The step-by-step, rep-by-rep grind is paying dividends.

That’s Matt Ross’s sense, anyway, five games into his third season as head boys basketball coach at Midlothian High School.

Ross has nine seniors on his squad, five of whom have been with him for the duration of his tenure. 

He has a feisty group of youngsters as well, which provides a delightful mix of unbridled energy and maturity that he hopes will make this the year that the Trojans will remember forever.

His guys hustle with passion. They defend with intensity. They attack their opponent’s basket with intentionality. 

Mainly, though, as was the case when they scored a 62-40 road victory over Clover Hill on Wednesday night, they compete with alacrity, fearlessness, and a one-for-all, all-for-one mindset.

Hey, could this be the year Ross has been waiting for?

“It’s the year we’ve been working towards, for sure,” he said. “Right now, we’re playing as a team. We’re running the offense. We need to continue to work hard, play We basketball, not Me basketball, get in the gym every single day, and keep at it.”

Leo Colacurcio’s bucket off a nifty inside move, Leo Gulley’s 3-pointer, Chris Harris’s floater from the right baseline, and Brooks Ward’s stickback put the Trojans up 9-0 four minutes into the game. 

Though the Cavaliers cut their deficit to 15-10 after the first quarter, then forged an 18-all tie when Andrew Morin hit a layup off John McGrew’s assist at 3:49 of the second quarter, Midlo ended the half with another 9-0 run and never looked back.

 “We’re so connected,” said Landus Stewart, the Trojans’ 6-7 senior forward who provided eight points plus an imposing, 32-minute presence in the paint. “The spark we have as a team created that run.”

There was another half to play, however. The Trojans could not rest simply on first-half adrenaline.

“At halftime, we focused on rebounding and getting up and down the court,” Stewart said. “We had to pick up the intensity.”

Which the Trojans did, of course.

After three quarters, they held a 40-29 advantage, then outscored Clover Hill 22-11 in the fourth.

“We just played how we should,” said Gulley, a 6-1 senior guard. “We played great man(-to-man) defense tonight. We got up on the ball handlers and pressured them and made them make bad decisions.”

And offensively?

“We were passing up good shots for better ones,” Gulley added. “We were getting guys open, getting great looks, and making unselfish plays. You keep driving and kicking (the ball out) and making their defense work. By the time they get tired, somebody’s wide open.”

Gulley opened the final period with a jumper from the elbow to put the Trojans up 42-29.

McGrew answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing to cut their lead to 42-32.

Two buckets by Dyson Coleman, a floater from the lane and a reverse layup from the left baseline, and Gulley’s two free throws put the visitors ahead 48-32 at 5:32.

Da’Marion Donaldson ended the Trojans’ 6-0 run with a jumper at 5:12, but in the next 2:30, Gulley hit two more free throws, his third 3-pointer, and a layup off a Max Sumser assist that sent Midlo up 55-36 and ended the Cavs’ faint hope for a comeback.

Midlo, a Class 4 signatory, improved to 2-3. Its losses came at the hands of Class 6 L.C. Bird and Manchester and Class 5 James River.

The Trojans shot 23-for-49 from the field, limited the Cavaliers (1-4) to 15-for-41 accuracy, outrebounded them 30-25, forced 15 turnovers, and surrendered nine. Gulley finished with 18 points, Harris 13, and Coleman 10. Morin contributed 15 to the Cavaliers’ cause.

“Effort,” said Ross, of the Trojans’ recipe for success. “We lost focus for a couple of minutes. We called timeout and challenged the guys.

“We challenged them at halftime. They came out and gave maximum effort. It was a team win tonight.”