Late Surge Leads Triton To Win
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
But that was hardly the case.
After Triton took an early 8-1 lead, LaCrosse head coach Jeff Mitzner called timeout and the Tigers played much tougher defense the rest of the way. On the other end of the floor the Tigers found just enough cracks to close the lead to three by the end of the quarter.
Playing on their home court, the Trojans made half their shots in the first quarter, but by halftime that percentage had dropped to 36.
“Our guys were a little nervous at first,” said Triton head coach Jason Groves. “I don’t know what it is about that first night, but I thought our guys played a little tentative offensively. We couldn’t throw it in the ocean from the beach.
“But give a lot of credit to LaCrosse; they’re long, they hold you to one shot, they contest everything, that’s what they do, so I wasn’t totally surprised by that.
“Luckily our guys responded, bounced back and found a way to get some stops.”
LaCrosse, which closed out its season with a 6-17 record, held Triton scoring leader Skyler Reichert to three points on 1-of-10 shooting. The Tigers also out-rebounded the Trojans 32-30.
“I think that’s where our experience came in. We were really struggling in a lot of areas in the game, and they didn’t panic,” Groves said. “They were tentative offensively but we didn’t hit the panic button and we found a way to get it done. You gotta like that when you don’t play your best and still get a win in the sectional.”
Jordan Anderson picked up some of the slack, scoring seven of his 10 points after halftime, and keying an 11-2 run over the game’s final 4:51 that turned a 10-point lead into the final margin.
“(Anderson’s) a good player. He’s been our point guard all year long,” Groves said. “He has his ups and downs, but he’s a competitor and he doesn’t give up. I think he just kept fighting. I told him at halftime he was going to hit some big shots for us, and that’s what he did. He’s our senior captain, and there’s a reason for it.”
After sitting out a large part of the second quarter with a pair of fouls, senior Joey Corder led Triton with 16 points, including hitting a pair of uncharacteristic three-pointers. Masen Yeo finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. In all, seven different Trojans scored in the win.
“That’s been the story of our team all year long. You don’t know who’s going to step up on any given night or in any given half for that matter,” Groves said. “But (Corder) being in foul trouble obviously limited us in the first half. He came back in the second half and played like a senior should.
“He was really crashing the board and one of the few guys taking it right at their bigs inside. He knocked down free throws as well, and that was nice to see from one of our seniors.”
LaCrosse junior Johnny Rosenbaum ended his season with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Triton moves on to play Culver Community in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
On the other side of the bracket, Oregon-Davis beat Argos 49-42 and will take on South Central in Friday’s second game.
TRITON 49, LaCROSSE 30
L 10 5 9 6 – 30
T 13 10 7 19 – 49
LaCrosse – Ryan Kiel 1-4 0-0 2, Austin Harris 3-12 0-0 6, Dylan Claypool 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremy Johnson 2-3 1-2 5, Andrew McCormick 1-4 0-0 3, William Malecki 0-1 0-0 0, Jared Spoljaric 0-1 0-0 0, Zach Brown 0-4 0-0 0, Johnny Rosenbaum 6-9 2-4 14, Boston Tucker 0-0 0-0 0, Jason Pressel 0-0 0-0 0, Colton Rosenbaum 0-1 0-0 0.
Triton – Joey Corder 4-10 6-7 16, Landon Kaufman 0-0 0-0 0, Jarrett Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Masen Yeo 5-11 2-4 12, Jordan Anderson 3-7 1-3 10, Zac Pitney 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Sellers 2-5 1-2 5, Dalton Bailey 0-0 1-2 1, Nathan Flenar 0-1 0-0 0, Skyler Reichart 1-9 0-0 3, Grant Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Spencer Glingle 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 16-44 11-20 49.
Three-pointers – LaCrosse 1 (McCormick), Triton 6 (Anderson 3, Corder 2, Reichert); Rebounds – LaCrosse 32 (J. Rosenbaum 10), Triton 30 (Yeo 8); Turnovers – LaCrosse 19, Triton 9; Fouls – LaCrosse 15, Triton 8; Fouled out – none; Records – LaCrosse 6-17, Triton 16-7
Second quarterfinal – Oregon-Davis 49, Argos 42 [[In-content Ad]]
But that was hardly the case.
