BOURBON - Triton's Colton Keel is the only junior in his team's senior-dominated starting lineup, but he's definitely been earning his keep.
"I feel like a senior," Keel said during Triton's media day Wednesday at the high school. "We've been playing together for a while, and I just go out there and play."Averaging 11 points and five rebounds during the season, Keel's upped his averages to 14 points and seven boards during Triton's six postseason games. But even more than scoring and rebounding more, he's sealed a regional semifinal victory and a semistate championship win with rebounded putbacks.
"He's really matured," Triton senior Reggie Davis said of Keel. "He's played with us for a long time and knows what to do."
He may have matured, but that doesn't mean he's not having fun on the court.
During the early stages of last Saturday's Lafayette Jefferson Semistate against Lafayette Central Catholic, all 10 players on the court were visibly tense. But when Triton assistant coach Tommy Mascari unknowingly found himself in-between the referee and a Central Catholic player during an in-bounds play, Keel was the only one who got a chuckle out of it.
"I try to be laid back," Keel said. "Even when there's bad calls, I just try to clap my hands and run back down the court."
Perhaps it's that attitude that's left him in two game winning situations - or is it something else? Maybe it's the way he boxes out his opponent, or it could be that he just has a certain intuition as to where a ball's going to land off a miss. According to him, it's something else all together.
"I just guess a lot to be honest," he said of routinely scoring off rebounded putbacks. "I'm just good at guessing."
In Saturday's 10:30 a.m. Class 1A state championship at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indanapolis, Keel may need to do more than guess against 10th-ranked Indianapolis Lutheran.
"They're a lot like us," Triton coach Jason Groves said of the Lutheran Saints. "They're senior-loaded with 10 on the team, and they're very balanced."
The Saints are led in scoring by 6-foot-4 senior Zach Cutshaw (14.8 ppg), but also get 9.4 ppg from Brad Naffziger, 9.1 from Jared Broughton and another 8.9 from Eric Borst.
"In our first five games, we had five different leading scorers," 16th-year Lutheran head coach Tom Finchum said. "We're like Triton in that respect. Not one person scores all the points, but anyone can lead the team in a certain game."
The Trojans enter the state championship game led by Jake Everett's 12 points per game, followed by A.J. Harrison's 11.2, Troy McIntyre's 10.9 and Keel's 10.
"They're very balanced and senior dominated," Finchum said of Triton, sounding eerily similiar to Groves' assessment of Lutheran. "They might be a little bigger and more athletic than we are, but we may shoot the ball a little better."
Lutheran does shoot 51 percent from the field and 43 percent from behind the arc. Of all their shooters, Triton's main emphasis will be Cutshaw, who's good 58 percent of the time from the field, while also shooting 47 percent from three-point land.
"He's good inside, but he's also an excellent shooter," Finchum said of Cutshaw. "He's had games where he's hit three-straight three-pointers, but it's probably inside that he does the most damage for us."
As usual, McIntyre will have the defensive assignment of the other team's versatile big man. Groves compared Cutshaw to Fort Wayne Blackhawk senior Dayton Merrell, who McIntyre held to 7-of-15 shooting, for 18 points in the regional championship.
"He's an athlete," Groves said of Cutshaw. "He can go inside and outside, and has a good three-point game. But they have five guys that can shoot the three."
Another similiarity between the two teams is winning.
Lutheran enters the title game on a 10-game winning streak, claiming its first sectional, regional and semistate titles along the way.
"There's been a lot of firsts for us," Finchum said.
After winning their first semistate crown, the Trojans extended their winning streak to eight games, and Groves is confident his guys will be ready for the atmosphere at the state finals.
"These kids are used to it," Groves said of the media attention his team received this week, including five media outlets waiting for the team after Wednesday's practice. "They've also seen each situation on the court."
