BOURBON - Whitko is supposed to be simple to beat. All you need is a simple game plan to shut down Zach Henson, and the rest of the Wildcats fall down and play dead.

Try telling that to Triton head coach Kevin O'Rourke. His Trojans held Henson to just six points in the first half and only four shot attempts. Henson was in foul trouble and on the bench much more than usual.

But when that horn sounded to signal the end of the first half, O'Rourke found his team staring at an 11-point deficit.

Josh Gonzalez came up big in the opening half with 11 points, and Jeremiah Laws added nine in the first 16 minutes to make up for Henson's offensive slide.

Whitko went on from that point to upset heavily favored Triton 65-59. The Trojans had won 13 of their last 14 games at home until last night.

How did Whitko pull the upset without the usually stellar Henson manning the offense?

Easy. The Wildcats had others step up offensively. Gonzalez was the big performer, leading the team in scoring with 19 points and knocking down all three of his three-point attempts. Jeremiah Laws had 10 points, nine of those in the first half, when Whitko asserted itself.

"Gonzalez really stepped up," Whitko head coach Dave Henson said. "Corey Green did a nice job, Bo Mullins off the bench did a nice job offensively. Jeremiah Laws in the first half, we had a lot of guys step up."

And, of course, there was Henson. Sure, he made only four field goals the entire game. But he was 10 of 10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter with Triton frantically trying to make a run. He also dished out nine assists, seven in the opening two quarters, and grabbed eight rebounds, two steals, and two blocks.

Surprisingly, the critical stretch may have come in the second and third quarters. With Triton trailing 23-11 in the second period, Henson picked up his third foul. The Trojans quickly went on a 6-0 run as Henson watched from the bench. But Gonzalez stepped up and hit a lay-up with 53 seconds left and a three-pointer off the backboard at the buzzer to put Whitko back ahead by eleven.

"Zach has had times where he's been in foul trouble," Henson said. "He's usually smart enough to stay out of it. I don't usually take him out, but he was tired."

Leading 28-17, Whitko got the ball in the third quarter, and Kevin Miller connected on a three-point play that gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game at 14 points.

That may have been too much for Triton to come back from, but it sure tried. The Trojans went on a 12-5 run to get within seven points with more than two minutes to play in the third, but Whitko responded with an 8-2 run to lead 44-31 going into the fourth.

Triton tried one more time to get back into the game with a 10-1 run to open the final quarter to close within four points. However, Whitko knocked down its free throws down the stretch to pick up the win.

Triton shot just 15 percent from the field in the first half and ended at 33 percent. Whitko shot a sparkling 55 percent and hit 50 percent of its three-point attempts.

"When we play hard," Coach Henson said. "We play pretty well. We played hard tonight."

Cory Monesmith had scored 34 and 36 points in his last two games. Whitko held him to just 10 points on the night. The Wildcats also held Jeff Rupe four points below his average with just eight points.

"We started in a zone," Coach Henson said. "I felt that the way we got started, they struggled against our 1-3-1 zone early on."

After Triton clinched at least a share of the Northern State Conference title against John Glenn on Tuesday, the thought was that there might be a let down.

"Absolutely not," Triton head coach Kevin O'Rourke said. "There was no let down. We gave up too many easy baskets in the first half. Our shots weren't falling. We got a little tentative and quit attacking the basket. It was a little disappointing. They beat us tonight. They were the better team tonight."

Another problem for Triton may come from its defense. After going the first 15 games without allowing 60 points for an entire game, it has now allowed that number two consecutive outings. Admittedly, 65 points is not an amount that Triton can not overcome, but it is a trend that could become a little disturbing.

Philip Reed led Triton with 21 points as he hit five three-pointers. Scott Blackford added 13 points and four rebounds. Bill Salyer scored seven points and grabbed a game-high ten rebounds.

Triton (13-4) hosts Valley tonight. Whitko (8-9) hosts Rochester tonight also. [[In-content Ad]]