KOUTS - The chant from the student section reverberated throughout the cracker box gym, a gym with a low ceiling and 11 rows of seating on each side of the basketball floor.
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
No, Triton couldn't stop Ricky Hise, and 11 times the student section let the Trojans know it. Hise scored 30 points on 11-of-22 shooting as Kouts (18-5) ended Triton's season 72-43 at Wednesday's Kouts Regional.
Not a bad night for a 6-foot-2 sophomore.
"He averages 21," Triton boys basketball coach Joe Bennett said. "He's legitimate offensively. He's only a sophomore, but he doesn't play like one. He has very good offensive skills."
And not a bad night for a 6-2 sophomore who wasn't healthy.
"Rick was questionable coming into tonight," 18th-year Kouts coach Marty Gaff said. "He hurt his back Monday and didn't practice [Tuesday]. He was slow getting started, but once he got started, he went. He took the game over offensively in the third quarter."
Hise, whose name rhymes with nice, got off to a rocky start as he hit just 3 of 11 field goals for eight first-half points. When the half ended, Kouts held a 32-23 lead.
Then Triton (15-8) had a third quarter to forget.
Hise hit 6 of 7 field goals in the third quarter and poured in 16 points as Kouts outscored the Trojans 22-8 to take over 54-31 heading into the fourth.
"I was a little worried about my back in the first half," Hise said, "but in the second half, I just started feeling it. I stopped worrying about my back and started thinking about winning the game."
Hise opened the third quarter 4 of 4 from the field as he alone outscored Triton 9-2 to give the Mustangs a 41-25 lead. Triton never recovered. The Trojan woes extended to their offensive end, as they committed seven turnovers in the quarter. While Hise hit 6 of 7 field goals, Triton's team hit 2 of 8.
"Once they got going in the third quarter," Bennett said, "things snowballed."
In the first half, Triton players scored inside against Kouts' man-to-man defense. But halfway through the second quarter, Kouts switched to a 2-3 zone that it used effectively the rest of the night. The Trojans never delivered the perimeter shots needed to pull Kouts out of the zone.
"The third quarter our zone was the key," Gaff said, "and we don't play zone very often.
"I thought it would be a tight game. We shot well after we got going. They struggled from the field once our zone contained them inside. They struggled shooting outside."
Only Triton senior reserve guard Jake Burnett was effective, as he hit 5 of 10 field goals and led Triton with 17 points. Senior center Jim Read took advantage of Kouts' man-to-man defense early in the game, scoring inside. After posting nine first-half points, he finished with 12.
Triton had open looks on the perimeter, but the Trojans passed up several shots, something Bennett harped on.
"We wanted to be more aggressive in looking for our offense," he said. "At halftime we talked about that."
With Hise off to a shaky first-half start, the Mustangs still had 6-5 senior forward Jeff Hollandsworth. Hollandsworth, Kouts' second-leading scorer with 14.6 points per game, scored 13 in the first half as the Mustangs took their nine-point halftime lead. He finished with 21, and he and Hise combined to score 51 of Kouts' 72.
Hise may have been the second-half story, but the first half was about Kouts' inside game. Hollandsworth grabbed four rebounds to go along with the 13 points, and 6-3 senior center Josh Earle posted seven points and five rebounds in the first half. Kouts outrebounded Triton 18-13 in the opening half and 32-23 for the game.
"Their strength in the post area," Bennett said, "was the second-most deciding element in the game."
While some coaches avoid fully giving credit where credit is due with comments like "they were just the better team on this given night," Bennett heaped praise on Kouts.
"We lost to a quality, quality team," he said. "We knew coming in we didn't match up at any position. They were bigger than us at every position, and they may have been more athletic than us at every position."
And Kouts had sophomore Ricky Hise, the player who couldn't be stopped.
KOUTS 72, TRITON 43
Triton (15-8) 8 15 8 12 - 43
Kouts (18-5) 13 19 22 18 - 72
Triton FG FT A S R Pts.
Read (C) 4-8 4-7 0 0 9 12
Potter (F) 4-9 1-1 0 1 3 9
Blackford (G) 1-8 0-0 1 1 1 3
Disher (G) 1-3 0-1 0 0 0 2
J. Moore (F) 0-1 0-2 1 1 4 0
Burnett 5-10 5-5 0 0 3 17
Landis 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 0
Boyer 0-3 0-0 1 0 0 0
B. Moore 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Sauer 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Yankovich 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Nifong 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 15-46 10-16 4 3 23 43
Kouts FG FT A S R Pts.
Hise (G) 11-22 5-5 0 1 6 30
Hollandsworth (F) 7-13 6-7 1 2 8 21
Earle (C) 3-7 1-2 0 0 5 7
Martin (G) 0-4 4-5 5 1 1 4
Sandberg (F) 0-2 1-2 1 0 7 1
Dozier 2-2 0-0 1 1 0 4
Birky 1-1 1-2 0 1 1 3
Riffer 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 2
M. Brownell 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Pendowski 0-1 0-0 0 0 2 0
Hayes 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
C. Brownell 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 25-56 18-23 8 6 32 72
Three-point goals - Kouts 4-8 (Hise 3-7, Hollandsworth 0-1), Triton 3-14 (Burnett 2-5, Blackford 1-6, Boyer 0-2, Landis 0-1). Turnovers - Triton 15, Kouts 10. Fouled out -ÊPotter. Total fouls - Triton 21, Kouts 19. [[In-content Ad]]
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No, Triton couldn't stop Ricky Hise, and 11 times the student section let the Trojans know it. Hise scored 30 points on 11-of-22 shooting as Kouts (18-5) ended Triton's season 72-43 at Wednesday's Kouts Regional.
