A Storybook Ending For Triton Seniors
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Just as the Lutheran fans had gotten their hopes up for the school's first state title win, Triton freshman Griffyn Carpenter responded with a three-pointer of his own with 1:08 remaining in the quarter. Carpenter's trey ignited a 16-2 Triton Trojans run, transforming that 25-22 lead into a 41-24 advantage midway through the fourth quarter.[[In-content Ad]]Up by 17 points with only 3:43 remaining in the title game, Triton's first-ever state championship had a prolonged celebration.
"He was no secret, we had scouted him," Lutheran coach Tim Finchum said of Carpenter, who has hit 25 field goals this season, 18 of which have been three-pointers. "He hit a big shot, give him credit. That was big, because we were down by three at that point. If he doesn't hit that shot, and we get the rebound, who knows what could have happened."
Only someone more intelligent than man can perceive what may have been, but in the physical world, Carpenter's only shot of the game led to a Triton run that Lutheran couldn't overcome.
"That's why he's in there," Triton coach Jason Groves said of Carpenter's three-point shooting.
Carpenter began the season on the junior varsity team, making his mark in the Feb. 15 loss at Tippecanoe Valley. In that road defeat, Carpenter came off the bench in the final couple of minutes to go three for three from behind the three-point arc, turning a 20-point loss into a semi-respectable 61-49 defeat.
Ever since that game, Carpenter's role has been simple - hit three pointers.
"I don't feel any pressure when I play," Carpenter said. "The pressure's on all the seniors. I just want to do what I can to help."
And Carpenter couldn't be any more accurate when he talks about the pressure placed upon the Class of 2008 Triton Trojans.
While he's had the luxury of coming off the bench to supply offense when necessary for a championship team, seniors Jake Everett, AJ Harrison and Troy McIntyre had a much different freshman experience.
Playing on a 4-17 team during the 2004-2005 season, this year's senior class saw the dark times at Triton. In particular, Everett, Harrison and McIntyre saw themselves in the middle of a coach's resignation when former coach Mike McBride was suspended on Feb. 15, 2005, amid allegations of verbal abuse to his players.
At a March 15, 2005, Triton School Board meeting, McBride's resignation was submitted. At that meeting, a few Triton upperclassmen and their parents voiced their displeasure with McBride and his coaching style.
"I know things didn't work out the way we wanted to see it, but I think we need to thank him (McBride) for the time he was here," former Triton School Board member Larry Lemler said at that 2005 meeting.
Prior to McBride's resignation, Everett and McIntyre were seeing significant minutes on the varsity, being the third and fourth leading scorers, respectively, while Harrison spent most of his time on junior varsity, playing sparingly on the varsity. Three years later, those three young men were the major components on the team, their last steps on a court taking place as they walked off as champions.
"Coach McBride helped us a lot," McIntyre said. "He got us up on varsity our freshmen years, so that gave us a lot of experience. It definitely helps to play on varsity for four years, because you never get too nervous when you prepare for a game. I'll give coach McBride a lot of credit for where we are now."
Following McBride's resignation, Groves took the Triton reins in Bourbon after serving as a McBride assistant. In the last four games of that season, Triton lost to Rochester, Tippecanoe Valley and Knox before closing the season out with a first round defeat to Argos in sectionals.
"Mike's a great coach, and I learned a lot from him," Groves said. "Unfortunately, things worked out the way they did. It wasn't a pretty situation - it wasn't fun, that's for sure. The kids didn't enjoy it, I didn't enjoy it. It was a rough thing for all of us. After all that happened, we tried to get refocused and move on. That's what we talked about, moving on and creating our own identity. I think we've done that."
Triton definitely forged its only identity from there on out.
After finishing the 2005-2006 season at 11-10, Triton went 14-7 last year before losing 49-47 in the sectional championship game to eventual state champion Oregon-Davis.
Of their eight losses a year ago, each came against a ranked team, all of which were in classes higher than 1A, aside from Oregon-Davis.
"After the loss to O-D last year, we talked about this moment," Groves said. "We talked about how that could have been us last year. So our team was really focused, all year long."
O-D may have beaten Triton last season, but they also seemed to be mentors for this year's team. Like Triton this year, O-D featured four starting seniors that had played together prior to high school. O-D also went down the same postseason road Triton had to travel this season.
After getting past Triton in the sectional championship, O-D had to get through Fort Wayne Blackhawk at the Triton Regional before defeating Lafayette Central Catholic at the Lafayette Jefferson Semistate. In both games, O-D was the underdog despite being the top-ranked team in the state.
This season, Triton, too, had to get through the same two parochial schools, and like O-D, despite their higher ranking, the public school entered both contests as underdogs.
"They had to go down the same route we did," Groves said. "We're similar to the team they had last year. I think we gotta thank O-D a little bit for going down there and winning that. That showed us this year, that, 'Hey, you guys can do this.' I think our kids really felt that way, so O-D, 'Thanks.'"
