Senior Tommy Tyynismaa launches a three-point shot with a Saydel defender in his face, Tyynismaa made seven three-point shots on the night. PHOTO BY MACY WELSH

There is a new excitement surrounding the South Tama boys basketball program. With a whole new coaching staff and four of the nine varsity players new to either the high school level or coming back after years off, the Trojans look to start this highly anticipated season off right with a win against the Saydel Eagles.

It was a slow start to say the least for the South Tama boys as Saydel came out ready to go taking an early 13-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the Trojans were not going to give up that easily as senior Tommy Tyynismaa found his shot, hitting several three pointers in a row. This combined with the collective defensive effort by the Trojans helped them cut the Saydel lead to 29-17 going into halftime with some motivation.

That motivation paid off in a big way for the Trojans as they came out of the locker room on fire, looking like a whole different team. Tyynismaa continued to hit shots from outside the arc as freshman Emerson Bridgewater became a force offensively down low for South Tama. But the great defense was the main theme of the third quarter as South Tama held Saydel to only eight points, which was enough to give the Trojans a 38-37 lead headed into the final quarter.

For the next few minutes, South Tama and Saydel went back and forth with the score changing with every trip down the floor. Eventually the Eagles got back on track led by senior Shyne Lo offensive scoring and the help of the free throw line Saydel was able to slowly pull away from the Trojans, with a final score of 55-45 the Eagles were able to take down the Trojans.

Tyynismaa led the Trojans in scoring with 23 points, going an impressive 7/14 from the three point line. Freshman Emerson Bridgewater followed Tyynismaa with 11 points on the night. Senior James Brant led South Tama in rebounds with nine, three of those being offensive rebounds. Finally senior Cade Rosenberger had five assists and three steals to aid South Tama.

Senior Cade Rosenburger gets ready on defense in South Tama’s season opener against the Saydel Eagles. Rosenburger had three steals to aid the Trojans efforts in the loss. PHOTO BY MACY WELSH

After the game senior team captain Daniel Wiese shared his thoughts on the first game of the season.

“Obviously we would’ve liked to get the win but there are still a lot of positives to take away from the game. We started off really slow which we will have to fix, but I really like how we fought back into the game and were able to take the lead,” he said. “As we keep playing together and get the chemistry going, we will be able to find ways to close out games with a win.”

South Tama played at home against conference opponent the CP-U Stormin’ Pointers on Tuesday night.