Bourbon - Early it looked as though Friday's boys basketball game between the Whitko Wildcats and the Triton Trojans would be less than riveting.

That quickly changed as both teams battled tooth and nail for four quarters.

Triton held the lead for most of the game but lost it late in the fourth quarter. The Trojans were able to charge back and recapture the lead for good as they held on for a 46-45 win.

The game started off slowly as both teams traded early baskets with Whitko's Jeff Martin and Triton's Brandon Zeider scoring for their respective teams. Both teams then went on a scoring drought for the next three minutes until the Wildcats' Ben Ryan broke the tie with a jumper.

After Ryan's basket, the Trojans quickly stormed back with a 14-2 run that lasted until the opening moments of the second quarter. Triton was led early by senior Matt Savill, who had nine first-half points, giving his team 24-16 lead at the half.

Triton dominated the scoreboard and the turnover battle in the first half, committing only two turnovers compared to the Wildcats' six. They were also able to draw fouls without committing many of their own. For the entire game Triton went 6 of 11, while Whitko made only one trip to the line with Josh Gonzalez missing both of his attempts.

Whitko came quickly out of the blocks to start the third quarter, namely Shane Henderson. The 6-foot-1 junior who went zero for the first half stormed back, hitting a three to start the quarter then stole a Triton pass, came down the floor and nailed a 16-foot jumper.

Brandon Zeider stepped up big for the Trojans as he scored eight of his team's 12 third-quarter points. While Zeider stepped up, the rest of the Triton team struggled from the field and watched as its lead shrunk to three entering the final stanza.

Henderson nailed a three to tie things up, and then Jeff Martin hit a jumper to give his team the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter.

Part of Triton's trouble was that the Trojans began to turn the ball over. While they had only two first-half turnovers, they commited three turnovers in the first two minutes of the third quarter and nine for the half

"In the third quarter," said Triton coach Joe Bennett "we got the lead and played a little antsy. We turned the ball over a few times but were able to recover. It still feels good to get a close one. Our kids did a good job defensively down the strech. We used our fouls effectively late and didn't let them shoot."

Triton was able to keep Whitko from driving to the basket as the Trojans used the fouls they had remaining to force Whitko into more of a set offense. Whitko still had its chances as Triton missed several late free throws.

With 6.3 seconds left, Whitko had the ball near halfcourt down by one. Gonzalez handled the inbounds pass and looked into the post for his big men, but the pass was errant, leaving 1.1 seconds left on the clock for Triton to run it out.

Whitko coach Fred Fields was unavailable for comment after the game. His Wildcats (6-8) travel to Rochester tonight, and Triton (8-7) hosts Valley.

TRITON 46, WHITKO 45

Triton 14 10 12 10 - 46

Whitko 6 10 17 12 - 45

Whitko FG FT A S R Pts.

Henderson 3-7 0-0 3 0 2 8

Gonzalez 2-7 0-2 2 1 2 4

Martin 5-5 0-0 2 1 5 11

Ryan 4-7 0-0 0 0 1 8

Mohr 4-9 0-0 1 2 3 8

J. Wendel 3-4 0-0 0 0 6 6

Totals 21-39 0-2 8 4 19 45

Triton FG FT A S R Pts.

Unterbrink 2-4 0-2 1 2 4 4

Savill 5-12 1-3 0 0 3 13

Stutzman 4-7 0-0 0 0 1 9

Zeider 6-9 1-2 0 1 6 13

Read 0-2 2-2 0 0 4 2

Heckaman 0-2 0-0 2 1 1 0#

Salyer 0-1 2-2 0 0 1 2

Hayes 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0

McIntyre 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 3

Totals 18-40 6-11 3 3 19 46

Three-point goals -ÊWhitko 3-5 (Henderson, 2-4, J. Wendel 1-5) Triton 4-12 (Savill 2-4, Zeider 1-2, Stutzman, 1-1). Turnovers - Whitko 11, Triton 11. Total fouls - Whitko 14, Triton 8. Fouled out - Henderson

JV: Whitko 47 Triton 62 [[In-content Ad]]