Morgan Township Ends Triton's Season
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Triton boys basketball coach Joe Bennett knew what his team had to do to beat Morgan Township in Friday's Class A regional championship at Warsaw Community High School.
He said so Wednesday night.
What Bennett said the Trojans had to do was make the Cherokees turn the ball over. Morgan Township was victim to 13 turnovers last night, while Triton committed just eight turnovers.
Mission accomplished.
The second thing Bennett said Triton had to do was its downfall.
The first-year coach said his team had to run an efficient offense to have a chance at advancing to the Kokomo Semistate.
Mission failed.
The Trojans ended their season at 14-10 with a 48-39 loss after a dismal 13-of-51 shooting performance from the field.
"The ball wouldn't go in would it?" said Bennett. "Seemed like there was a lid on it. We haven't been a great shooting team all year, but we've been better than that. Give Morgan Township credit but I'm proud of our kids. They accomplished a lot."
While Triton made just 25.5 percent of its shots, the Cherokees made good on 18 of 36 attempts (50 percent) from the floor.
With the nine-point win, Morgan Township improved its overall season record to 13-11. The Cherokees' Kevin Greiger led all scorers with 14 points. He also pulled down 10 rebounds. Ben Bucher and Dan Blough added 11 and 10 points respectively in the winning effort.
Triton was led in the scoring column by Matt Savill and Jim Read with nine points each. Adam Heckaman and Mason McIntyre each added six points to the Trojans' season finale. Triton's Brandon Zeider came into Friday night's contest averaging nearly 13 points per game but was held scoreless.
McIntyre put the Trojans on the scoreboard first, giving them an early 2-0 lead, but the Cherokees quickly counteracted and pushed the score to 9-2 with 3:00 remaining in the opening frame and 11-6 after one quarter of play. Triton finished the first quarter 1 of 13 from the field.
Triton's offense sputtered but tried to show signs of life in the second stanza. It connected on 3 of 13 field goal attempts. The Cherokees turned the ball over eight times in the first half compared to just three for Triton. This allowed the Trojans to cut the deficit in the second quarter, and they trailed by only four at the intermission, 21-17.
As in the first quarter, Morgan Township came out of the locker room and set the tone early in the third quarter, this time starting with an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 29-17. But Triton continued to fight back, and by the end of three quarters of play, cut Morgan Township's lead to three at 31-28.
The Trojans got within one at the onset of the final frame on a rebound and bucket by Read. The Cherokees responded by pushing their lead back to nine at 41-32. Triton fouled numerous times in the last quarter in hopes of missed free throws that it could turn into points, but Morgan Township made good on 8 of 12 for the game from the charity stripe. The Trojans were 10 of 12 at the free-throw line as both teams were whistled for 16 fouls.
After the game, Bennett said he thought holding the Cherokees to 48 points as a team was a positive and had his team's offense been there, things could have been different.
"I thought we played good defense," said Bennett. "Forty-eight points for us is a good defensive game. We just weren't in synch on offense.
"You don't look good when the ball won't go in the hole."
MORGAN TOWNSHIP 48
TRITON 39
Morgan Township 11 10 10 17 - 48
Triton 6 11 11 11 - 39
Triton FG FT S R Pts.
Bell 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Unterbrink (G) 1-4 0-0 1 1 2
Blackford 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Savill (G) 3-14 1-2 1 4 9
Heckaman 3-7 0-0 1 1 6
Salyer 0-1 2-2 0 1 2
Stutzman 1-5 0-0 1 1 3
Zeider (F) 0-6 0-0 0 6 0
Hayes 0-1 2-2 0 1 2
McIntyre (F) 1-5 4-4 0 6 6
Read (C) 4-6 1-2 0 1 9
Klingerman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 13-51 10-12 4 27 39
Morgan Township FG FT S R Pts.
Greiger (F) 5-15 4-6 0 10 14
Neuschafer (C) 3-4 0-0 1 2 6
Hannon 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
Bucher (G) 4-8 1-2 0 9 11
Blough (G) 3-4 3-4 0 3 10
Byers 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Scurlock (F) 1-2 0-0 0 1 2
Mochlan 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Rosenfeld 2-2 0-0 2 1 5
Melton 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 18-36 8-12 3 31 48
Three-pointers - Triton 3 (Savill 2, Stutzman), Morgan Township 4 (Bucher 2, Blough, Rosenfeld). Turnovers - Triton 8, Morgan Township 13. Fouls - Triton 16, Morgan Township 16.
