Trojans Extend Streak Over NorthWood
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
During a 41-31 home win over the Panthers, the Class 1A third-ranked Trojans (3-0) actually committed three more turnovers than NorthWood (0-1), which was playing its first game of the season.[[In-content Ad]]"Our goal is to keep turnovers below 11, and we were up to 18 tonight, and really without a whole lot of ball pressure," Groves said. "(NorthWood) was kind of sagging a little bit. So, to be honest, I was pretty disappointed in that aspect."
That may have been disappointing, but combined with Tuesday's 59-54 over the Plymouth Pilgrims, the Trojans haven't lost to either Northern Lakes Conference team on their schedule three years running.
"I respect their programs so much," Groves said. "Year-in and year-out they have good teams, physically-tough teams. It gives us a lot of confidence to be able to knock off two quality programs like Plymouth and NorthWood."
Despite owning an overall series lead of 26-8 over Triton, NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe commented that a win would have actually boosted his team's confidence.
"This has been a tough place to play for us the last three years," Wolfe, who is 0-3 against Triton, said. "Obviously, this could have been a win that catapulted us with some tremendous confidence. Now we need to regroup."
By getting his team regrouped, Wolfe is trying to replace all-everything player Skyler Titus, as well as Micah Horner, both of whom graduated.
"We're building a new identity with this basketball team," he said. "Tonight, I think our identity showed up on the defensive end and I think it showed up in the effort by our guys. It's just going to be a team that has to play very well together offensively to be efficient."
After scoring just 18 points through three quarters and hitting just 8 of 39 shots on the night, it was clear to him that his offense is far from in rhythm.
"There's no way to negate the fact that it's going to be very tough to beat a good team when you only have eight field goals," Wolfe said.
The Trojans' turnovers helped keep NorthWood in the game, but key shots by Triton junior Jordan Everett helped keep distance between his team and the Panthers.
Everett's first three-pointer gave Triton its first double-digit lead at 17-6 late in the first half then he extended the Trojans' lead to 21-9 after he followed his own missed three-pointer with a putback as time expired in the half.
His third, and final, three-pointer came with 6:28 to play in the game, and put NorthWood away for good at 34-18.
"Jordan did a nice job," Groves said of the game's top scorer. "He's a smart kid, he knows where to be on the court and he knocked down some big shots. He got after it defensively too, so I was pleased with his play."
Groves' top defender was junior Austin Davis who hauled in 10 rebounds, helping to keep the Panthers at bay all night.
"Defensively, there were very few complaints on my part," Groves said. "I thought Austin Davis did a great job inside battling, being physical, getting rebounds. Holding a team to 31 points - that's good."
And despite the loss, Wolfe was also pleased with his team's defensive effort against a squad that averaged 74 points in its first two wins of the year.
"Our effort was tremendous tonight," the NorthWood coach said. "On the defensive end of the floor, we did a nice job. (Triton junior) Griffyn Carpenter is one heck of a player, and I don't know how many points Triton was averaging coming in here, but they're pretty explosive offensively."
Triton is actually trying to install a new kind of offense with the dribble-drive, and games like Friday's may be expected as the system is refined.
"They were mixing up their defense," Groves said. "They had a man-to-man switch and it almost looked like it was a matchup 2-3 zone, matching up to our spots and switching everything. That kind of gave us trouble. I'm learning with this too. So, I'll see that and be able to adjust the next time a team does that."
Triton is used to scoring a few more points than 41, but at the end of the day, Groves was just happy to have more than NorthWood.
"I told my kids, 'I'm disappointed with the way we played, but look at the big picture.'," Groves said. "I mean, we beat Plymouth, we beat NorthWood and we're 3-0. Things are going in the right direction."
The Trojans take their 3-0 record to North Miami Tuesday, where the junior varsity will tip off at 6 p.m.
TRITON 41, NORTHWOOD 31
N 4 5 9 13 - 31
T 9 12 8 12 - 41
Triton - Griffyn Carpenter 3-10 0-0 7, Ben Montalbano 2-6 0-0 4, Austin Davis 1-4 1-2 3, Taran Holderman 2-5 2-2 7, Clay Yeo 1-1 0-0 3, Jordan Koontz 0-0 0-0 0, Curtis Nordmann 0-0 0-0 0, Camron Garey 1-1 2-2 4, Quentyn Carpenter 1-1 0-0 2, Kreig Voreis 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Everett 4-6 0-1 11. Totals 15-34 5-7 41.
NW - Michael Paul 0-12 7-9 7, Cameron Williams 1-7 4-4 6, David Zeltwanger 2-4 1-2 5, Kyle Heckaman 1-6 0-0 2, John Sittler 1-4 0-0 2, Aaron Rhoade 0-0 0-0 0, Coy Brown 1-2 1-1 3, Zac Coleman 2-4 1-2 6. Totals 8-39 14-18 31.
Three-point goals - Triton 6-16 (Everett 3, G. Carpenter, Holderman, Yeo), NW 1-12 (Coleman); Team Fouls - Triton 12, NW 13; Turnovers - Triton 18, NW 15; Rebounds - Triton 28 (Davis 10), NW 25 (Sittler 7); Assists - Triton 8 (Montalbano 6), NW 5; Steals - Triton 6 (Montalbano 2, Holderman 2), NW 7 (Paul 2, Sittler 2); Blocks - Triton 2, NW 1; Records: Triton 3-0, NW 0-1
JV - Triton 45, NW 39
Triton - Q. Carpenter 12, Zak Shively 9, Marc Lindsey 7, Seth Glingle 5, Blake Lemler 5, Dane Kennedy 4, Jackson Downing 3
During a 41-31 home win over the Panthers, the Class 1A third-ranked Trojans (3-0) actually committed three more turnovers than NorthWood (0-1), which was playing its first game of the season.[[In-content Ad]]"Our goal is to keep turnovers below 11, and we were up to 18 tonight, and really without a whole lot of ball pressure," Groves said. "(NorthWood) was kind of sagging a little bit. So, to be honest, I was pretty disappointed in that aspect."
