BOURBON - Griffyn Carpenter has joined a club only two other Triton boys basketball players are a a part of - the 1,000-point club.
Entering Wednesday's game with 993 career points, Carpenter scored his 1,000th career point with a three-pointer from the right wing with 1:44 remaining in the first quarter, helping the Class 1A No. 3 Triton Trojans (7-3, 2-0 Northern State Conference) defeat the John Glenn Falcons (4-4, 1-1 NSC) 54-37 at the Trojan Trench."People had told me not to come out shooting 0 for 19 and miss all my shots, but I just wanted to get it over with," Carpenter said. "I'm more happy that we got the win against a conference rival."
Carpenter comes from a family of shooters, as his grandfather Sonny Carpenter scored 994 points for the Tippecanoe Police Dogs between the 1954-55 and 1956-57 seasons, while his father, Jack Carpenter, holds the single-season scoring record at Triton with 558 points in 1981, scoring 965 in his career.
"I envy their's more because they didn't have a three-point line, and most of mine come from behind the three-point line," Carpenter said. "Their's were a little tougher, but I'll take it. It's something I can rub in their faces."
The only two Trojans to have scored more points than Carpenter are 1995-graduate Ryan Gould (1,034) and 2004-graduate Todd Blackford (1,077).
"I'm just going to go with it, and if it comes, it comes," Carpenter said about overtaking the two on the all-time scoring list. "I'm just focused on getting a 'W' for the team. That's what we want right now. Points could really mean less to me. I just want to get the wins."
Hosting Glenn, Triton didn't have much trouble getting the 'W', leading from start to finish, building a 22-4 lead to start the game.
"We've only practiced once in the past four days, so I was a little concerned about (the start)," Triton coach Jason Groves said. "I told them before the game, 'You have to be focused, you have to be more focused than you have been in the past.' I think they took that to heart and came out with a good start."
Glenn did come back to make it game with a 13-4 run to close the first half, closing the gap to 26-17 at the half.
However, a balanced scoring attack of Carpenter's 16, followed by sophomore Clay Yeo's 15, senior Jordan Everett's 10 and sophomore Quentyn Carpenter's eight kept the Falcons at bay.
"They have three or four guys out there that can put the ball in the hole," Glenn coach Travis Hannah said. "At home, they're going to shoot the ball well. When they do, you've got to be able to answer that. You have to be a team that has three or four guys that can answer the call. We're that team. We're a team with those three or four guys. We just didn't play."
Instead of having three or four guys capable of scoring, Hannah only had one, as junior Josh Anderson netted a game-high 23 points and hauled in nine rebounds in the loss.
"They're a good team and they took it to us," Hannah said. "They made more plays, made more shots than we were able to make."
On top of the game marking Carpenter's 1,000th point, it was also an emotional one because Hannah had graduated from Triton, Groves is a John Glenn graduate and Triton assistant coach Gordon Mosson spent 25 years as the head coach at John Glenn.
"This game is really emotional for everybody," Groves said. "Me going to (high school) at Glenn, Travis going to Triton and now we're kind of flip-flopped. It's always a special game when we play them. I hold a special place in my heart for Glenn. That's my alma mater and coach Mosson coached there for 20-some years. He built that program and did a great job. The emotions were there."
However, no matter what else was going on, the night belonged to Carpenter, who spent 10 minutes afterward taking photos with family and friends.
"That's going to be something special," Groves said. "I don't know if he realizes it right now. When he looks back on this down the road, he'll see that not too many people do that. It's a big milestone for him in his basketball career."
Carpenter will get the opportunity to get closer to Gould's and Blackford's marks when Triton hosts Culver in another NSC game Saturday.
