Triton Boys Rally, Beat Rival Plymouth
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
In the 50th meeting between the Plymouth Pilgrims and Class 1A No. 3 Triton Trojans Tuesday, the Trojans (2-0) claimed a 59-54 home victory, winning their third-straight game in the series.[[In-content Ad]]Plymouth (1-1) still holds a commanding 45-5 lead in the series, but it's been all Triton as of late.
Dating back to the inception of the series in 1964, it would be hard to find a game as good as the latest, which saw the Trojans overcome an 11-0 hole at the end of the first quarter.
"I was upset with them," Groves said about his team, which shot 0 of 13 from the field and 0 of 7 from three-point land in the first quarter. "We were taking quick shots. We weren't moving the ball. We just weren't doing things we work on in practice. That was my problem with it. If we had played well and just missed shots, and done things like that, I wouldn't have had a problem with it."
Perhaps the coldest of the Trojans was junior Griffyn Carpenter, who went 0 of 5 from the field, including two missed free throws in the first quarter.
Things turned around for Carpenter in the second quarter after drilling a couple of jump shots with a Pilgrims defender in his face, as he netted eight of Triton's 14 points in the frame.
"He kind of got out of that," Groves said about Carpenter's cold streak. "I know he's not going to stay like that all game long. He's the type of kid who's going to start hitting."
Even with Carpenter hitting his shots, Triton still found itself down 24-14 at the end of the half, due in large part to Plymouth's 6-foot-3, 250-pound senior Leneil Himes.
Coming off the bench, Himes scored seven points, grabbed five rebounds, posted two steals and had a blocked shot in the first half, creating a matchup problem for the Trojans.
A way to offset Himes' size was to get him into foul trouble, which Triton did in the third quarter when the Plymouth big guy was whistled for two of his team's nine fouls in the quarter.
With Plymouth racking up fouls, Triton gradually dug into the lead, with Carpenter scoring another seven points in the quarter, cutting the Plymouth lead to 35-32 going into the fourth.
"I have a lot of kids with a lot of pride, and they want to play their best," Groves said about overcoming the slow start. "They want it so badly. In a game like this, things aren't going to come easy. You just have to relax and slow down your mind a little bit. I think their minds were spinning at a million miles an hour."
With things slowed down, Triton was really able to take off in the fourth quarter behind the play of senior point guard Ben Montalbano, senior guard Taran Holderman and freshman forward Clay Yeo.
Yeo opened the quarter with a blocked shot, which Triton quickly pushed down the floor for Holderman to hit one of his five three-pointers of the night, tying the game at 35-35 with 7:36 to play.
Plymouth didn't waste much time responding as junior Brock Smith then hit a 3 of his own, but five seconds later, Holderman drilled another trey, building the lead to three points again.
"He can do a lot of things," Groves said about Holderman, who scored 19 points, grabbed six rebounds and recorded two steals. "He's very physical - he's an athlete. He can take people off the dribble, he can shoot."
Another big three-pointer came from Yeo, who after almost running onto the court without checking in, connected a trey with 3:39 to play, giving Triton a little breathing room at 47-42.
"I kind of got on him at halftime and said, 'Hey, this is varsity basketball. You have to step up and be more physical. And play with confidence,'" Groves said of Yeo, who had three blocked shots.
Another guy playing with confidence was the 5-foot-8 Montalbano, who dished out four of his game-high eight assists in the fourth quarter, and also got into a verbal joust with Himes, who will be playing tight end for the Indiana Hoosiers next fall.
"Ben's been our leader," Groves said. "He's a feisty kid. He's not going to back down from anybody."
Yeo's three-pointer gave Triton a big enough lead it wouldn't surrender, as Triton went 9 of 10 from the free-throw line down the stretch, led by Carpenter's 6-of-6 effort, helping him to a game-high 21 points.
Triton's next game comes Friday when the Trojans host the NorthWood Panthers at 6:15 p.m.
