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BOURBON - It wasn't 22-0, but it was a hole, and afterward, Triton basketball coach Kevin O'Rourke said it was still to deep to climb out of.
One year ago, Triton's boys basketball team fell behind Warsaw 22-0 en route to a sectional loss.
This year, Triton's boys basketball team played in and hosted Michigan City Marquette in a Class A sectional on Friday. The 1997-1998 Trojans had five new starters, but they fell behind 14-4 at the end of the first quarter and hit bottom at 15 back at 30-15 to start the third. They rallied, only to come up one second too short. They lost 50-47.
"I give Michigan City Marquette credit," O'Rourke said. "They played as well tonight as I've seen them play all year."
Triton ended the season 9-13. Marquette (12-10) will try to win its first sectional championship when it meets Oregon-Davis (11-12) at 7:30 this evening. Oregon-Davis advanced by beating Westville (1-19) 62-50.
Marquette forward Bob Mulcahy and point guard Jermaine Kiner gave Triton fits throughout the evening. Mulcahy scored 23, while Kiner dished out 10 assists.
"I think it was important to jump on (Triton) early," Marquette coach Joe Toth said, "because I knew they would try to control the tempo. And they still did somewhat."
Marquette jumped ahead 28-15 at halftime by dominating the boards and field-goal percentage. Marquette outrebounded Triton 13-8 in the first half, typically keeping the Trojans to one shot at the basket each trip down the floor. Marquette hit 10 of 19 field goals, while Triton made 7 of 24.
After falling behind 30-15 early in the third quarter, Triton outscored Marquette 32-20 the rest of the way.
"We got up early and were feeling good," Toth said, "but we knew they would make a charge. You aren't going to beat them by 30 points."
Said O'Rourke: "We played tentative the first half. We didn't attack the basket. We didn't play aggressively. It's very disappointing, because we dug ourselves a hole we couldn't get out of. We tried. The kids showed as much heart as you could expect the second half."
Indeed. Triton's aggressive man-to-man defense shut down Marquette's scoring in the second half, holding the Blazers to four field goals in the final 11 1/2 minutes. Triton's defense gave its offense a chance to get back in it, and the Trojans did that. The Trojans hit 12 field goals and 8 of 13 free throws.
But all they could do was chase. They never got the lead.
A Matt Savill three-pointer pulled Triton within 45-43 with 2:43 left. Marquette responded with seven unanswered points, the biggest basket by the guy who killed them all night, Mulcahy. Mulcahy's layup with 1:16 left capped the run and put Marquette up 50-43. Toth called that layup the "biggest" basket of the evening.
Still, Triton scratched and clawed. Down 50-47, the Trojans had the ball with 12.3 seconds left. But their play to get Savill an open look broke down. Adam Heckaman hit a three that would have tied the game at 50, but it came a second after the buzzer sounded and didn't count.
"Our screens weren't very good, we rushed it, and we didn't get in good position," O'Rourke said of the broken play.
Kyle Gould scored 11 to lead Triton, while Austin Unterbrink added nine.
