Triton Focused In Win Over Valley
February 18, 2017 at 6:22 a.m.
Triton Focused In Win Over Valley
By Mark [email protected]
Sophomore Beau Hepler got the Trojans off to a fast start, hitting three shots from beyond the arc in Triton’s first five possessions and staking his team to an early 11-4 lead.
“I thought our guys did a nice job of spreading them out, and Beau did a nice job of knockin’ them down,” Triton coach jason Groves said. “I talk to the kids a lot about being focused and ready to play, and I think shooting early (in the game) is a sign of that.
“We played Clinton Christian last Saturday after playing LaVille, which was a big conference game. And we didn’t shoot very well. I told them ‘that’s a lack of focus. You guys can shoot the ball better than this. Come out and knock down shots.’ I liked our focus and intensity and how we started out tonight.”
Hepler finished with 14 points, and Zac Pitney added 13 for Triton.
It didn’t help that the Vikings shot the ball poorly most of the night. After press-breaking layups on two of its first three possessions, Valley hit just one more shot in the quarter, then went eight minutes without making a basket.
Trailing 24-9 with 15 seconds to go before halftime, Valley scored five quick points on a three by freshman Tanner Trippiedi and a steal and layup by senior Alec Craig at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 10. The Vikings never got any closer the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, Triton was dominant inside, where senior Grant Johnson had a double-double with 14 points (on 6-of-7 shooting) and 11 rebounds, including five boards on the offensive end. He also had five blocked shots.
“Defensively, it was great. I thought we did a nice job contesting their threes,” Groves said. “Grant did a nice job inside. They couldn’t get much inside, and we knew that, so we were able to keep Grant inside and keep the other four outside to contest their shooters on the perimeter and contain their penetration.
“Part of it is they struggled shooting, too, but I’d like to think part of it was due to our defense getting a hand in their faces and not giving them clean looks.”
Triton also had an advantage at the free throw line, converting 16 of 17 charity tosses to Valley’s 1-of-4 effort. The Vikings had just 14 team fouls; many were born of frustration on rebounds after missed shots.
While giving Triton credit for holding his team to 29 percent shooting from the floor, Valley coach Bill Patrick was more concerned with the effort of his team, or lack thereof.
“They just played harder than we did. They were ready to play and we weren’t,” he said. “Our defense obviously wasn’t that good in the first half, and we couldn’t score. You’re not going to win many games at the high school level when you shoot 30 percent.
“We just didn’t get good shots, we weren’t moving the ball that well, and we were dribbling instead of passing the ball against their zone, and we didn’t get the ball to the right guy at the right time. Trippiedi shot well, but we just didn’t get him the ball enough. Craig couldn’t get open, and our guys in the middle weren’t moving. We had a lot of problems on offense, but mostly we didn’t play hard; we didn’t compete hard.
“And they just outplayed us. There really isn’t any other way to put it.”
Trippiedi had a unique double-double. He came off the bench to lead Valley with 13 points after pacing the junior varsity squad with 12 points in its 40-37 win over Triton.
This was the seventh straight year the home team has won in the series. The next largest margin of victory in that period was at the beginning of the home-team win streak, a 51-35 Triton win on Feb. 18, 2011.
Valley fell to 9-13 on the year, and closes out its regular season Friday with a home game against Wawasee.
Triton improved to 15-5 and hosts Bremen on Tuesday. The Trojans then close out its regular season with a Hoosier North Athletic Conference game at Knox Friday. A win over Knox would wrap up the HNAC title outright for Triton.
TRITON 56, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 35
TV 7 7 4 17 – 35
TR 17 7 10 22 – 56
Valley – Tanner Trippiedi 5-11 0-0 13, Keith Wright 0-9 0-0 0, DeSean Heckman 0-1 0-0 0, Alec Craig 4-15 0-0 8, Alex Morrison 1-4 0-3 2, Dwight Conley 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Jarod Duzenbery 3-5 1-1 7, Wes Melanson 2-5 0-0 5, Parkur Dalrymple 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-52 1-4 35.
Triton – Caden Marr 1-2 1-2 3, Nate Flenar 2-5 2-2 6, Drew Stichter 0-1 0-0 0, Beau Hepler 4-7 3-3 14, Max Slusser 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Berry 0-0 0-0 0, Zac Pitney 4-9 4-4 13, Tye Orsund 1-1 0-0 2, Delano Shumpert 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Hensley 0-0 2-2 2, Grant Johnson 6-7 2-2 14, Adam Stevens 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 18-33 16-17 56.
Three-pointers – Valley 4 (Trippiedi 3, Melanson), Triton 4 (Hepler 3, Pitney); Rebounds – Valley 22 (Wright 4), Triton 33 (Johnson 11); Turnovers – Valley 8, Triton 11, Fouls – Valley 14, Triton 9; Fouled out – none; Records: Valley 9-13, Triton 15-5.
JV – Tippecanoe Valley 40, Triton 37
Valley – Tanner Trippiedi 12, Cameron Parker 9, Jace Potter 8, Dwight Conley 5, Dakota Parker 4, Parkur Dalrymple 2.
Triton – Tye Orsund 17, Delano Shumpert 5, Tyler Heckaman 4, Kaden Atkins 3, Jared Bules 3, Quentin Thornburg 3, Ethan Berry 2.
