Coming into Wednesday night’s game at Jimtown undefeated at 6-0, the Triton boys basketball team was met with a buzzsaw in the form of the Jimmies, as the home side handed the Trojans their first loss of the year with a 61-29 scoreline.
The loss was Triton’s first loss to the Jimmies in 10 meetings. The Trojans had won the previous nine, including last year’s renewal of the rivalry at the Trojan Trench.
The start by Triton was certainly not what the Trojans had in mind, as the visitors looked out of sorts from the start. Turnovers were a massive factor for Triton early, as the Trojans gave away possession on four of their first six trips down the court. The home side had no problems turning the mistakes into points, and were able to jump out to an early lead.
The story of the game was Jimtown junior Branden King. Standing at 6’6” the forward was able to cause all types of problems for Triton in the paint and on the glass. King scored nine of the Jimmies’ eleven first quarter points, outscoring the Trojans all by himself.
After going scoreless for the first four minutes of the game, Triton was able to figure some things out in the second half of the first, cutting the deficit to four as the second quarter began. Triton was determined to move the ball around as much as possible, a strategy that saw three different players score in the period.

    Triton senior Jacob Pitney shoots a three-pointer during the second quarter of Wednesday night's game at Jimtown. Photo by Gary Nieter

The second quarter is where things got out of hand. The offensive struggles continued for the visitors, as the turnover issue returned in a much worse way than before. The Triton giveaways made it easy for Jimtown to continue extending its lead, and not long into the quarter, the Jimmies were up by double digits.
The Trojans were held to just five points in the second, but had the chance to score more. The one mistake the home side was making early was its overaggressiveness, which allowed the Trojans a ton of attempts at the line. But with nothing going right so far, the sluggishness continued at the line, preventing Triton from chipping away and allowing the home team to take a 17-point lead into halftime.
The hill that Triton needed to climb didn’t get any smaller in the opening minutes of the third quarter, as Jimtown’s lead quickly extended to over 20 on two quick baskets by King. The turnovers continued to pile up, and at one point in the third quarter, the Trojans had more turnovers in the game (14) than points (12).
Despite the game clearly not going their way, the effort never dipped for Triton. Players continued to fight through screens, rush over to help double team and close out on shooters whenever possible. Despite Triton’s best efforts, it was simply Jimtown’s night. Shots continued to fall, no matter how much contact was there, and by the time there were two minutes left in the quarter, the lead had ballooned to 30.
That’s where things would stand as the fourth quarter got going. Looking to keep the running clock from going into effect, Triton was able to put together its best quarter yet, albeit coming just a tad too late. Dante Workman, who had been forced to sit nearly the whole third quarter with foul trouble, returned to the game and was able to make an impact on the offensive end.
With about three minutes to go and the game decided long ago, both sides emptied their benches and allowed the junior varsity players to get some meaningful minutes at the varsity level.
Tanner Witt-Hoyo led Triton with eight points in the game. Jacob Pitney and Workman each finished with seven. Gage Riffle scored five and grabbed three rebounds while Wayne Reichert rounded out the scoring with two. King led all scorers with 23 points.
Triton (6-1) will look to get back into the win column on Friday as it continues its road trip with a game at South Central (Union Mills).