Offense doesn’t win games, defense does. Time and time again we hear this saying throughout every sport we’ve come across. In Jan. 27th’s night game, the Trojans men’s basketball team proved this true in their 62 – 49 victory against the Cañada Colts. Both Skyline and Cañada didn’t have much going for them offensively in the first half of the game. There were many missed shots and a tremendous amount of turnovers on both sides of the court. The first half was slow paced and sloppy, but fortunately the Trojans kept their cool and controlled the Colts with dynamite defense. Big man Matt Fochtman (#44) helped keep the team close in the first half with seven points, a blocked shot, multiple rebounds and a looming presence in the paint.Cañada didn’t shine much in the first half either. They looked lethargic, couldn’t keep control of the ball, and missed more shots than any coach would like to see. Although the first half was very leaden, the second half started to speed up immediately. Coach Piergrossi said that he knew the Trojans needed to make a change, so he had his team push the ball up the court, picking up the pace of the game.Skyline’s defense bruised Canada’s ego, opening the half with a steal by guard Shawn Echols (#15) and two big blocks by forward Malik Williams (#41). M. Williams seemed as if he was ten-feet tall with a whopping 4 blocks in the half. The Trojan’s scoring was spread fairly equally, where S. Echols and Ron Freeman (#21) were leading scorers with 10 points each. Skyline separated themselves from the Colts by going on a 17 – 2 run. After that, the Trojans had complete control of the game. The Colts couldn’t do anything but commit fouls afterward, letting the Trojans shoot 19 free throws (12 of them were good) in the final half. Congratulations to our men’s basketball team on their victory, putting them at 3 – 3 for their league and 14 – 10 on their season. This was a much needed victory before if they want to contend for top seed in their division. Coach Piergrossi believes that the Trojans can beat any team in their division if they play 40 minutes of quality basketball every game. If the Trojans play every game like they did in the second half of Jan. 27th’s night game, you can be sure they’ll be contending for the top seed of their division this season.