E-Editions
Sophomore Beau Hepler got the Trojans off to a fast start, hitting three shots from beyond the arc in Triton’s first five possessions and staking his team to an early 11-4 lead.
“I thought our guys did a nice job of spreading them out, and Beau did a nice job of knockin’ them down,” Triton coach jason Groves said. “I talk to the kids a lot about being focused and ready to play, and I think shooting early (in the game) is a sign of that.
“We played Clinton Christian last Saturday after playing LaVille, which was a big conference game. And we didn’t shoot very well. I told them ‘that’s a lack of focus. You guys can shoot the ball better than this. Come out and knock down shots.’ I liked our focus and intensity and how we started out tonight.”
Hepler finished with 14 points, and Zac Pitney added 13 for Triton.
It didn’t help that the Vikings shot the ball poorly most of the night. After press-breaking layups on two of its first three possessions, Valley hit just one more shot in the quarter, then went eight minutes without making a basket.
Trailing 24-9 with 15 seconds to go before halftime, Valley scored five quick points on a three by freshman Tanner Trippiedi and a steal and layup by senior Alec Craig at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 10. The Vikings never got any closer the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, Triton was dominant inside, where senior Grant Johnson had a double-double with 14 points (on 6-of-7 shooting) and 11 rebounds, including five boards on the offensive end. He also had five blocked shots.
“Defensively, it was great. I thought we did a nice job contesting their threes,” Groves said. “Grant did a nice job inside. They couldn’t get much inside, and we knew that, so we were able to keep Grant inside and keep the other four outside to contest their shooters on the perimeter and contain their penetration.
“Part of it is they struggled shooting, too, but I’d like to think part of it was due to our defense getting a hand in their faces and not giving them clean looks.”
Triton also had an advantage at the free throw line, converting 16 of 17 charity tosses to Valley’s 1-of-4 effort. The Vikings had just 14 team fouls; many were born of frustration on rebounds after missed shots.
While giving Triton credit for holding his team to 29 percent shooting from the floor, Valley coach Bill Patrick was more concerned with the effort of his team, or lack thereof.
“They just played harder than we did. They were ready to play and we weren’t,” he said. “Our defense obviously wasn’t that good in the first half, and we couldn’t score. You’re not going to win many games at the high school level when you shoot 30 percent.
“We just didn’t get good shots, we weren’t moving the ball that well, and we were dribbling instead of passing the ball against their zone, and we didn’t get the ball to the right guy at the right time. Trippiedi shot well, but we just didn’t get him the ball enough. Craig couldn’t get open, and our guys in the middle weren’t moving. We had a lot of problems on offense, but mostly we didn’t play hard; we didn’t compete hard.
“And they just outplayed us. There really isn’t any other way to put it.”
Trippiedi had a unique double-double. He came off the bench to lead Valley with 13 points after pacing the junior varsity squad with 12 points in its 40-37 win over Triton.
This was the seventh straight year the home team has won in the series. The next largest margin of victory in that period was at the beginning of the home-team win streak, a 51-35 Triton win on Feb. 18, 2011.
Valley fell to 9-13 on the year, and closes out its regular season Friday with a home game against Wawasee.
Triton improved to 15-5 and hosts Bremen on Tuesday. The Trojans then close out its regular season with a Hoosier North Athletic Conference game at Knox Friday. A win over Knox would wrap up the HNAC title outright for Triton.
TRITON 56, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 35
TV 7 7 4 17 – 35
TR 17 7 10 22 – 56
Valley – Tanner Trippiedi 5-11 0-0 13, Keith Wright 0-9 0-0 0, DeSean Heckman 0-1 0-0 0, Alec Craig 4-15 0-0 8, Alex Morrison 1-4 0-3 2, Dwight Conley 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Jarod Duzenbery 3-5 1-1 7, Wes Melanson 2-5 0-0 5, Parkur Dalrymple 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-52 1-4 35.
Triton – Caden Marr 1-2 1-2 3, Nate Flenar 2-5 2-2 6, Drew Stichter 0-1 0-0 0, Beau Hepler 4-7 3-3 14, Max Slusser 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Berry 0-0 0-0 0, Zac Pitney 4-9 4-4 13, Tye Orsund 1-1 0-0 2, Delano Shumpert 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Hensley 0-0 2-2 2, Grant Johnson 6-7 2-2 14, Adam Stevens 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 18-33 16-17 56.
Three-pointers – Valley 4 (Trippiedi 3, Melanson), Triton 4 (Hepler 3, Pitney); Rebounds – Valley 22 (Wright 4), Triton 33 (Johnson 11); Turnovers – Valley 8, Triton 11, Fouls – Valley 14, Triton 9; Fouled out – none; Records: Valley 9-13, Triton 15-5.
JV – Tippecanoe Valley 40, Triton 37
Valley – Tanner Trippiedi 12, Cameron Parker 9, Jace Potter 8, Dwight Conley 5, Dakota Parker 4, Parkur Dalrymple 2.
Triton – Tye Orsund 17, Delano Shumpert 5, Tyler Heckaman 4, Kaden Atkins 3, Jared Bules 3, Quentin Thornburg 3, Ethan Berry 2.
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