14-11 Trojans.

East just could not seem to convert on the fouls given to them, which allowed the Trojans to keep the game close. Tosa West had ice in their veins, knocking down shot after shot from Andre Carroll, Steffan Brown and Zach Veit. Three pointers from Reggie Cason and Rashaad Moore also contributed to the scoring barrage from West. East forward Nick Pridgeon closed the half with a dunk . Trojans headed into the half with a 30-27 lead.

Coming out of the second half, the Trojans had seemed to have lost their luster. Nobody seemed to be focused, and it seemed as though they were too comfortable with their three point lead.

The third quarter belonged to East, as they scored 18 points, and a phenomenal dunk by senior guard Sean Wheeler. While West scored a measly 6 points. The score, 45-36. The defense crumbled, and the offense haltered. The height of East was too much to overcome, and West struggled greatly with getting defensive rebounds. The wind was stricken from the Trojan’s sail swiftly.

The fourth quarter, the Trojans offense was kick started by multiple baskets from Andre Carroll, giving the team and the crowd a new life. A corner three from Steffan Brown brought the Trojans to within 2 with 2 minutes to go. Fouling East was West’s last option, and it did not go in their favor. East capitalized on most of their free throws, including two from forward Caleb Taylor, raising their lead even higher.

West seemed flustered throughout the second half, playing as though they were scared. But the mighty Trojans never quit. They played their hearts out until the very end. Although West lost this shootout battle, there is one word to describe their play: Gritty. Hard play until the final buzzer.

West still earned a spot in the playoffs as a fourth seed. We can hope that their playoff fate is better than that of this bitter rivalry game.