BOURBON - For the third time in four years, the Triton boys basketball team can call itself regional champions.
The Class 1A No. 2 Trojans (22-3) captured their latest regional crown Saturday at Triton High School, first defeating Pioneer (15-10) by a count of 60-42 in the semifinal then claiming a 55-47 win in the championship game over No. 8 Morgan Township (20-5)."It feels pretty good, that's for sure," Triton coach Jason Groves said. "These seniors have worked hard for me for four years. They've won this thing three out of the four years they've been here. I just want to thank them for all the time and effort they put into our program. Without them, this wouldn't be possible."
The Trojans will play No. 12 Rockville Saturday at the Lafayette Jefferson Semistate at 4 p.m.
In order to move on to the semistate, Triton first had to get past a Morgan Township Cherokees team that had knocked off defending Class 1A state champion Bowman Academy in the Bowman Academy sectional championship and had also defeated No. 3 Fort Wayne Canterbury 70-62 in Saturday's first semifinal at Triton.
In its win over Canterbury, it was easy to see Morgan Township was thin inside, giving up 16 offensive rebounds and 18 second-chance points.
"I told our big guys, 'You have to have a good game tonight,'" Groves said about facing the Cherokees. "They were going to try to take it inside, but we had a height advantage. Austin (Davis) did a great job in there finishing and just muscling in there."
Averaging five points and five rebounds a game this season, Davis came up big against the smaller Cherokees, scoring 10 points and hauling in seven rebounds.
In all, Triton outrebounded Morgan Township 28-11, posting 14 offensive rebounds and scoring 21 second-chance points.
Perhaps the biggest offensive rebound of the night came from Davis with two minutes to go.
Leading 42-41, Davis hauled in a missed three-point attempt, then passed it out to senior Griffyn Carpenter, who nailed a three-pointer with 1:57 left to play.
"I'm just glad it went in," Carpenter said about the shot, which sat on the back of the rim before falling in. "I know I was pretty far out. If I would have missed it, I would have had my butt on the bench.
"It was a pretty big shot, because they were coming back," he added. "Just to stop their momentum, I think it was a big shot. That was kind of a turning point."
After that shot, Triton was able to breath a little easier, which was something new considering the Trojans' top two scorers were hampered with foul trouble all night.
Both Carpenter and sophomore Clay Yeo picked up two fouls in the first quarter, leaving the Trojans without their top two scoring threats for the entire second quarter.
"Our other kids responded really well," Groves said. "There's 37 points a game on the bench, but our other kids came out and did a great job defensively. If they had gotten the lead up too much, I was probably going to them back in. But our kids played really well."
Without Carpenter and Yeo, Triton slowed the pace dramatically in the second quarter, scoring just six points, but still only trailed 22-21 at the break.
"I said, 'I feel really good about this,'"Groves said about his mentality at the half. "Without Griff and Clay for an entire quarter, I was happy with the position we were in."
After sitting out more than a quarter, Carpenter hit his first four shots of the third quarter, scoring 11 of his team's 14 third-quarter points, extending his team's lead to 35-31 going into the final stanza.
On the night, Carpenter hit 7 of 8 field goals, scoring 23 points.
"I love this gym," Carpenter said. "I've shot here for four years. I've been shooting here for four years, so I have more confidence than other places. I did feel like anything was going to go in."
Carpenter's big third quarter gave Triton a lead it wouldn't relinquish and was punctuated with a thunderous two-handed dunk by Yeo, which came off a full-court in-bounds pass from Carpenter with 50 seconds remaining, increasing the Trojans' lead to 49-44.
"We knew they were going to press and Coach Groves called the play, which we run in practice," Yeo said. "I got it and I got it pretty good."
According to Carpenter, Triton runs the play in practice, but it doesn't always work as well as it did in the game.
"We practice that all the time and every time I throw it right off my hand out of bounds," Carpenter said. "So, yeah, I was nervous throwing that pass. I'm just glad it got to him."
Once he caught the ball, despite two defenders being right behind him, Groves wasn't concerned about how Yeo would finish the play.
"That's a pretty high-percentage shot," the Triton coach said. "I felt confident with that. That's why we called the play. We know Clay in the open court is pretty good. He finishes pretty well."
The dunk ignited the Triton crowd into a chant of "We got a team going all the way."
"It's my first regional championship and it feels great," Yeo said. "It feels great getting this for the fans. They really deserve it."
It may have been the first regional title for Yeo, who scored 11 points in 16 minutes of play, but it was Carpenter's third, although this one meant a little more than the other two.
"This one means more, because I'm a senior and this is my last go-round," Carpenter said. "I wanted to give it all I had. We have five great seniors that come and work our butts off and we knew we were very capable of this."
Triton 60, Pioneer 42
Prior to their regional championship matchup with Morgan Township, Triton first had to deal with the only unranked team at the regional, the Pioneer Panthers.
Instead of underestimating their opponent, the Trojans came out strong and never trailed in the 60-42 victory.
"They're not going to do anything fancy, but they stick you defensively and they are patient offensively with good ball movement," Groves said about Pioneer. "We told our kids, 'You can't look past this team.' They're a very solid team, well-coached. Our kids were ready to play."
Carpenter showed his senior leadership in the opening game, leading the Trojans with 24 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
"I thought he came out really focused," Groves said about Carpenter. "Not just knocking down threes, but he was crashing the boards and getting after it defensively. When kids get involved like that, I think they play so much better."
Carpenter's all-around play was on display in the opening minutes of the second half when he posted back-to-back assists to Davis, getting him squad started on a 10-4.
After scoring just six points in the second quarter, which came off two three-pointers, Triton netted 17 in the third quarter, all but getting the Triton fans prepared for the night's championship tilt.
"It was just execution," Groves said about the difference between the second and third quarters. "I think our kids were struggling in the second quarter, recognizing how they were switching and doing some things defensively. It was just about what kind of movement we needed to get against that."
Along with Carpenter's production, Triton also got 18 points from Yeo and eight out of Davis, while sophomore Quentyn Carpenter posted four assists, matching his older brother's amount.
"Our kids did what they needed to to get the job done," Groves said.
