INDIANAPOLIS - It wasn't that they weren't excited about winning the state championship, Triton's players just didn't jump up and down and show wild emotion when the final buzzer sounded Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Playing the biggest basketball game of their careers, things were business as usual for the third-ranked Trojans, who overcame a slow start and upended 10th-ranked Indianapolis Lutheran 50-42 to win the Class 1A state championship."We were pretty excited about winning, but we approach all the games the same," said senior Troy McIntyre, who scored 14 points and pulled down a team-high five rebounds. "We had a bit of a lead, so we had already overcome that initial shock of winning the state championship."
The Trojans looked a little shaky early, trailing the Saints 5-0, but closed the first quarter with a 10-0 run and went on to lead 19-12 at halftime.
"I think the kids were a little nervous at the start, but they settled down a bit," said fourth-year Triton coach Jason Groves, whose team finished the season with an impressive 25-2 record. "The kids stayed focused. They had jitters early, but they did what they needed to do."
What they did was shut down the Saints, a team that averaged 58 points per game.
Lutheran entered Saturday's title tilt riding a 10-game winning streak.
In their five tournament games leading up to the state championship, the Saints won their games by at least 12 points.
Lutheran won its two sectional games by margins of 44 and 25. The Saints won their two regional games by margins of 15 and 13.
In the semistate championship, Lutheran beat Borden by 18 points.
In the state championship game against the Trojans, however, things were much different.
Playing against Triton's stingy defense, Lutheran was just 5 of 22 (23 percent) from the field in the first half and only 17 of 45 (38 percent) for the game.
The Trojans, who finished the season ranked fifth in the state in defense by allowing just 40 points per game, held the Saints to just 22 points through three quarters.
"We've been doing that all year, holding teams under their average," said Triton senior Jake Everett, who scored a team-high 16 points and was named the game's Most Valuable Player and the recipient of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award. "Defense wins championships, and we're the epitome of that."
Lutheran, who entered the game 15-0 against 1A teams, finished the season with a 22-5 record.
"On defense, Triton is very big and long," said 16th-year Lutheran coach Tom Finchum. "They did a nice job defensively on the inside, but they also challenged our outside shooters. Every time we had a shot they had somebody in our face."
The Saints finished the game 5 of 20 from three-point range and were outscored 16-3 at the free throw line by Triton.
The Trojans, on the other hand, were 16 of 34 (47 percent) from the field and 16 of 21 from the charity stripe.
"We didn't execute the way we wanted to, but I can't fault our effort," said Finchum. "This is the first time we've ever won a sectional. Then to win a regional and semistate to get her was fantastic."
Triton advanced to state by winning the program's sixth sectional championship, its third regional title and its first semistate crown.
The Trojans looked primed to make a run in last year's state tournament, but they fell by two points to eventual state champion Oregon-Davis in the sectional championship game.
"It's great for these kids," said Groves. "They worked hard all year long in the offseason and they really deserve it. They're the ones who put in the effort in the gym each day. After getting beat by Oregon-Davis last year, the kids really dedicated themselves this year. They deserve all the success they're having."
Triton led 25-22 late in the third quarter, and then freshman Griffyn Carpenter hit the biggest shot of the game.
Griffyn's three-pointer with 1:08 to play in the third sparked a 16-2 run that ultimately gave the Trojans their first state championship in program history.
"He's come a long way for us," Groves said of Carpenter. "He played JV most of the year. He's performed so well in practice and games we felt we just had to get him in there."
To go with Everett's 16 points and McIntyre's 14 points, the Trojans got seven points and seven assists from junior Colton Keel and seven points and three rebounds from senior A.J. Harrison.
Senior Bart Christian and Carpenter scored three points each.
Eric Borst led Lutheran with a game-high 19 points, while Zach Cutshaw scored nine points and Ryan Maddigan finished with seven points.
