SOUTH WHITLEY - Whitko's game plan going into Friday's game with Triton was as basic as it gets: Make sure the tall guys shoot the ball.

A Whitko boys basketball team with four players between 6-foot-3 and 6-5 did exactly that against a Triton team with no players taller than 6-1. The result? Whitko won 65-40.

Six-foot-3 forward Bo Mullins hit 6 of 7 shots and scored 17. Jeremiah Laws, a 6-5 forward, hit 6 of 8 shots and scored 14. Kevin Miller, a 6-5 forward, hit 6 of 9 shots and scored 17. Jered Deckena, a 6-5 forward, hit 3 of 3 and scored six.

The four players combined made 21 of 27 field goals and tallied 54 of Whitko's 65 points.

"The key to the game, number one, was our guys understood we were going to make them get the ball inside," Whitko coach Fred Fields said. "No discussion, no options. The ball's going inside. We weren't going to settle for marginal shots. The whole ballgame, we settled for maybe four marginal shots."

How effective was Whitko? Well, Triton coach Kevin O'Rourke said afterward he believed his team played solid defense. He felt his players got to their spots; they just couldn't stop a much taller Whitko team.

"Actually, I thought we did some things better tonight," he said. "I know the score doesn't look like it. We gave up 65 points, but we fouled a lot and gave up a lot of points late. There's been times we played poorly and I've said we played poorly. I'm really not disappointed about our effort defensively tonight. We could have easily held them to 50 points or less.

"Twenty-one of 27 hurts. You're not gonna win very many games that way, are you? They're 6-5 and jump well. There were times we were there, but they hit the shots right over the top of us. What do you do? There's something to be said about being 6-5 and 5-10."

The first thing O'Rourke wanted to know after the game was how his team shot from the field. A reporter told him his team made 15 of 53 field goals and 8 of 13 free throws.

O'Rourke believed those numbers told the story of the game.

"Offensively, we've shot the ball well all year," he said. "This game we shot under 30 percent. If we shoot our normal 45, 48 percent and hit threes like we normally hit threes and knock down free throws, we would have given ourselves an opportunity to win at the end.

"The game came down to our inability to make open shots. They weren't contested shots, either. We missed layups; we missed wide-open three-pointers. I don't get upset about missed shots. They just didn't go in today."

Just ask guard Matt Savill, who entered as Triton's leading scorer and best shooter. He made only 1 of 11 and finished with two points. He attempted nine three-pointers. He missed all nine.

What happened depended on who you talked to afterward. Fields said it was Whitko's defense.

"Bo Mullins guarding number 20 (Savill) was the key," Fields said. "He's a good shooter; he just didn't do it tonight."

O'Rourke said the open looks were there.

"Matt was just off," O'Rourke said. "Reggie Miller is one of the best shooters in the NBA. I've seen games he couldn't buy a basket."

In reality, both coaches were probably right. Whitko may have contested shots, but screens set Savill free several times.

Point guard Austin Unterbrink scored 12 to lead Triton.

Triton, 4-12, is at Tippecanoe Valley this evening.

Whitko, 4-12, is at Rochester this evening. [[In-content Ad]]