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BOURBON - The chant started during the timeout with 2:59 left in the game.
The fans repeated only three letters, and at first, the chant was an apprehensive chant. You half expected fans to raise their hands and ask if it was okay to yell these three letters.
If the fans were insecure, they had good reason. Their basketball team, the Triton Trojans, was 22-62 from 1991 through 1995.
With 1:20 left, the fans got bolder, the chant louder, the win closer. 'N-S-C' rocked the Bourbon gym in a way she hadn't been rocked since her grand old sectional days. With 46 seconds left, a student in the pep band banged the big drum along with each letter 'N...S...C.'
With 15 seconds left, the chant turned into cheers, and students showered the air with confetti.
Time slipped off the clock, making it official: The Triton Trojans won at least a share of the Northern State Conference championship with an 81-65 Tuesday win over John Glenn.
The NSC title, their first since the 1990-1991 season, was the second in team history.
"We need a little more practice celebrating," Triton coach Kevin O'Rourke cracked. "We haven't had the opportunity often enough.
"It's been a long time coming, and it's well-deserved."
The Trojans improved to 13-3 overall and 6-0 in the conference. Bremen finished 6-1 in the NSC. Triton has one NSC game left, at Knox on Feb. 21. If the Trojans win, they get the title all to themselves with a 7-0 record. If they lose, they share it with Bremen.
Afterward O'Rourke gathered his players in the locker room and reminded them about Knox. Forget co-champions, he told them. Let's go 7-0 and do it right.
"We're guaranteed conference champs now, but we don't want to share," he said. "I can see it in their eyes. They don't want to share, either."
Then he turned his players loose. They raced back into the gym, and the students surged onto the court to celebrate with the school's new heroes.
O'Rourke stood over in a corner, watching afar with his assistants, taking it all in. Little was said, but the look in the proud coach's eyes showed more than he could ever say.
"This doesn't have as much to do with me as it does with the kids and their approach to basketball," he later said. "I think anybody who would have come in and been committed to these kids and the program would have had positive results.
"The kids deserve the credit."
The Trojans won this title-clinching game the same way they won their others. They shot well, hitting 27 of 43 from the floor, 63 percent. They took care of the ball, losing the ball 11 times. They got to the free throw line, where they hit 21 of 30.
Most of all, every player pitched in. Cory Monesmith, who scored 36 in the last game, still had the hot hand with 34. Defensively, he held Glenn leading scorer Jake Neiswender to zero points at halftime. Point guard Jeff Rupe played like a point guard, taking the ball to the basket and breaking down the defense. Scott Blackford was stellar with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Fourteen-year-old point guard Austin Unterbrink and Kyle Gould were spectacular off the bench. Unterbrink dished out five assists and again looked like a veteran rather than a freshman. Starting center Philip Reed picked up early fouls, so Gould stepped in and gave the team four points, four rebounds and three assists.
Triton led 33-27 at halftime, much to O'Rourke's chagrin. If his team played well, the lead would have been much bigger, he reasoned. Offensively, his team looked flat. Eight of the 11 turnovers came in the first half.
The players turned up the intensity in the second half. They shot 71 percent from the floor, making 15 of 21 field goals, and scored 48 points.
"We didn't play well in the first half," O'Rourke said. "Our mental foucus was absolutely poor. We stood a lot offensively and watched.
"The second half, we moved a lot better. We had some nice cuts."
Monesmith scored 14 points in the third quarter to push Triton's lead to 14, 55-41.
Neiswender led one last Glenn charge. He scored seven points in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to help pull Glenn within 65-58. Monesmith bailed Triton out, converting a three-point play to extend the lead to double figures at 68-58 with 3:54 left.
Glenn, led by Neiswender's 17 points, fell to 5-11 overall and 1-4 in the NSC.
The Trojans, who have won 10 NSC games in a row and 13 of 14 at home, host 7-9 Whitko Friday evening.
"We expected to do this," O'Rourke said. "We definitely expected to be strong this year. We didn't come in this year expecting not to win this."
