Tartan Boys Basketball Thumps Richfield

It was a more tempered celebration than it otherwise might have been as the boys basketball team's 73-50 defeat of Classic Suburban Conference rival Richfield was marred by a severe back injury suffered by center Joel Awich late in the second half.

Awich, who had scored 10 points in the game, was undercut in the lane going up for a defensive rebound and fell approximately five feet to the floor, landing flatly on his back.

The senior did not move for several moments as teammates, coaches and medical staff rushed to his aide. After 20 minutes of being tended to underneath the Richfield basket, Awich was moved onto a stretcher and wheeled off to an awaiting ambulance.

No further information was available as to Awich's condition; his injury followed another suffered by Richfield forward Dashawn Jones, who hurt his ankle defending against a Titans layup just 10 minutes earlier.

The consecutive traumas cast a pall on the contest that Tartan led from start-to-finish.

The Titans scored first, built a double-digit lead at 35-25 with just over five minutes remaining in the first half and extended that advantage past 20 points to as high as 25 points at several points in the concluding minutes before finally winning by 23 points.

Senior forward Luke Preiner led all scorers with 25 points, while senior forward Drew Preiner and sophomore guard Darrion Strong both recorded 11 points apiece to go with Awich's 10-spot.

The victory — completing a season sweep of the Spartans — moved Tartan two games clear of Richfield for second place in the Classic Suburban as the Titans improved to 9-2 in conference play and 18-2 overall.

Next up for Tartan is a home matchup against Henry Sibley at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night.