Cold Shooting Hurts Triton In Season-Opening Loss
November 24, 2017 at 4:42 p.m.
Cold Shooting Hurts Triton In Season-Opening Loss
By Mark [email protected]
The Trojans, with just three seniors on their roster, missed all 10 of their shots from the floor in the opening quarter, and were down 9-0 before sophomore Quentin Thornburg sunk a three-pointer with 6:20 to go in the first half. Midway through the second period Triton trailed 15-4.
Warsaw transfer Ross Johnson scored the last eight points of the half and got the first bucket of the third quarter to cap a 10-0 run that pulled Triton to within one, but the cold shooting returned and the Bobcats methodically pulled away.
Triton coach Jason Groves said he wasn’t necessarily displeased with his team’s performance. The Trojans held the visitors to 41 percent shooting from the floor, and ran their offensive sets well. They just couldn’t seem to finish well often enough.
“When you’ve got a lot of inexperienced guys, guys that aren’t used to scoring, that’s going to happen early in the season,” he said. “We’ve got, obviously, a lot of room for improvement, but I liked their fight.
“They fought back, got themselves back in the game. I thought we played good defense. I thought the kids did a nice job executing the game plan defensively, and really they did a nice job executing the game plan offensively. We just couldn’t hit shots.”
Triton finished 11-of-42 from the floor (26 percent), and hit just two of 17 three-point attempts.
“To be honest with you, we don’t shoot this poorly in practice. Maybe it’s our defense is really bad in practice,” smiled Groves. “We’ve just got to be able to knock those shots in.
“I think part of it is just confidence, wondering what our role is. I think once we missed some it got contagious, and people got hesitant. When that happens, it’s not a good thing.”
Johnson finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, both team highs for Triton.
“He’s a good basketball player,” Groves said. “He’s a smart player; he knows how to get to the basket. I’ve seen that in practice. He scores quite a bit in practice. He just needs to get his confidence and kind of feel where he fits in with the team and how our team fits together. That’s one thing we’re still struggling with — we don’t have an identity yet — but that’s something we can develop over time.”
The Bobcats’ Trevor Risner led all scorers with 21 points, and Jonathon Clark had nine for Oregon-Davis. Triton had six points from Thornburg and five from Dylan Hensley.
Oregon-Davis won the junior varsity contest 38-31 over Triton. Kaden Atkins had 10 points, with Keegan Westafer and Trenton Kreft adding eight points each for the Trojans.
Triton (0-1) hosts Plymouth at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Trojan Trench.
OREGON-DAVIS 42, TRITON 31
OD 6 9 10 17 – 42
T 0 12 6 13 – 31
Oregon-Davis – Jonathon Clark 3-12 3-7 9, Dennis Cooley 0-0 00 0, Trevor Risner 8-12 3-4 21, Lance Campbell 0-5 2-2 2, Justin Smith 2-3 0-0 4, Jeffrey Avery 0-2 0-0 0, Trevor Wilson 3-5 0-1 6. Totals 16-39 8-14 42.
Triton – Max Slusser 0-0 0-2 0, Jared Bules 0-0 0-1 0, Drew Stichter 0-5 1-2 1, Beau Hepler 1-9 2-2 4, Delano Shumpert 0-0 0-0 0, Quentin Thornburg 2-7 0-0 6, Dylan Hensley 2-10 1-3 5, Tyler Heckaman 0-0 0-0 0, Ross Johnson 6-11 3-4 15. Totals 11-42 7-14 31.
Three-pointers – Oregon-Davis 2 (Campbell 2), Triton 2 (Thornburg 2); Rebounds – Oregon-Davis 28 (Clark 8), Triton 34 (Johnson 7); Turnovers – Oregon-Davis 6, Triton 10; Fouls – Oregon-Davis 16, Triton 16; Fouled out – none; Records – Oregon-Davis 1-0, Triton 0-1
JV – Oregon-Davis 38, Triton 31
Triton – Kaden Atkins 10, Keegan Westafer 8, Trenton Kreft 8, Jared Bules 5.
