The Catasauqua Rough Riders boys basketball team was looking to get its second win of the season when the Wilson Warriors visited Catty High School last Thursday.

However, Wilson used its size advantage and a trapping defense to come away with the victory, 80-53.

The Roughs started strong, jumping out to a 10-4 lead midway through the first quarter. However, a 13-point Warriors’ run put the visitors up by seven. The teams exchanged a few points and the first period ended 21-15 in favor of Wilson.

The second period proved to be Catty’s undoing. Wilson’s defensive pressure forced numerous turnovers, leading to a 14-point run to start the quarter. A pair of Derek Troxell free throws ended the run at the 4:36 mark. However, the Warriors continued their roll, outscoring the Roughs 14-5 the rest of way and took a 49-22 lead into halftime.

Catty came out strong after the break, using a 15-4 run to close the gap to 16 points. At the end of the third the deficit was 18, at 57-39.

Wilson reasserted themselves in the fourth, outscoring the Roughs 23-14 in the frame yielding the final margin.

Derek Troxell led Catty with 14 points and contributed four steals. Derek George manned the post and put together a stat line of 13 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Andrew Martinez chipped in 9 points and D’Angelo Martinez added 7 of his own.

Head coach Eric Snyder lamented his team’s inconsistency but praised their effort.

“That’s how the season is, we play well and then we shoot ourselves in the foot. We can’t put together 32 minutes yet. And that’s from inexperience. None of these guys played varsity last year. I have to be patient with the sophomores and the seniors. The seniors all played JV last year.

“They always play hard. I can’t say a negative thing about their effort. At practice every day they work so hard. The seniors aren’t very big, but their effort is tremendous. They’re first in all the drills, they lead, they take charge, they do everything you ask.”

The Roughs have a daunting upcoming schedule with three games in the course of 43 hours. First, they travel to Moravian Academy on Thursday to play one of the strongest teams in the Colonial League. Then on Friday they host Northwestern Lehigh before playing at Northampton in a Saturday afternoon contest.