AKRON - This just hasn't been the Triton Trojans' week.
After running their record to 16-0, the Class 1A top-ranked Trojans came upon Class 3A's 14th-ranked Rochester Zebras and 13th-ranked Tippecanoe Valley Vikings this week, losing both contests, the latest coming Friday at Valley by the score of 61-49."The last two games, the other team has exposed a lot of our weaknesses," Triton coach Jason Groves said after an extended stay in the Triton locker room. "Teams are penetrating against us, and we're not getting over to stop that penetration. Offensively, we're not getting very good movement. And our team chemistry, I think, is struggling."
At Valley, it was senior Chad Hoffer that was penetrating that Trojan defense for a game-high 19 points. Repeatedly, Hoffer was able to break his man down, enabling him to drive into the lane for buckets. Defensively, Hoffer also recorded six of Valley's 19 steals, while hounding Triton senior A.J. Harrison, who finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
"Chad did a good job on Harrison," Valley coach Bill Patrick said. "He's a nice player, but Chad did a really good job on him. I thought our defense was really solid."
Forcing 29 turnovers on the night, the Vikings turned a 29-23 halftime lead into a 36-23 advantage in the second half, leaving Triton scoreless until junior Colton Keel hit a field goal with 4:35 left in the third.
After nabbing the double-digit lead, Valley never let up, forcing nine fourth-quarter turnovers, building its lead to 58-36 with 2:35 left in the quarter.
"For the fans, it's probably too bad it wasn't closer, maybe going down to the last shot," Patrick said about the near-capacity crowd. "That probably would have been the most fun for everyone to watch, but where we're sitting, we'll take it this way."
Coming off a 44-39 home loss to 10-and-9 Bremen Tuesday, the win against Triton was a welcomed sign to Patrick.
"We played a little better than we did Tuesday," Patrick said of the Bremen loss, which snapped an eight-game winning streak. "My goodness, that was horrible. Bremen's not that bad, we just didn't show up ready to play."
The difference between the two games was shooting. After shooting below 30 percent against Bremen, Valley connected on 24-of-47 shots against Triton.
"Percentage-wise, we shot really well," Patrick said of the Vikings 51-percent shooting night. "We got three kids into double figures. I thought we got really got good play out of Hoffer, and (Steven) Tillman played well. He did a nice job, defensively on (Troy) McIntyre. And they had trouble guarding him."
Tillman finished the game with 18 points and five steals, while Shane Salyer had 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting for Valley. Tillman's defense also paid off, limiting McIntyre to 10 points, all coming in the first half.
The game also featured two teams that are battling through illnesses. Triton's Jake Everett was limited with flu symptoms, relegating him to seven points, two rebounds and two steals. Valley's Jordan Boggs was also under the weather, missing school on Wednesday and Thursday, as was Hoffer, who was also not at full strength.
"Neither team was 100 percent," Patrick said. "It makes a big difference when they don't have Everett healthy. He's certainly one of their better players."
The Bethel College-bound Everett did start the game, but had his minutes limited.
"He was battling," Groves said of his 6-foot-6 senior center. "He was kind of a game-time decision, where he had the flu. He tried to tough it out, and that showed good character on his part. He toughed it out for the team, and I tried to get him some breaks."
The second straight Triton loss had Groves a little puzzled, as he tries to get his team refocused for 2-14 Culver Military Academy tonight at home.
"We're struggling," Groves said. "Hopefully we took care of some things after the game. Our kids just don't have confidence right now. They're not playing as a team. Hopefully that's one thing we took care of after the game."
Against two top Class 3A teams, the Trojans entered this week looking to remain undefeated, but saw that wasn't in the cards.
"Rochester and Valley are good teams," Groves said. "You've gotta keep that in perspective, but these kids have high expectations for themselves. As a team, we expect to win these games. You can't come over to Valley and expect a moral victory. We want to win."
And with that mentality, Patrick still believes Triton's capable of doing some things come the postseason.
"Triton has a good basketball team," he said. "I think they really have an opportunity to do something in the state tournament."
And that's exactly what Groves has in mind too.
"We've got a lot of good stuff ahead of us," the Triton coach said. "We have a lot we can accomplish still. Just because we lost at Rochester and at Valley doesn't mean our season is over."
Before last night's game even got under way, Patrick was honored by members from various teams he's coached over his 39 seasons. Among them were members of Sidney, South Whitley, Whitko and Valley teams, which honored him with plaques prior to tipoff.
"That was kind of special," he said about the impromptu ceremony before player introductions. "When they care enough to come back, because some of them live quite a ways away. Obviously, I've been fortunate to coach some really quality kids over the years."
Patrick hopes to continue coaching his current group for many more games this season, the next being the regular season finale at Wawasee Friday.
T. VALLEY 61, TRITON 49
Triton 14 9 7 19 - 49
Valley 18 11 16 16 - 61
Triton - McIntyre 5-8 0-0 10, Harrison 4-7 2-3 12, Christian 0-1 0-0 0, Everett 3-6 0-0 7, Keel 2-7 4-6 8, Davis 1-2 0-0 3, Meister 0-1 0-0 0, G. Carpenter 3-3 0-0 9. Totals 18-35 6-9 49.