And after already seeing a coach be suspended prior to submitting his resignation, entering this year's postseason as unlikely underdogs definitely wasn't going to faze these Trojans.
"I think we're really good at coping with adversity," McIntyre said.
The strong mental approach that this team's seniors had was epitomized when Everett was bestowed with the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award following his team's state championship award.
The mental attitude award is given to a senior in each class who demonstrates "excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability."
"It's a very prestigious award," the senior with a 10.04 grade point average on a 10-point scale said. "I'm glad to have it. There's been a lot of great people that have been nominated for it, and not received it. I'm just really glad I got it."
Even further demonstrating how much Everett deserved the award was the fact that his father, Bryan, was unable to attend his son's game for the first time due to surgery. Despite his father being in the hospital, the Bethel College-bound student body president finished with a team-high 16 points.
"There were a lot of nerves coming into the game," the 6-6 senior said. "It's Conseco, it's the state championship. I was nervous a little bit. My first couple of shots didn't fall, because I was nervous. After I got the first shot to fall, I kind of calmed down."
That calm may have lasted, but following the game, Everett began to come to the realization that he would never play on the same court with fellow seniors McIntyre, Harrison, Bart Christian, Reggie Davis, Patrick Smith and Blake Schori again.
"Going back into the locker room, I'll probably get to thinking about how I'm not going to play with these guys anymore," Everett said. "But this is how you want to go out - with a state championship."
Groves may have not entered the head coaching job under the best of conditions, but he sure enjoyed the time he had with this year's senior class.
"I can't say enough about them," he said. "They're not only good basketball players, but they're also good kids off the court.
"It's the relationships I'll miss," he said.
On top of the relationship the senior class has with its current coach, they also seem to still have a bond with their initial high school coach.
"He actually contacted me before this game, and talked to me about the game - how he knew that we'd get here," Everett said of McBride. "He was just rooting for us, and told me good luck."
After claiming that title, the senior class took it with pure professionalism - almost too much for high school kids. After leaping into each other's arms following the regional and semistate championships, the Trojans took their latest conquest in stride.
"I think it was (expected)," McIntyre said about winning the state championship. "If it had been a different score at the end, I think we may have reacted a little differently."
So with the team up 15 points with two minutes to play, the seniors were able to avoid any stress down the stretch, a newfound kind of luxury to a senior class that's seen about all the adversity it's wanted to in four years.
Just as the Lutheran fans had gotten their hopes up for the school's first state title win, Triton freshman Griffyn Carpenter responded with a three-pointer of his own with 1:08 remaining in the quarter. Carpenter's trey ignited a 16-2 Triton Trojans run, transforming that 25-22 lead into a 41-24 advantage midway through the fourth quarter.[[In-content Ad]]Up by 17 points with only 3:43 remaining in the title game, Triton's first-ever state championship had a prolonged celebration.
"He was no secret, we had scouted him," Lutheran coach Tim Finchum said of Carpenter, who has hit 25 field goals this season, 18 of which have been three-pointers. "He hit a big shot, give him credit. That was big, because we were down by three at that point. If he doesn't hit that shot, and we get the rebound, who knows what could have happened."
Only someone more intelligent than man can perceive what may have been, but in the physical world, Carpenter's only shot of the game led to a Triton run that Lutheran couldn't overcome.
"That's why he's in there," Triton coach Jason Groves said of Carpenter's three-point shooting.
Carpenter began the season on the junior varsity team, making his mark in the Feb. 15 loss at Tippecanoe Valley. In that road defeat, Carpenter came off the bench in the final couple of minutes to go three for three from behind the three-point arc, turning a 20-point loss into a semi-respectable 61-49 defeat.
Ever since that game, Carpenter's role has been simple - hit three pointers.
"I don't feel any pressure when I play," Carpenter said. "The pressure's on all the seniors. I just want to do what I can to help."
And Carpenter couldn't be any more accurate when he talks about the pressure placed upon the Class of 2008 Triton Trojans.
While he's had the luxury of coming off the bench to supply offense when necessary for a championship team, seniors Jake Everett, AJ Harrison and Troy McIntyre had a much different freshman experience.
Playing on a 4-17 team during the 2004-2005 season, this year's senior class saw the dark times at Triton. In particular, Everett, Harrison and McIntyre saw themselves in the middle of a coach's resignation when former coach Mike McBride was suspended on Feb. 15, 2005, amid allegations of verbal abuse to his players.
At a March 15, 2005, Triton School Board meeting, McBride's resignation was submitted. At that meeting, a few Triton upperclassmen and their parents voiced their displeasure with McBride and his coaching style.
"I know things didn't work out the way we wanted to see it, but I think we need to thank him (McBride) for the time he was here," former Triton School Board member Larry Lemler said at that 2005 meeting.