Not a bad night for a 6-foot-2 sophomore.
"He averages 21," Triton boys basketball coach Joe Bennett said. "He's legitimate offensively. He's only a sophomore, but he doesn't play like one. He has very good offensive skills."
And not a bad night for a 6-2 sophomore who wasn't healthy.
"Rick was questionable coming into tonight," 18th-year Kouts coach Marty Gaff said. "He hurt his back Monday and didn't practice [Tuesday]. He was slow getting started, but once he got started, he went. He took the game over offensively in the third quarter."
Hise, whose name rhymes with nice, got off to a rocky start as he hit just 3 of 11 field goals for eight first-half points. When the half ended, Kouts held a 32-23 lead.
Then Triton (15-8) had a third quarter to forget.
Hise hit 6 of 7 field goals in the third quarter and poured in 16 points as Kouts outscored the Trojans 22-8 to take over 54-31 heading into the fourth.
"I was a little worried about my back in the first half," Hise said, "but in the second half, I just started feeling it. I stopped worrying about my back and started thinking about winning the game."
Hise opened the third quarter 4 of 4 from the field as he alone outscored Triton 9-2 to give the Mustangs a 41-25 lead. Triton never recovered. The Trojan woes extended to their offensive end, as they committed seven turnovers in the quarter. While Hise hit 6 of 7 field goals, Triton's team hit 2 of 8.
"Once they got going in the third quarter," Bennett said, "things snowballed."
In the first half, Triton players scored inside against Kouts' man-to-man defense. But halfway through the second quarter, Kouts switched to a 2-3 zone that it used effectively the rest of the night. The Trojans never delivered the perimeter shots needed to pull Kouts out of the zone.
"The third quarter our zone was the key," Gaff said, "and we don't play zone very often.
"I thought it would be a tight game. We shot well after we got going. They struggled from the field once our zone contained them inside. They struggled shooting outside."
Only Triton senior reserve guard Jake Burnett was effective, as he hit 5 of 10 field goals and led Triton with 17 points. Senior center Jim Read took advantage of Kouts' man-to-man defense early in the game, scoring inside. After posting nine first-half points, he finished with 12.
Triton had open looks on the perimeter, but the Trojans passed up several shots, something Bennett harped on.
"We wanted to be more aggressive in looking for our offense," he said. "At halftime we talked about that."
With Hise off to a shaky first-half start, the Mustangs still had 6-5 senior forward Jeff Hollandsworth. Hollandsworth, Kouts' second-leading scorer with 14.6 points per game, scored 13 in the first half as the Mustangs took their nine-point halftime lead. He finished with 21, and he and Hise combined to score 51 of Kouts' 72.
Hise may have been the second-half story, but the first half was about Kouts' inside game. Hollandsworth grabbed four rebounds to go along with the 13 points, and 6-3 senior center Josh Earle posted seven points and five rebounds in the first half. Kouts outrebounded Triton 18-13 in the opening half and 32-23 for the game.
"Their strength in the post area," Bennett said, "was the second-most deciding element in the game."
While some coaches avoid fully giving credit where credit is due with comments like "they were just the better team on this given night," Bennett heaped praise on Kouts.
"We lost to a quality, quality team," he said. "We knew coming in we didn't match up at any position. They were bigger than us at every position, and they may have been more athletic than us at every position."
And Kouts had sophomore Ricky Hise, the player who couldn't be stopped.
KOUTS 72, TRITON 43
Triton (15-8) 8 15 8 12 - 43
Kouts (18-5) 13 19 22 18 - 72
Triton FG FT A S R Pts.
Read (C) 4-8 4-7 0 0 9 12
Potter (F) 4-9 1-1 0 1 3 9
Blackford (G) 1-8 0-0 1 1 1 3
Disher (G) 1-3 0-1 0 0 0 2
J. Moore (F) 0-1 0-2 1 1 4 0
Burnett 5-10 5-5 0 0 3 17
Landis 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 0
Boyer 0-3 0-0 1 0 0 0
B. Moore 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Sauer 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Yankovich 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Nifong 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 15-46 10-16 4 3 23 43
Kouts FG FT A S R Pts.
Hise (G) 11-22 5-5 0 1 6 30
Hollandsworth (F) 7-13 6-7 1 2 8 21
Earle (C) 3-7 1-2 0 0 5 7
Martin (G) 0-4 4-5 5 1 1 4
Sandberg (F) 0-2 1-2 1 0 7 1
Dozier 2-2 0-0 1 1 0 4
Birky 1-1 1-2 0 1 1 3
Riffer 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 2
M. Brownell 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0
Pendowski 0-1 0-0 0 0 2 0
Hayes 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
C. Brownell 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 25-56 18-23 8 6 32 72
Three-point goals - Kouts 4-8 (Hise 3-7, Hollandsworth 0-1), Triton 3-14 (Burnett 2-5, Blackford 1-6, Boyer 0-2, Landis 0-1). Turnovers - Triton 15, Kouts 10. Fouled out -ÊPotter. Total fouls - Triton 21, Kouts 19. [[In-content Ad]]