The matchup did materialize like everybody thought, it just took a little bit longer than expected.

In the big school-small school sectional matchup everybody was looking forward to, Warsaw jumped out to 22-0 lead on Triton and then held off the hard-charging Trojans for a 60-50 win Thursday in the semifinals of the Warsaw Sectional.

This was the battle between two good teams, no matter the size of their respective schools. It was one that Hoosier Hysteria is all about and some say a multi-class system would destroy.

"I have watched this Triton team 10 times either in person or on film, and I really appreciate the character of the Triton players," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "They care about each other, and they were a very good basketball team. They knew what they were doing.

"I would not, unlike their administrators, throw them into some second, third or fourth class," he said. "I think those kids are tremendous."

The Tigers threw the shutout in the first quarter against the Trojans as Triton missed all 11 field goal attempts in the period and turned the ball over a very un-Triton-like four times in the frame. The drought extended into the second quarter as Triton didn't get its first points of the game until a jumper by Jeff Rupe fell with 5:30 on the clock. Up to that point, Triton missed its first 15 shots from the field.

"We did have a tremendous start to the ball game," Rhodes said. "Our defense was excellent. I felt we played very, very hard. It was the best half we have played in some time."

After Triton got back on track, it closed the gap to 24-8 with six straight points and trailed 29-10 at halftime. The Trojans came out in the third quarter and continued their momentum, opening up the third period with a 10-4 run to cut the lead to 33-20. It was 37-27 entering the fourth period. The start really seemed to put the Trojans in a big hole with 3-of-25 shooting from the field.

"I was concerned at halftime," Rhodes said. "The choice of Coach (Kevin) O'Rourke to play zone and let us shoot ourselves in the foot and let them back into a little bit was one of the things we went over at halftime. We still weren't able to concentrate, we missed some shots, had some turnovers and forced some things in the third quarter, and that gave them a breath of fresh air."

The Tiger defense did a good job, but the Trojans were just stone cold from the field. Triton usually shoots around 50 percent as a team.

"We had good looks," Triton coach Kevin O'Rourke said. "They contested a few shots, but of the 25 shots we took in the first half, 20 of those were good looks. They just didn't go in. For what reason, I don't know. If we hit 30-35 percent of our shots, we are only down seven or eight at halftime and that while not playing well."

Warsaw started to slow things down in the period and just continued the strategy in the fourth period. It didn't always work for the Tigers, and the Trojans cut the lead to 39-32 on a three-point play by Cory Monesmith with six minutes

left in the game.

Andy Plank's three-point play put Warsaw back up by 10, but for the second straight sectional game for the Tigers, it was a big trey from unlikely source P.J. Wiley that pushed Warsaw over the top.

Wiley, who had missed his only two three-point attempts in the regular season, nailed his second big trey in as many tries in the postseason to put Warsaw up 45-35 with five minutes later. After that, the Tigers executed the spread offense to perfection and hit enough free throws to not allow Triton another chance.

"We wanted to take some time off the clock on offense," Rhodes said. "We just didn't play well on offense. We missed some easy shots, and we charged a couple of times. I thought a big key again was P.J. Wiley's three when we needed it. The second game in a row where one shot puts it back up. That was huge again."

"You have to give that kid a lot of credit," O'Rourke said. "What a shot. What two bigger threes can a kid hit in a game, and he did. He hit the big shot."

In the end, the hole was too big for the Trojans to climb out of.

"Make no mistake about it, Warsaw is a fantastic team," O'Rourke said. "They deserve all the credit. This is probably the toughest place to come into and play than anywhere in the state.

"What heart our kids showed in the second half? They didn't quit, they didn't did, and they came back," he said. "They really stole the momentum for awhile in the third and fourth quarters and gave ourselves an opportunity."

The Trojans shot only 18 of 52 from the field, including 7 of 19 from Triton leading scorer Cory Monesmith. He got hot late and finished with 16 points, but the one-two defensive punch of Tom Krizmanich and Tyler Charlton kept Monesmith from going crazy.

"We put a bigger player in Krizmanich on Monesmith," Rhodes said. "He scores a lot of points around the basket, and we thought Tom would be able to cause him problems there. We had Tom on him until he got into foul trouble and Tyler took over."

Krizmanich led the Tigers with 23 points, while Andy Plank added 10 points.

"I wasn't pleased with the way he played on Tuesday, and I just want him to be more assertive," Rhodes said of Plank. "I thought he had an excellent game tonight."

Warsaw (18-4) gets a chance to defend its sectional title tonight against Culver Military Academy (9-11) at the Tiger Den at 7:30 p.m.

"CMA is on a tear lately," Rhodes said. "They have been playing very well. People probably figured it would be Wawasee."

The Trojans ended one of their best seasons in school history with a 16-6 record, including the team's first undefeated Northern State Conference title.

"The kids are really broke up over it," O'Rourke said. "If is definitely disheartening. We put in a lot of time and effort, and not just the season, in the summer as well. We are not hanging our heads over anything. We are proud of these young men. We had a great year, and I am not going to let them lose sight of that. We have to be happy about what we accomplished." [[In-content Ad]]