Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Bourbon - Playing before a sparse crowd, the Triton Trojans boys basketball team pasted the New Prairie Cougars 74-47 Friday evening in a Northern State Conference matchup.
Only a handful of Cougar fans braved the elements and the trip from LaPorte County to see an early lead turn into a rout. The Trojans used a 15-0 run to close out the first half to take a 34-19 lead heading into intermission.
New Prairie enjoyed its only lead on the opening basket, making the score 2-0. That lead would prove to be as brief as Al Gore's Florida Supreme Court recount ruling.
Both teams see-sawed until midway through the second period.
Two Eric Spurling free throws tied the score at 19-19, but the next 3:14 belonged to Triton and senior guard Jake Burnett.
Burnett scored all eight of his points in the final 1:21 of the first half to send the Trojans toward its comfortable margin of victory. Burnett buried a long three-point shot at the 1:21 mark, sank a lay-up at the 20-second mark and hit another long three-point attempt at the buzzer, sending Triton to the locker room and New Prairie looking for answers.
Those answers never came.
Triton extended its lead in the third period to 52-33 as senior Joey Potter tallied seven points.
Potter led Triton with 23 points, and senior guard Tyson Blackford added 15. Blackford also played a steady floor game by handing out a game-high six assists and coming up with two steals.
Senior Jon Rhine led New Prairie with 10 points.
The win gives Triton a 3-1 record overall and 1-0 record in conference play. New Prairie falls to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
Triton will next travel to Caston for the holiday tourney on Dec. 22.
TRITON 74, NEW PRAIRIE 47
Triton 11 23 18 23 - 74
New Prairie 9 10 14 14 - 47
Triton FG FT R A S Pts.
Read 1-5 5-10 6 2 0 7
Yankovich 2-2 0-1 1 2 0 4
Potter 8-11 7-11 6 1 0 23
Boyer 1-7 7-7 5 1 0 9
Blackford 4-7 4-4 4 6 2 15
Disher 2-6 0-0 2 1 0 4
B. Moore 0-1 0-0 1 1 1 0
Sauer 0-1 1-2 5 0 0 1
Landis 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Burnett 3-3 0-0 1 0 0 8
J. Moore 0-3 1-2 1 0 0 1
Pizano 1-2 0-0 1 0 0 2
Totals 22-48 25-36 14 3 33 74
New Prairie FG FT R A S Pts.
Brinkman 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 2
Spurling 0-3 2-2 1 1 1 2
Szczypiorski 4-9 0-0 2 1 0 8
Hensell 1-2 3-7 2 0 4 6
Rhine 5-8 0-0 4 0 2 10
Hammond 2-7 0-0 0 1 2 4
M. Dermody 1-1 3-6 3 0 0 5
Lance 2-2 4-5 3 0 0 8
Hora 0-0 0-0 1 3 0 0
Gaff 0-2 2-3 0 1 1 2
T. Dermody 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
Williamson 0-1 0-2 1 0 0 0
Totals 16-39 14-25 17 8 10 47
Three-point goals -ÊNew Prairie 1-9 (Brinkman 0-1, Spurling 0-1, Szczypiorski 0-2, Hensell 1-1, Hammond 0-1, Gaff 0-2, T. Dermody 0-1), Triton 5-11 (Boyer 0-3, Blackford 3-4, Disher 0-1, Burnett 2-2, Pizano 0-1). Fouls -ÊNew Prairie 25, Triton 18. Fouled out -ÊJ. Moore. Turnovers -ÊNew Prairie 16, Triton 18.
JV -ÊNEW PRAIRIE 51, TRITON 36
Triton -ÊNifong 4, Wanemacher 5, Slone 2, Pizano 12, Savill 4, Dean 2, Moriarty 7
New Prairie -ÊAkins 4, Jones 2, Findley 5, Wolff 2, Gaff 9, Mrozinski 2, Colanese 4, Williamson 10, Dermody 12
