ARGOS - Playing a program that still holds the state's record for consecutive wins in the regular season, Triton's varsity boys basketball team extened its own streak Tuesday night.
Led by senior Colton Keel's 18 points, nine rebounds and four steals, and classmate Joel Meister's 17 points and four steals, the Class 1A top-ranked Trojans beat Marshall County rival Argos 62-55 at a packed and rowdy Phil Weybright Gymnasium.Argos, which won 76 straight regular season games nearly 30 years ago, trailed by just five points, 55-50, with three minutes remaining but got no closer the rest of the way.
Keel put the finishing touches on the Dragons and Triton's 24th consectuve victory, which includes last season's run to the state championship, with a pair of free throws with eight seconds to play.
"I knew we'd be tested, Argos is a good team," said Triton coach Jason Groves. "Every time we come to Argos, or every time they come to our place, wherever the game is at, it's a good game. It's a good rivalry."
Triton improved to 14-0 on the season, while Argos fell to 7-6, having lost three of its last four games.
Keel started his impressive performance in highlight-reel fashion, scoring the game's first two points on a breakway dunk. He scored again seconds later, giving the Trojans a 4-0 lead.
And then the host Dragons went on a 13-2 run, proving they could play with the top-ranked team in Class 1A.
"I thought we gave a really good effort tonight," said Argos coach Joel Grindle. "I can't fault my kids' effort. I'm extremely proud of the way we played, but when it came down to it, we just made too many mental errors. The little things cost us the game."
Cody Carpenter chipped in with nine points for Triton, while Ben Montalbano and Griffyn Carpenter scored seven points each.
Aided by their 13-2 run, Argos led 19-16 after one quarter of play, and then Triton led the back-and-forth contest 37-30 at halftime and 50-39 going into the fourth quarter.
Argos cut the deficit to four, 52-48, midway through the fourth quarter, but Triton sophomore sharpshooter Griffyn Carpenter gave the Trojans some breathing room with a deep three-pointer.
Triton led by at least five points the rest of the way, although Argos had plenty of chances to make things interesting but just didn't capitalize.
Junior Scott Sanders led the way for Argos with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Drew Overmeyer finished with 10 points and classmate Ben Gilbert chipped in with eight points.
"Scott has been slumping lately," Grindle said of his 6-foot-3 standout, whose peformance included four three-pointers. "We've talked with him about confidence. And when he figures out how good he really is, it's scary how good he could be. This was his best performance of the year, and it was Drew Overmeyer's best performance of the year, too."
Triton is in action again Saturday at Northern State Conference rival LaVille, while Argos plays at Caston Friday.
TRITON 62, ARGOS 55
T 16 21 13 12 - 62
A 19 11 9 16 - 55
Triton scoring - Colton Keel 18, Joel Meister 17, Cody Carpenter 9, Ben Montalbano 7, Griffyn Carpenter 7, Zac Moriarty 2, Austin Davis 2
Argos scoring - Scott Sanders 24, Drew Overmeyer 10, Ben Gilbert 8, Bryant Kuchel 6, Justin Dunfee 3, Sam Edmonds 2, Jeremy Weirick 2