Prior to McBride's resignation, Everett and McIntyre were seeing significant minutes on the varsity, being the third and fourth leading scorers, respectively, while Harrison spent most of his time on junior varsity, playing sparingly on the varsity. Three years later, those three young men were the major components on the team, their last steps on a court taking place as they walked off as champions.
"Coach McBride helped us a lot," McIntyre said. "He got us up on varsity our freshmen years, so that gave us a lot of experience. It definitely helps to play on varsity for four years, because you never get too nervous when you prepare for a game. I'll give coach McBride a lot of credit for where we are now."
Following McBride's resignation, Groves took the Triton reins in Bourbon after serving as a McBride assistant. In the last four games of that season, Triton lost to Rochester, Tippecanoe Valley and Knox before closing the season out with a first round defeat to Argos in sectionals.
"Mike's a great coach, and I learned a lot from him," Groves said. "Unfortunately, things worked out the way they did. It wasn't a pretty situation - it wasn't fun, that's for sure. The kids didn't enjoy it, I didn't enjoy it. It was a rough thing for all of us. After all that happened, we tried to get refocused and move on. That's what we talked about, moving on and creating our own identity. I think we've done that."
Triton definitely forged its only identity from there on out.
After finishing the 2005-2006 season at 11-10, Triton went 14-7 last year before losing 49-47 in the sectional championship game to eventual state champion Oregon-Davis.
Of their eight losses a year ago, each came against a ranked team, all of which were in classes higher than 1A, aside from Oregon-Davis.
"After the loss to O-D last year, we talked about this moment," Groves said. "We talked about how that could have been us last year. So our team was really focused, all year long."
O-D may have beaten Triton last season, but they also seemed to be mentors for this year's team. Like Triton this year, O-D featured four starting seniors that had played together prior to high school. O-D also went down the same postseason road Triton had to travel this season.
After getting past Triton in the sectional championship, O-D had to get through Fort Wayne Blackhawk at the Triton Regional before defeating Lafayette Central Catholic at the Lafayette Jefferson Semistate. In both games, O-D was the underdog despite being the top-ranked team in the state.
This season, Triton, too, had to get through the same two parochial schools, and like O-D, despite their higher ranking, the public school entered both contests as underdogs.
"They had to go down the same route we did," Groves said. "We're similar to the team they had last year. I think we gotta thank O-D a little bit for going down there and winning that. That showed us this year, that, 'Hey, you guys can do this.' I think our kids really felt that way, so O-D, 'Thanks.'"
And after already seeing a coach be suspended prior to submitting his resignation, entering this year's postseason as unlikely underdogs definitely wasn't going to faze these Trojans.
"I think we're really good at coping with adversity," McIntyre said.
The strong mental approach that this team's seniors had was epitomized when Everett was bestowed with the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award following his team's state championship award.
The mental attitude award is given to a senior in each class who demonstrates "excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability."
"It's a very prestigious award," the senior with a 10.04 grade point average on a 10-point scale said. "I'm glad to have it. There's been a lot of great people that have been nominated for it, and not received it. I'm just really glad I got it."
Even further demonstrating how much Everett deserved the award was the fact that his father, Bryan, was unable to attend his son's game for the first time due to surgery. Despite his father being in the hospital, the Bethel College-bound student body president finished with a team-high 16 points.
"There were a lot of nerves coming into the game," the 6-6 senior said. "It's Conseco, it's the state championship. I was nervous a little bit. My first couple of shots didn't fall, because I was nervous. After I got the first shot to fall, I kind of calmed down."
That calm may have lasted, but following the game, Everett began to come to the realization that he would never play on the same court with fellow seniors McIntyre, Harrison, Bart Christian, Reggie Davis, Patrick Smith and Blake Schori again.
"Going back into the locker room, I'll probably get to thinking about how I'm not going to play with these guys anymore," Everett said. "But this is how you want to go out - with a state championship."
Groves may have not entered the head coaching job under the best of conditions, but he sure enjoyed the time he had with this year's senior class.
"I can't say enough about them," he said. "They're not only good basketball players, but they're also good kids off the court.
"It's the relationships I'll miss," he said.
On top of the relationship the senior class has with its current coach, they also seem to still have a bond with their initial high school coach.
"He actually contacted me before this game, and talked to me about the game - how he knew that we'd get here," Everett said of McBride. "He was just rooting for us, and told me good luck."
After claiming that title, the senior class took it with pure professionalism - almost too much for high school kids. After leaping into each other's arms following the regional and semistate championships, the Trojans took their latest conquest in stride.
"I think it was (expected)," McIntyre said about winning the state championship. "If it had been a different score at the end, I think we may have reacted a little differently."
So with the team up 15 points with two minutes to play, the seniors were able to avoid any stress down the stretch, a newfound kind of luxury to a senior class that's seen about all the adversity it's wanted to in four years.
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