After Triton took an early 8-1 lead, LaCrosse head coach Jeff Mitzner called timeout and the Tigers played much tougher defense the rest of the way. On the other end of the floor the Tigers found just enough cracks to close the lead to three by the end of the quarter.
Playing on their home court, the Trojans made half their shots in the first quarter, but by halftime that percentage had dropped to 36.
“Our guys were a little nervous at first,” said Triton head coach Jason Groves. “I don’t know what it is about that first night, but I thought our guys played a little tentative offensively. We couldn’t throw it in the ocean from the beach.
“But give a lot of credit to LaCrosse; they’re long, they hold you to one shot, they contest everything, that’s what they do, so I wasn’t totally surprised by that.
“Luckily our guys responded, bounced back and found a way to get some stops.”
LaCrosse, which closed out its season with a 6-17 record, held Triton scoring leader Skyler Reichert to three points on 1-of-10 shooting. The Tigers also out-rebounded the Trojans 32-30.
“I think that’s where our experience came in. We were really struggling in a lot of areas in the game, and they didn’t panic,” Groves said. “They were tentative offensively but we didn’t hit the panic button and we found a way to get it done. You gotta like that when you don’t play your best and still get a win in the sectional.”
Jordan Anderson picked up some of the slack, scoring seven of his 10 points after halftime, and keying an 11-2 run over the game’s final 4:51 that turned a 10-point lead into the final margin.
“(Anderson’s) a good player. He’s been our point guard all year long,” Groves said. “He has his ups and downs, but he’s a competitor and he doesn’t give up. I think he just kept fighting. I told him at halftime he was going to hit some big shots for us, and that’s what he did. He’s our senior captain, and there’s a reason for it.”
After sitting out a large part of the second quarter with a pair of fouls, senior Joey Corder led Triton with 16 points, including hitting a pair of uncharacteristic three-pointers. Masen Yeo finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. In all, seven different Trojans scored in the win.
“That’s been the story of our team all year long. You don’t know who’s going to step up on any given night or in any given half for that matter,” Groves said. “But (Corder) being in foul trouble obviously limited us in the first half. He came back in the second half and played like a senior should.
“He was really crashing the board and one of the few guys taking it right at their bigs inside. He knocked down free throws as well, and that was nice to see from one of our seniors.”
LaCrosse junior Johnny Rosenbaum ended his season with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Triton moves on to play Culver Community in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
On the other side of the bracket, Oregon-Davis beat Argos 49-42 and will take on South Central in Friday’s second game.
TRITON 49, LaCROSSE 30
L 10 5 9 6 – 30
T 13 10 7 19 – 49
LaCrosse – Ryan Kiel 1-4 0-0 2, Austin Harris 3-12 0-0 6, Dylan Claypool 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremy Johnson 2-3 1-2 5, Andrew McCormick 1-4 0-0 3, William Malecki 0-1 0-0 0, Jared Spoljaric 0-1 0-0 0, Zach Brown 0-4 0-0 0, Johnny Rosenbaum 6-9 2-4 14, Boston Tucker 0-0 0-0 0, Jason Pressel 0-0 0-0 0, Colton Rosenbaum 0-1 0-0 0.
Triton – Joey Corder 4-10 6-7 16, Landon Kaufman 0-0 0-0 0, Jarrett Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Masen Yeo 5-11 2-4 12, Jordan Anderson 3-7 1-3 10, Zac Pitney 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Sellers 2-5 1-2 5, Dalton Bailey 0-0 1-2 1, Nathan Flenar 0-1 0-0 0, Skyler Reichart 1-9 0-0 3, Grant Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Spencer Glingle 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 16-44 11-20 49.
Three-pointers – LaCrosse 1 (McCormick), Triton 6 (Anderson 3, Corder 2, Reichert); Rebounds – LaCrosse 32 (J. Rosenbaum 10), Triton 30 (Yeo 8); Turnovers – LaCrosse 19, Triton 9; Fouls – LaCrosse 15, Triton 8; Fouled out – none; Records – LaCrosse 6-17, Triton 16-7
Second quarterfinal – Oregon-Davis 49, Argos 42 [[In-content Ad]]
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