LAFAYETTE — Triton’s “fight-to-the-finish” mindset was present and accounted for during its 62-47 loss to Clinton Prairie in Saturday afternoon’s Class 1A Lafayette Semistate boys basketball semifinal at the Crawley Center, but the Trojans’ shot-making, especially during the pivotal first half, was missing.
No. 11-ranked Triton converted just 4-of-22 attempts from the field over the opening two quarters, including just 1-of-11 from 3-point land, while the No. 3 Gophers were draining 13-of-22 tries across those first two periods, including 5-of-10 from distance.
Those stark differences helped Clinton race to a 33-12 lead by the break.
The winners didn’t let up in the second half, either, adding a scalding 12-of-16 from the field to finish the game at 61% and sufficiently offset the Trojans’ post-intermission improvement to 14-of-30.
“Obviously, they played really well, and we did not,” Triton coach Jason Groves said. “I wasn’t really expecting that. We had a good week of practice, but the ball just didn’t go in the hole. That’s been the case in all our losses. They were attacking and we were a little passive.”
The Gophers (26-2) went on to add a 73-59 victory over No. 7 Kouts in Saturday night’s final for their 19th straight win and their first-ever semistate title. Clinton faces No. 4 Orleans (24-4) for the 1A crown at 10:30 a.m. next Saturday morning in Indianapolis.
“I think so,” said Groves, owner of an Indiana 1A title and four title-game appearances, of whether the Gophers are state-title material, too. “I mean, they are so long and athletic and skilled. They have a great player in (Jake) McGraw. … Just a really good basketball team. I think they have what it takes on both ends of the court.”
At one end against the Trojans (23-5), Clinton was making all those aforementioned shots, enough to force Triton, leading the state in defensive average at 34.8, to match the most points it allowed all season (against NorthWood on Dec. 6).
At the other end, the Gophers’ primarily 3-2 zone and a starting unit featuring four players from 6-foot-2 to 6-5 largely stifled the Trojans until the second half.
“(Their size) was an issue,” Groves said. “Set-wise and what we wanted to do, we couldn’t make the passes over their heads to get it where we needed to get it.”
The Trojan boss conceded that his team wound up taking some shots from further than desired, noting that the Gophers’ “length pushes you out, plus you have a hard time scoring inside because of the threat of getting your shot blocked, (but) we didn’t finish inside, either. We had some bunnies that we missed.”
The versatile 6-5 McGraw and fellow senior guard Alex Farley scored 17 points apiece for Clinton. The duo paired to make 13-of-18 shots from the field, including 6-of-9 outside the arc, and McGraw mixed in game highs of 10 rebounds and six assists.
Nick Curtin added 14 points on 7-of-9 from the field, while fellow junior Nick Ewing contributed nine points and six boards.
Triton was paced by senior Dante Workman and junior Landon Patrick with 12 points, six rebounds and two steals apiece. Workman also dished a team-high four assists.
Junior Gage Riffle added 10 points and closed 3-of-7 from distance. Senior Tanner Witt-Hoyo notched five points and four boards.
Freshman Brayden Wood popped off the bench to collect all of his game-high three steals during the fourth quarter, keying the Trojans’ late charge. He also finished with four points and four rebounds.
“That’s what these guys are capable of doing,” Groves said of his club battling to the end and outscoring the Gophers 19-9 in the final period. “Let’s go down fighting. These guys didn’t want their season to end. Obviously, we dug ourselves too deep a hole, but it shows their grit, their character, their toughness. Proud of them at the end.”
Clinton stretched its 33-12 halftime spread to a high of 46-18 by midway through the third quarter. The closest Triton got after that was 61-47 at 1:06 left in the game.
The Trojans earned their fifth regional title since 2008 this season, but also their first since 2013.
“These kids don’t remember that success, so just to give them a taste of it and for our younger guys to experience that and get hungry to want to accomplish that again … it’s huge,” Groves said.
Added the coach of his six seniors, “We got three that play a lot and three that don’t. I told them afterwards, thanks to them, our guys got a taste of success. (The three that didn’t play as much) stuck with it, were still there for each other, were great leaders, and they’re all gonna be missed.”
Nevertheless, “we’re gonna reload,” promised Groves, who has posted 18 winning records in his 20 full seasons with postseason hardware in 10 of those years. “Our JV was really good and we’ve got a lot of guys with a lot of experience back, so we’re excited.”