That may have been disappointing, but combined with Tuesday's 59-54 over the Plymouth Pilgrims, the Trojans haven't lost to either Northern Lakes Conference team on their schedule three years running.
"I respect their programs so much," Groves said. "Year-in and year-out they have good teams, physically-tough teams. It gives us a lot of confidence to be able to knock off two quality programs like Plymouth and NorthWood."
Despite owning an overall series lead of 26-8 over Triton, NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe commented that a win would have actually boosted his team's confidence.
"This has been a tough place to play for us the last three years," Wolfe, who is 0-3 against Triton, said. "Obviously, this could have been a win that catapulted us with some tremendous confidence. Now we need to regroup."
By getting his team regrouped, Wolfe is trying to replace all-everything player Skyler Titus, as well as Micah Horner, both of whom graduated.
"We're building a new identity with this basketball team," he said. "Tonight, I think our identity showed up on the defensive end and I think it showed up in the effort by our guys. It's just going to be a team that has to play very well together offensively to be efficient."
After scoring just 18 points through three quarters and hitting just 8 of 39 shots on the night, it was clear to him that his offense is far from in rhythm.
"There's no way to negate the fact that it's going to be very tough to beat a good team when you only have eight field goals," Wolfe said.
The Trojans' turnovers helped keep NorthWood in the game, but key shots by Triton junior Jordan Everett helped keep distance between his team and the Panthers.
Everett's first three-pointer gave Triton its first double-digit lead at 17-6 late in the first half then he extended the Trojans' lead to 21-9 after he followed his own missed three-pointer with a putback as time expired in the half.
His third, and final, three-pointer came with 6:28 to play in the game, and put NorthWood away for good at 34-18.
"Jordan did a nice job," Groves said of the game's top scorer. "He's a smart kid, he knows where to be on the court and he knocked down some big shots. He got after it defensively too, so I was pleased with his play."
Groves' top defender was junior Austin Davis who hauled in 10 rebounds, helping to keep the Panthers at bay all night.
"Defensively, there were very few complaints on my part," Groves said. "I thought Austin Davis did a great job inside battling, being physical, getting rebounds. Holding a team to 31 points - that's good."
And despite the loss, Wolfe was also pleased with his team's defensive effort against a squad that averaged 74 points in its first two wins of the year.
"Our effort was tremendous tonight," the NorthWood coach said. "On the defensive end of the floor, we did a nice job. (Triton junior) Griffyn Carpenter is one heck of a player, and I don't know how many points Triton was averaging coming in here, but they're pretty explosive offensively."
Triton is actually trying to install a new kind of offense with the dribble-drive, and games like Friday's may be expected as the system is refined.
"They were mixing up their defense," Groves said. "They had a man-to-man switch and it almost looked like it was a matchup 2-3 zone, matching up to our spots and switching everything. That kind of gave us trouble. I'm learning with this too. So, I'll see that and be able to adjust the next time a team does that."
Triton is used to scoring a few more points than 41, but at the end of the day, Groves was just happy to have more than NorthWood.
"I told my kids, 'I'm disappointed with the way we played, but look at the big picture.'," Groves said. "I mean, we beat Plymouth, we beat NorthWood and we're 3-0. Things are going in the right direction."
The Trojans take their 3-0 record to North Miami Tuesday, where the junior varsity will tip off at 6 p.m.
TRITON 41, NORTHWOOD 31
N 4 5 9 13 - 31
T 9 12 8 12 - 41
Triton - Griffyn Carpenter 3-10 0-0 7, Ben Montalbano 2-6 0-0 4, Austin Davis 1-4 1-2 3, Taran Holderman 2-5 2-2 7, Clay Yeo 1-1 0-0 3, Jordan Koontz 0-0 0-0 0, Curtis Nordmann 0-0 0-0 0, Camron Garey 1-1 2-2 4, Quentyn Carpenter 1-1 0-0 2, Kreig Voreis 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Everett 4-6 0-1 11. Totals 15-34 5-7 41.
NW - Michael Paul 0-12 7-9 7, Cameron Williams 1-7 4-4 6, David Zeltwanger 2-4 1-2 5, Kyle Heckaman 1-6 0-0 2, John Sittler 1-4 0-0 2, Aaron Rhoade 0-0 0-0 0, Coy Brown 1-2 1-1 3, Zac Coleman 2-4 1-2 6. Totals 8-39 14-18 31.
Three-point goals - Triton 6-16 (Everett 3, G. Carpenter, Holderman, Yeo), NW 1-12 (Coleman); Team Fouls - Triton 12, NW 13; Turnovers - Triton 18, NW 15; Rebounds - Triton 28 (Davis 10), NW 25 (Sittler 7); Assists - Triton 8 (Montalbano 6), NW 5; Steals - Triton 6 (Montalbano 2, Holderman 2), NW 7 (Paul 2, Sittler 2); Blocks - Triton 2, NW 1; Records: Triton 3-0, NW 0-1
JV - Triton 45, NW 39
Triton - Q. Carpenter 12, Zak Shively 9, Marc Lindsey 7, Seth Glingle 5, Blake Lemler 5, Dane Kennedy 4, Jackson Downing 3
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