Trojans To Face Familiar Foe
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
"People ask me who they compare to, and I tell them 'they look a lot like us,' said Groves, whose third-ranked Trojans battle the Knights Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lafayette Jeff High School.[[In-content Ad]]"We have a good point guard, they have a good point guard. They play tough defense, we play tough defense. They graduated four starters from last year, we graduated four starters from last year. They're a lot like us. It should be a pretty good game."
Triton enters Saturday's contest on a seven-game win streak and with a 23-2 record, while Lafayette Central Catholic is on a 12-game win streak and sports a 20-6 record.
The winner advances to next week's state finals at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to play either No. 1 Jac-Cen-Del (23-2) or No. 7 North Daviess (21-5).
The Trojans beat the Knights 52-51 in last year's semistate, as Colton Keel's tip-in advanced them to the state finals, where they beat Indianapolis Lutheran 50-42.
Keel, now a senior, is the only returning starter from last year's state championship team.
And though they graduated starters Jake Everett, A.J. Harrison, Troy McIntyre and Bart Christian, the Trojans haven't skipped a beat this year.
"I knew we had the pieces to the puzzle, it was just a matter of how they would fit together," said Groves, who is 73-22 in his fourth year as Triton's head coach. "We had kids on the team last year that I thought could start for some teams in the area. They played their role last year, and that really helped develop our team depth for this year."
Keel, who will play basketball next year for NAIA power Bethel College and Hall of Fame coach Mike Lightfoot, leads the Trojans in scoring with 16 points per game and in rebounding with eight per contest.
"Coming into the summer, we knew we'd have one starter back and that he would be our focal point," Groves said of Keel. "He's responded well. He makes every one else better."
With teams' defensive game plans focused on the 6-foot-4 Keel, players like sophomore Griffyn Carpenter and senior Joel Meister have stepped up for the Trojans.
Carpenter has made 74 three-pointers this season and averages 15 points per game, while Meister averages 13 points per game.
In charge of guiding the team's offense and distrubuting the ball, junior Ben Montalbano averages nearly six assists per game.
The Trojans advanced to the semistate after winning sectional and regional titles on their home floor.
In the first two games of the sectional, Triton had little trouble in beating Westville (68-36) and Oregon-Davis (66-36). The Trojans then beat county rival Argos 48-39 to win their first back-to-back sectional crowns for the first time since winning three straight from 1999-2001.
In last week's regional, Triton beat Bethany Christian 58-47 and No. 2 Bowman Academy 60-58.
Now the Trojans have to go on the road, something they have had to do just once in their last 10 games.
Lafayette Central Catholic has won eight consecutive sectional championships. And since the IHSAA moved to the multi-class state tournament for the 1997-98 season, the Knights have failed to advance to the regional just once.
In Lafayette Central Catholic, the Trojans will face a team Saturday that hasn't lost since an 87-83 overtime setback to host Lafayette Jeff on Jan. 30.
"They're a lot different from when we played them last year in that they have four new starters, but they're also very similar," Groves said of the Knights. "They're still very agressive offensively and defensively. They're a very good team."
Senior Dru Anthrop leads the Knights with 23 points and seven rebounds per game.
No other LCC player scores more than 10 points per game, but the Knights are well-balanced.
Junior Chris Mills averages 9.6 points per contest, while junior Connor Mackey chips in with 8.4 points per game, junior Elliott Zak contributes 7.6 points per game and sophomore Brett Haan scores an average of 7.2 points per contest.
Haan has made 43 three-pointers this season, while Anthrop has made 40 treys.
The Knights are making their third-straight semistate appearance but haven't been to the state finals since winning it all in 2003.
"People ask me who they compare to, and I tell them 'they look a lot like us,' said Groves, whose third-ranked Trojans battle the Knights Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lafayette Jeff High School.[[In-content Ad]]"We have a good point guard, they have a good point guard. They play tough defense, we play tough defense. They graduated four starters from last year, we graduated four starters from last year. They're a lot like us. It should be a pretty good game."
Triton enters Saturday's contest on a seven-game win streak and with a 23-2 record, while Lafayette Central Catholic is on a 12-game win streak and sports a 20-6 record.
The winner advances to next week's state finals at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to play either No. 1 Jac-Cen-Del (23-2) or No. 7 North Daviess (21-5).
The Trojans beat the Knights 52-51 in last year's semistate, as Colton Keel's tip-in advanced them to the state finals, where they beat Indianapolis Lutheran 50-42.
Keel, now a senior, is the only returning starter from last year's state championship team.
And though they graduated starters Jake Everett, A.J. Harrison, Troy McIntyre and Bart Christian, the Trojans haven't skipped a beat this year.
"I knew we had the pieces to the puzzle, it was just a matter of how they would fit together," said Groves, who is 73-22 in his fourth year as Triton's head coach. "We had kids on the team last year that I thought could start for some teams in the area. They played their role last year, and that really helped develop our team depth for this year."
Keel, who will play basketball next year for NAIA power Bethel College and Hall of Fame coach Mike Lightfoot, leads the Trojans in scoring with 16 points per game and in rebounding with eight per contest.
"Coming into the summer, we knew we'd have one starter back and that he would be our focal point," Groves said of Keel. "He's responded well. He makes every one else better."
With teams' defensive game plans focused on the 6-foot-4 Keel, players like sophomore Griffyn Carpenter and senior Joel Meister have stepped up for the Trojans.
Carpenter has made 74 three-pointers this season and averages 15 points per game, while Meister averages 13 points per game.
In charge of guiding the team's offense and distrubuting the ball, junior Ben Montalbano averages nearly six assists per game.
The Trojans advanced to the semistate after winning sectional and regional titles on their home floor.
In the first two games of the sectional, Triton had little trouble in beating Westville (68-36) and Oregon-Davis (66-36). The Trojans then beat county rival Argos 48-39 to win their first back-to-back sectional crowns for the first time since winning three straight from 1999-2001.
In last week's regional, Triton beat Bethany Christian 58-47 and No. 2 Bowman Academy 60-58.
Now the Trojans have to go on the road, something they have had to do just once in their last 10 games.
Lafayette Central Catholic has won eight consecutive sectional championships. And since the IHSAA moved to the multi-class state tournament for the 1997-98 season, the Knights have failed to advance to the regional just once.
In Lafayette Central Catholic, the Trojans will face a team Saturday that hasn't lost since an 87-83 overtime setback to host Lafayette Jeff on Jan. 30.
"They're a lot different from when we played them last year in that they have four new starters, but they're also very similar," Groves said of the Knights. "They're still very agressive offensively and defensively. They're a very good team."
Senior Dru Anthrop leads the Knights with 23 points and seven rebounds per game.
No other LCC player scores more than 10 points per game, but the Knights are well-balanced.
Junior Chris Mills averages 9.6 points per contest, while junior Connor Mackey chips in with 8.4 points per game, junior Elliott Zak contributes 7.6 points per game and sophomore Brett Haan scores an average of 7.2 points per contest.
Haan has made 43 three-pointers this season, while Anthrop has made 40 treys.
The Knights are making their third-straight semistate appearance but haven't been to the state finals since winning it all in 2003.
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