TRITON 59, PLYMOUTH 54
P 11 13 11 19 - 54
T 0 14 18 27 - 59
Triton - Griffyn Carpenter 3-10 13-15 21, Ben Montalbano 2-4 4-4 8, Austin Davis 1-4 1-2 3, Clay Yeo 1-2 1-2 4, Jordan Everett 0-3 0-0 0, Jordan Koontz 0-2 0-0 0, Curtis Nordmann 0-0 0-0 0, Camron Garey 0-0 0-0 0, Quentyn Carpenter 1-1 0-1 2, Taran Holderman 6-9 2-3 19, Kreig Voreis 0-0 0-0 0, Blake Lemler 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 15-36 21-27 59.
Plymouth - Curtis Ivy 2-3 0-0 4, Todd Vervynckt 1-2 0-0 2, Houston Hodges 1-7 4-8 7, Bo Davidson 5-12 0-0 13, Gordy Holloway 0-1 0-0 0, Brock Smith 3-5 0-1 7, Sean Smith 3-5 1-2 7, Leneil Himes 5-10 3-9 14. Totals 20-45 8-20 54.
Three-point goals - Triton 8-20 (Holderman 5, G. Carpenter 2, Yeo), Plymouth 6-17 (Davidson 3, B. Smith, Hodges, Himes); Team Fouls (fouled out) - Triton 16 (Davis), Plymouth 25 (Ivy, Vervynckt, Hodges); Turnovers - Triton 12, Plymouth 12; Rebounds - Triton 24 (Holderman 6), Plymouth 33 (Himes 7); Assists - Triton 11 (Montalbano 8), Plymouth 9 (Hodges 3, Holloway 3); Steals - Triton 5 (Holderman 3), Plymouth 5; Blocks - Triton 3 (Yeo 3), Plymouth 1; Records - Triton 2-0, Plymouth 1-1.
JV - Triton 29, Plymouth 27
Triton JV Scoring - Marc Lindsey 10, Q. Carpenter 10, Dane Kennedy 4, Zac Shively 3, Lemler 2
In the 50th meeting between the Plymouth Pilgrims and Class 1A No. 3 Triton Trojans Tuesday, the Trojans (2-0) claimed a 59-54 home victory, winning their third-straight game in the series.[[In-content Ad]]Plymouth (1-1) still holds a commanding 45-5 lead in the series, but it's been all Triton as of late.
Dating back to the inception of the series in 1964, it would be hard to find a game as good as the latest, which saw the Trojans overcome an 11-0 hole at the end of the first quarter.
"I was upset with them," Groves said about his team, which shot 0 of 13 from the field and 0 of 7 from three-point land in the first quarter. "We were taking quick shots. We weren't moving the ball. We just weren't doing things we work on in practice. That was my problem with it. If we had played well and just missed shots, and done things like that, I wouldn't have had a problem with it."
Perhaps the coldest of the Trojans was junior Griffyn Carpenter, who went 0 of 5 from the field, including two missed free throws in the first quarter.
Things turned around for Carpenter in the second quarter after drilling a couple of jump shots with a Pilgrims defender in his face, as he netted eight of Triton's 14 points in the frame.
"He kind of got out of that," Groves said about Carpenter's cold streak. "I know he's not going to stay like that all game long. He's the type of kid who's going to start hitting."
Even with Carpenter hitting his shots, Triton still found itself down 24-14 at the end of the half, due in large part to Plymouth's 6-foot-3, 250-pound senior Leneil Himes.
Coming off the bench, Himes scored seven points, grabbed five rebounds, posted two steals and had a blocked shot in the first half, creating a matchup problem for the Trojans.
A way to offset Himes' size was to get him into foul trouble, which Triton did in the third quarter when the Plymouth big guy was whistled for two of his team's nine fouls in the quarter.
With Plymouth racking up fouls, Triton gradually dug into the lead, with Carpenter scoring another seven points in the quarter, cutting the Plymouth lead to 35-32 going into the fourth.