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Triton boys basketball coach Joe Bennett knew what his team had to do to beat Morgan Township in Friday's Class A regional championship at Warsaw Community High School.
He said so Wednesday night.
What Bennett said the Trojans had to do was make the Cherokees turn the ball over. Morgan Township was victim to 13 turnovers last night, while Triton committed just eight turnovers.
Mission accomplished.
The second thing Bennett said Triton had to do was its downfall.
The first-year coach said his team had to run an efficient offense to have a chance at advancing to the Kokomo Semistate.
Mission failed.
The Trojans ended their season at 14-10 with a 48-39 loss after a dismal 13-of-51 shooting performance from the field.
"The ball wouldn't go in would it?" said Bennett. "Seemed like there was a lid on it. We haven't been a great shooting team all year, but we've been better than that. Give Morgan Township credit but I'm proud of our kids. They accomplished a lot."
While Triton made just 25.5 percent of its shots, the Cherokees made good on 18 of 36 attempts (50 percent) from the floor.
With the nine-point win, Morgan Township improved its overall season record to 13-11. The Cherokees' Kevin Greiger led all scorers with 14 points. He also pulled down 10 rebounds. Ben Bucher and Dan Blough added 11 and 10 points respectively in the winning effort.
Triton was led in the scoring column by Matt Savill and Jim Read with nine points each. Adam Heckaman and Mason McIntyre each added six points to the Trojans' season finale. Triton's Brandon Zeider came into Friday night's contest averaging nearly 13 points per game but was held scoreless.
McIntyre put the Trojans on the scoreboard first, giving them an early 2-0 lead, but the Cherokees quickly counteracted and pushed the score to 9-2 with 3:00 remaining in the opening frame and 11-6 after one quarter of play. Triton finished the first quarter 1 of 13 from the field.
Triton's offense sputtered but tried to show signs of life in the second stanza. It connected on 3 of 13 field goal attempts. The Cherokees turned the ball over eight times in the first half compared to just three for Triton. This allowed the Trojans to cut the deficit in the second quarter, and they trailed by only four at the intermission, 21-17.
As in the first quarter, Morgan Township came out of the locker room and set the tone early in the third quarter, this time starting with an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 29-17. But Triton continued to fight back, and by the end of three quarters of play, cut Morgan Township's lead to three at 31-28.
The Trojans got within one at the onset of the final frame on a rebound and bucket by Read. The Cherokees responded by pushing their lead back to nine at 41-32. Triton fouled numerous times in the last quarter in hopes of missed free throws that it could turn into points, but Morgan Township made good on 8 of 12 for the game from the charity stripe. The Trojans were 10 of 12 at the free-throw line as both teams were whistled for 16 fouls.
After the game, Bennett said he thought holding the Cherokees to 48 points as a team was a positive and had his team's offense been there, things could have been different.
"I thought we played good defense," said Bennett. "Forty-eight points for us is a good defensive game. We just weren't in synch on offense.
"You don't look good when the ball won't go in the hole."
MORGAN TOWNSHIP 48
TRITON 39
Morgan Township 11 10 10 17 - 48
Triton 6 11 11 11 - 39
Triton FG FT S R Pts.
Bell 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Unterbrink (G) 1-4 0-0 1 1 2
Blackford 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Savill (G) 3-14 1-2 1 4 9
Heckaman 3-7 0-0 1 1 6
Salyer 0-1 2-2 0 1 2
Stutzman 1-5 0-0 1 1 3
Zeider (F) 0-6 0-0 0 6 0
Hayes 0-1 2-2 0 1 2
McIntyre (F) 1-5 4-4 0 6 6
Read (C) 4-6 1-2 0 1 9
Klingerman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 13-51 10-12 4 27 39
Morgan Township FG FT S R Pts.
Greiger (F) 5-15 4-6 0 10 14
Neuschafer (C) 3-4 0-0 1 2 6
Hannon 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
Bucher (G) 4-8 1-2 0 9 11
Blough (G) 3-4 3-4 0 3 10
Byers 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Scurlock (F) 1-2 0-0 0 1 2
Mochlan 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Rosenfeld 2-2 0-0 2 1 5
Melton 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 18-36 8-12 3 31 48
Three-pointers - Triton 3 (Savill 2, Stutzman), Morgan Township 4 (Bucher 2, Blough, Rosenfeld). Turnovers - Triton 8, Morgan Township 13. Fouls - Triton 16, Morgan Township 16.
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