CULVER - While Christmas is still a week away, it nearly came early for the Culver Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers came into the first game of their holiday tournament against Triton looking to capture their first win of the season.

Despite fighting back from a 20-point deficit, Culver (0-6) eventually fell to the Trojans 63-54.

Triton's Matt Savill was the story early as he hit three first-quarter three-pointers to vault his team to a 16-11 lead after the first quarter.

Savill stayed hot in the second quarter as he scored his team's first seven points of the stanza. Savill would come out of the game midway through the second quarter and would not return.

With Savill out of the game, the story quickly shifted to the sloppy play of both teams.

The two teams traded turnovers for much of the first half. Both teams also shot poorly from the field. The teams combined for 46 turnovers in the game.

With a lack of outside shooting from both sides of the court, the team that could establish an inside game would be able to control the entire game. Triton's Jim Read would quickly show who had the inside edge.

The sophomore center scored four late first-half points, and he continued his solid play well into the second half.

Read's services were much needed as Savill struggled in the second half to find his shot. Savill hit only one shot from the field in the second half and a pair of free throws to end with a game-high 20 points. Read would score 11 second-half points. Along with junior Rob Salyer, who chipped in eight second-half points, Triton looked to have put Culver away as the Trojans led 48-36 at the end of three quarters.

Culver came out in the fourth quarter and put together its best basketball of the game. The Cavaliers mounted a 13-3 run that brought them to within two points with 3:26 left in the game.

After a Triton timeout, the Trojans' Salyer forced Culver's Patrick Flaherty into fouling him for his fifth foul of the game. This drew the ire of the Cavalier bench and caused the Cavaliers to draw a technical foul. Salyer stepped to the line and hit both of his foul shots. Then Savill knocked down both technical foul shots. After the foul shots, Triton scored six straight points.

Culver was never able to recover and remained winless. After the game, Triton coach Joe Bennett was impressed with Culver's play and the way some of his own players stepped up.

"(Culver) plays hard," said Bennett. "They're a scrappy team, and for a while, there in the fourth quarter it looked as if they might jump ahead."

"Salyer stepped up big for us tonight, and I was impressed with the way Read played along with Savill. They played tighter on Savill after he shot so well in the first half and wouldn't let him get the ball off, but I was impressed with how the others then stepped up."

Triton, 3-2, plays in the championship game of the tournament tonight against Caston.

TRITON 63

CULVER 54

Triton (3-2) 16 14 18 15 -Ê63

Culver (0-6) 11 9 16 18 - 54

Triton FG FT A S R Pts.

Savill 7-15 2-2 3 1 2 20

Read 6-7 3-6 2 2 3 15

Sayler 3-5 2-2 3 4 6 8##

Stutzman 1-6 2-2 1 5 1 5

McIntyre 1-4 2-2 1 0 5 4

Zeider 1-2 2-2 1 1 1 4

Heckaman 1-2 1-2 0 0 1 3

Klingerman 1-3 0-1 1 0 4 2

Unterbrink 0-2 2-2 2 2 1 2

TOTALS 21-46 16-21 14 15 24 63

Culver FG FT A S R Pts.

Migonis 8-12 0-0 7 4 3 17

Hinkle 4-9 4-7 1 0 4 12

Lloyd 5-8 0-0 0 0 5 10

Flaherty 1-1 2-2 0 1 1 4

Davis 1-3 0-0 1 1 2 3

Stotler 1-2 1-2 0 2 3 3

Watts 1-3 0-0 2 1 3 3

Lee 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 2

TOTALS 22-39 7-11 11 10 22 54

Three-point goals -ÊTriton 5-14 (Savill 4-8, Stutzman 1-3, Unterbrink 0-1, Heckaman 0-1, Salyer 0-1) Culver 3-8 (Migonis 1-4, Davis 1-2, Watts 1-1, Stotler 0-1). Fouled out -ÊFlaherty. Total fouls - Triton 17, Culver 18 Turnovers -ÊTriton 20, Culver 26.

Referees - N/A

Other first-round game: Caston 53, Knox 41 [[In-content Ad]]