Triton, who started the season by winning only four times in its first 16 games, won its fifth straight game with a 48-47 decision over South Central in the Triton Boys Basketball A Sectional Wednesday at Triton.

South Central entered the matchup with the best record in the sectional field at 14-6. It was a big win for a Triton team that lost all five starters from a year ago.

"For the most part, this is the first sectional appearance for our kids," O'Rourke said. "They stepped up and did an exceptional job.

"If you had your way, you would want to play well all year long," he said. "If you have to pick and choose between playing well early and playing well late, I will take late every time. We have been fortunate the last three years to have been playing pretty good basketball at the end of the year. This is a good example of that. We have a lot of confidence going, and defensively we are getting better."

Triton (9-12) now plays Michigan City Marquette (11-10) Friday at 8 p.m.

Triton trailed 35-32 late in the third quarter when it went on an 8-0 run into the fourth quarter paced by two big three-pointers by Matt Savill to open the last period and give the Trojans a 40-35 lead.

Once ahead, Triton was able to control the tempo of the fourth quarter and make the Satellites have to make the plays. Which they almost did.

Trailing 48-43, South Central got two free throws and a big steal and layup by Ryan Busse to cut the lead to 48-47 with a minute to play. South Central would get two more chances late in the game, but three-pointers by Kurt Welsh and Zane Cooper were well off the mark.

"It is hard to set up any kind of defense because they have the ability to break you down, and they have the ability to hit the outside shots," O'Rourke said of the final few seconds. "We didn't want to foul and send them to the line. If they were going to beat us, they were going to have to make one from the outside - a contested 20-, 22- or 23-footer. I figured that was our best odds."

Savill ended up with 12 points off the bench to lead the Trojans.

"Matt came in and hit a couple of huge ones," O'Rourke said. "I never worry about him shooting an open three. He has been trying to shoot himself out of a slump. Every time he shoots the ball, I think it is going to go in. That is how much confidence I have in him. He hit them when they counted."

It was nip and tuck for a majority of the first half.

South Central led 13-9 late in the first quarter before the Trojans tied the score at 13 on a pair of free throws by Savill and Austin Unterbrink.

The score was tied at 15 when South Central had a bit of bad luck. After Cooper got called for not reporting into the game at the scorer's table, Savill converted on the technical foul free throws and sent Triton to its biggest lead of the game at 23-15 as the Trojans went on an 8-0 run. But South Central responded with a 9-0 run and held a 24-23 halftime lead on a Busse three-pointer.

South Central was ahead 33-28 in the third quarter when Welsh picked up his fourth foul and his playmaking abilities went to the bench. Triton took advantage by closing the score to 35-34 at the end of the third quarter on a layup from Unterbrink.

Triton now faces Marquette, who beat Argos 71-61 in the second game.

"They may be the most athletic team in the field," O'Rourke said. "Right now we are just glad to be one of the teams in it. We are just going to enjoy this one for now, and we will come back tomorrow." [[In-content Ad]]