BOURBON - With a stifling defensive effort against Argos standout Scott Sanders, Triton's varsity boys basketball team successfully defended its sectional championship Saturday night.
The third-ranked Trojans, the defending Class 1A state champion, held Sanders to nine points as they beat the Dragons 48-39 and won back-to-back sectional titles for the first time since winning three straight from 1999 to 2001."Joel (Meister) played great defense on Sanders," said Triton coach Jason Groves, whose team also beat Argos 62-55 on Feb. 3 during the regular season. "The last time we played them Sanders scored 26, and that made Joel upset. He did a great job guarding him tonight."
To go with his impressive defensive effort on Sanders, Meister scored 15 points and pulled down six rebounds for the Trojans, who improved to 21-2 on the season.
Sophomore sharpshooter Griffyn Carpenter led Triton in scoring with a game-high 19 points. Carpenter finished the contest 5 of 9 from three-point range.
"That was one of those things, we talked about it and talked about it," Argos coach Joel Grindle said of Carpenter's ability to get free from the defense and make three-pointers. "We lost him five times too many tonight. He's such a good player, and when he gets hot, look out."
Argos, which entered Saturday's sectional championship game having won seven of its last eight games, finished the season with a 14-8 record.
"We were playing our best basketball at the end of the year," said Grindle. "As a coach, that's what you want to have."
Winners of five-straight games, the Trojans advanced to Saturday's regional, which will be played at Triton High School.
The hosts will play Bethany Chrisitan (15-8) at 10:30 a.m., followed by Caston (4-19) and second-ranked Bowman Academy (18-3).
Saturday's regional championship is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to the March 21 semisate at either Warsaw or Lafayette Jeff.
"After losing four out of five starters and seven seniors overall from last year, nobody expected us to be this good," said Groves. "These kids have worked their tails off to get where we are."
Triton opened sectional play Tuesday with a 68-36 win over Westville, followed by a 66-36 victory over Oregon-Davis in Friday's semifinal round.
Saturday, against their county rival, things weren't as easy for the Trojans.
"We knew we'd be tested tonight," said Groves. "Argos is too good of a ball club. Give Argos credit, they did what they needed to do. They got (Colton) Keel in foul trouble."
Keel, who was averaging nearly 17 points and eight rebounds per game, picked up his third foul in the first half Saturday.
Fortunately for Triton, Carpenter and Meister picked up the slack, scoring 34 of the team's 48 points. Though saddled with foul trouble, Keel finished the game with six points and 13 rebounds.
"That's the thing about this team, you don't know who it's going to be," said Groves. "We've got different guys who can step up. Griffyn Carpenter kept us in the game in the first half."
Trailing 10-6 after the first quarter, Argos opened the second stanza with an 11-0 run, and the teams later went to the locker room tied at 21-21 at halftime.
"We knew it would be a battle," said Grindle. "Both teams were competing at a very high level. I thought we played hard for 32 minutes, and as a coach, that's all you can ask for."
Triton closed the third on an 8-2 run and the Dragons got no closer than five points the rest of the game.
Drew Overmyer led Argos with 11 points, while Bryant Kuchel and Sanders scored nine points each and Gilbert finished with eight points.