The Trojans, with just three seniors on their roster, missed all 10 of their shots from the floor in the opening quarter, and were down 9-0 before sophomore Quentin Thornburg sunk a three-pointer with 6:20 to go in the first half. Midway through the second period Triton trailed 15-4.
Warsaw transfer Ross Johnson scored the last eight points of the half and got the first bucket of the third quarter to cap a 10-0 run that pulled Triton to within one, but the cold shooting returned and the Bobcats methodically pulled away.
Triton coach Jason Groves said he wasn’t necessarily displeased with his team’s performance. The Trojans held the visitors to 41 percent shooting from the floor, and ran their offensive sets well. They just couldn’t seem to finish well often enough.
“When you’ve got a lot of inexperienced guys, guys that aren’t used to scoring, that’s going to happen early in the season,” he said. “We’ve got, obviously, a lot of room for improvement, but I liked their fight.
“They fought back, got themselves back in the game. I thought we played good defense. I thought the kids did a nice job executing the game plan defensively, and really they did a nice job executing the game plan offensively. We just couldn’t hit shots.”
Triton finished 11-of-42 from the floor (26 percent), and hit just two of 17 three-point attempts.
“To be honest with you, we don’t shoot this poorly in practice. Maybe it’s our defense is really bad in practice,” smiled Groves. “We’ve just got to be able to knock those shots in.
“I think part of it is just confidence, wondering what our role is. I think once we missed some it got contagious, and people got hesitant. When that happens, it’s not a good thing.”
Johnson finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, both team highs for Triton.
“He’s a good basketball player,” Groves said. “He’s a smart player; he knows how to get to the basket. I’ve seen that in practice. He scores quite a bit in practice. He just needs to get his confidence and kind of feel where he fits in with the team and how our team fits together. That’s one thing we’re still struggling with — we don’t have an identity yet — but that’s something we can develop over time.”
The Bobcats’ Trevor Risner led all scorers with 21 points, and Jonathon Clark had nine for Oregon-Davis. Triton had six points from Thornburg and five from Dylan Hensley.
Oregon-Davis won the junior varsity contest 38-31 over Triton. Kaden Atkins had 10 points, with Keegan Westafer and Trenton Kreft adding eight points each for the Trojans.
Triton (0-1) hosts Plymouth at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Trojan Trench.
OREGON-DAVIS 42, TRITON 31
OD 6 9 10 17 – 42
T 0 12 6 13 – 31
Oregon-Davis – Jonathon Clark 3-12 3-7 9, Dennis Cooley 0-0 00 0, Trevor Risner 8-12 3-4 21, Lance Campbell 0-5 2-2 2, Justin Smith 2-3 0-0 4, Jeffrey Avery 0-2 0-0 0, Trevor Wilson 3-5 0-1 6. Totals 16-39 8-14 42.
Triton – Max Slusser 0-0 0-2 0, Jared Bules 0-0 0-1 0, Drew Stichter 0-5 1-2 1, Beau Hepler 1-9 2-2 4, Delano Shumpert 0-0 0-0 0, Quentin Thornburg 2-7 0-0 6, Dylan Hensley 2-10 1-3 5, Tyler Heckaman 0-0 0-0 0, Ross Johnson 6-11 3-4 15. Totals 11-42 7-14 31.
Three-pointers – Oregon-Davis 2 (Campbell 2), Triton 2 (Thornburg 2); Rebounds – Oregon-Davis 28 (Clark 8), Triton 34 (Johnson 7); Turnovers – Oregon-Davis 6, Triton 10; Fouls – Oregon-Davis 16, Triton 16; Fouled out – none; Records – Oregon-Davis 1-0, Triton 0-1
JV – Oregon-Davis 38, Triton 31
Triton – Kaden Atkins 10, Keegan Westafer 8, Trenton Kreft 8, Jared Bules 5.
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