"I have a lot of kids with a lot of pride, and they want to play their best," Groves said about overcoming the slow start. "They want it so badly. In a game like this, things aren't going to come easy. You just have to relax and slow down your mind a little bit. I think their minds were spinning at a million miles an hour."
With things slowed down, Triton was really able to take off in the fourth quarter behind the play of senior point guard Ben Montalbano, senior guard Taran Holderman and freshman forward Clay Yeo.
Yeo opened the quarter with a blocked shot, which Triton quickly pushed down the floor for Holderman to hit one of his five three-pointers of the night, tying the game at 35-35 with 7:36 to play.
Plymouth didn't waste much time responding as junior Brock Smith then hit a 3 of his own, but five seconds later, Holderman drilled another trey, building the lead to three points again.
"He can do a lot of things," Groves said about Holderman, who scored 19 points, grabbed six rebounds and recorded two steals. "He's very physical - he's an athlete. He can take people off the dribble, he can shoot."
Another big three-pointer came from Yeo, who after almost running onto the court without checking in, connected a trey with 3:39 to play, giving Triton a little breathing room at 47-42.
"I kind of got on him at halftime and said, 'Hey, this is varsity basketball. You have to step up and be more physical. And play with confidence,'" Groves said of Yeo, who had three blocked shots.
Another guy playing with confidence was the 5-foot-8 Montalbano, who dished out four of his game-high eight assists in the fourth quarter, and also got into a verbal joust with Himes, who will be playing tight end for the Indiana Hoosiers next fall.
"Ben's been our leader," Groves said. "He's a feisty kid. He's not going to back down from anybody."
Yeo's three-pointer gave Triton a big enough lead it wouldn't surrender, as Triton went 9 of 10 from the free-throw line down the stretch, led by Carpenter's 6-of-6 effort, helping him to a game-high 21 points.
Triton's next game comes Friday when the Trojans host the NorthWood Panthers at 6:15 p.m.
TRITON 59, PLYMOUTH 54
P 11 13 11 19 - 54
T 0 14 18 27 - 59
Triton - Griffyn Carpenter 3-10 13-15 21, Ben Montalbano 2-4 4-4 8, Austin Davis 1-4 1-2 3, Clay Yeo 1-2 1-2 4, Jordan Everett 0-3 0-0 0, Jordan Koontz 0-2 0-0 0, Curtis Nordmann 0-0 0-0 0, Camron Garey 0-0 0-0 0, Quentyn Carpenter 1-1 0-1 2, Taran Holderman 6-9 2-3 19, Kreig Voreis 0-0 0-0 0, Blake Lemler 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 15-36 21-27 59.
Plymouth - Curtis Ivy 2-3 0-0 4, Todd Vervynckt 1-2 0-0 2, Houston Hodges 1-7 4-8 7, Bo Davidson 5-12 0-0 13, Gordy Holloway 0-1 0-0 0, Brock Smith 3-5 0-1 7, Sean Smith 3-5 1-2 7, Leneil Himes 5-10 3-9 14. Totals 20-45 8-20 54.
Three-point goals - Triton 8-20 (Holderman 5, G. Carpenter 2, Yeo), Plymouth 6-17 (Davidson 3, B. Smith, Hodges, Himes); Team Fouls (fouled out) - Triton 16 (Davis), Plymouth 25 (Ivy, Vervynckt, Hodges); Turnovers - Triton 12, Plymouth 12; Rebounds - Triton 24 (Holderman 6), Plymouth 33 (Himes 7); Assists - Triton 11 (Montalbano 8), Plymouth 9 (Hodges 3, Holloway 3); Steals - Triton 5 (Holderman 3), Plymouth 5; Blocks - Triton 3 (Yeo 3), Plymouth 1; Records - Triton 2-0, Plymouth 1-1.
JV - Triton 29, Plymouth 27
Triton JV Scoring - Marc Lindsey 10, Q. Carpenter 10, Dane Kennedy 4, Zac Shively 3, Lemler 2
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