BOURBON - Triton boys head basketball coach Mike McBride isn't afraid of the word "rebuilding." Most high school programs go through it. Especially 1A schools like Triton.

"I think we're doing some rebuilding right now. You can't say we're reloading," said McBride. "But we do have some good kids to try and rebuild with."

Of the 10 players listed on the 2004-2005 Trojan roster, only two are seniors.

"We're very young right now. Last year we graduated five seniors from a team that won 13 games. The year before we graduated five seniors from a team that won 14 games,"

Gone from last year's squad are departed seniors Todd Blackford, Josh Moore, Braxton Barton and Kyle Bell. That group comprised Triton's four leading scorers with Blackford leading the team at 16.3 points per game.

Blackford and Co. led the Trojans to last year's sectional final before falling 64-61 to Argos.

If Triton hopes to be successful this year, it will need to rely on two seniors to bring along a talented group of underclassmen.

Point guard Cory McClarnon returns as the team's leading scorer with 6.0 points per game. McClarnon, the quarterback of the Trojans' football team, will look to lead along with fellow senior forward Brandon Garey.

"We're really counting on (Cory) McClarnon to really be a strong leader for us in the point guard spot and score points for us and (Brandon) Garey on the inside, we're real high on them," said McBride.

McBride is looking for McClarnon and Garey to be helped by a handful of juniors in Chad Kauffman, Lane Davis, Anthony Faucett and Brandon Garner will be looked upon to step up for Triton.

Those four spent much of last season playing on the junior varsity level, with Kauffman being the lone sophomore on last year's opening night roster.

"Our junior class has been steadily improving, clear back till they were in junior high. I think we're going to get some good production out of them this year," said McBride of his juniors.

But McBride knows that with little varsity experience it will take time.

"There's kind of a learning curve we're going to go through, adjusting to varsity speed, varsity strength, varsity players, and there's going to be an adjustment period there," said McBride.

The Trojans host two freshmen on their roster, which may increase the adjustment period. While McBride isn't going to push freshmen Troy McIntyre and Jacob Everett, he does expect production.

"We are counting on the freshmen to play important minutes for us, both Troy McIntyre and Jacob Everett. We're going to need them to step their games up. They've got some ability," said McBride.

Everett and McIntyre, both listed at 6-foot-3, are the size of a smallish but athletic Trojan squad.

"We're not as big, but we're still going to try and play up and down. We're really going to try and play off of McClarnon's speed. He plays at such a fast speed, we're trying to get everyone else up to speed with him."

McBride hopes as the season progresses that his team will become more and more competitive. There will be plenty of competition in the Trojans' Northern States Conference.

Jimtown returns three starters from last year's 2A state championship team, while Knox returns much of a team that advanced to a 3A regional final.

"The NSC has just been an outstanding conference the past few years," said McBride. "The last three years we've had a team in any classes' final four. Jimtown is very strong - they return three of their four leading scorers from last year. John Glenn is going to be very strong. New Prairie is going to be solid again and their success in football is going to carry over, I think. Knox has a really nice group back and LaVille is going to have a strong senior class."

While Triton lacks the sort of senior leadership a LaVille does, the Trojans feel as if they can be a surprise.

"I would definitely say that us and Culver are on the outside looking in right now," said McBride of the conference. "But I'm hopeful that we can be competitive and that will prepare us for the postseason."

While Triton lost in the sectional final last year, the Trojans are just two years removed from a sectional crown. That team featured a team dominated by juniors. This year with the aid of McClarnon and Garey, Triton hopes to see history repeat itself.

"I think ultimately every team's goal is to win sectional and that's our goal. To be quite honest, the conference goals might change. We got knocked out of sectionals last year and that leaves kind of a bitter taste. We definitely want to win the sectional and definitely feel we can."

The Trojans will get an early sectional preview when they open the season at Oregon-Davis. The Bobcats, along with Argos, Culver and Elkhart Christian will face Triton during the regular season and potentially in the 1A sectional 50.

Triton's opener against Oregon-Davis tips off at 8 p.m. in Hamlet Friday. [[In-content Ad]]