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BOURBON - Triton's boys basketball team seeks to advance to the semistate for the second consecutive year, but to do so, the Trojans must beat a high-powered Kouts team.
Kouts, 17-5, shoots 49 percent from the field and averages an even 70 points per game.
"They may have as good of an offense as any team we have faced this year," Triton coach Joe Bennett said.
South Central, the No. 8 team 15-7 Triton beat 39-38 in Saturday's sectional championship, had one player who averaged 14 points and two others who averaged 10.
Kouts has three players who can pile up the points in a hurry. Six-foot-2 guard Ricky Hise has hit 51 of 123 three-pointers (42 percent) and scores 21 points per game. Jeff Hollandsworth, a 6-5 center, adds 15 points per game and leads with 7.1 rebounds per game. Josh Earle, a 6-3 forward, shoots 56 percent from the field and scores 12 points per game.
After that, the scoring dips to six points per game. But Hollandsworth and Hise give teams that inside-outside scoring threat that often stretches defenses.
"The biggest key this game will be our defensive proficiency," Bennett said. "We must make it difficult for them to score and not let them get in a rhythm offensively.
"Kouts has tremendous offensive athletes who are big, fast and can all jump. They are bigger than us at every position. What concerns me is their athletic ability, their ability to run the break, to shoot the three and crash the boards."
If the Mustangs don't score from the field, they will score from three free throw line, boasting a 75 percent team free throw percentage (303 of 403). After a 2-3 start, Kouts has gone 15-2.
"When you get to this point in the tournament, what's always important is the foul line and what you do there," Kouts coach Marty Gaff said. "And this is the best foul shooting team I've had in my 18 years at Kouts. From what I've seen, Triton does a good job at the free throw line, and that's why I think this will be a tight game."
Triton shoots 66 percent from the line, but that number's up from 62 percent earlier in the year. The Trojans made 27 of 33 free throws (82 percent) in their 63-47 first-round sectional win over LaCrosse.
Leading Triton on the court in the postseason has been 6-1 senior forward Joey Potter. Potter has hit 13 of 14 field goals (93 percent) and leads Triton with 15 points per game in the sectional. He has boosted his overall scoring to 10.5 points per game, which leads the
team along with Jim Read, who's also at 10.5 ppg.
While Kouts has three primary scorers, any of five players can score for Triton. After Potter and Read, Jake Burnett scores 10.3 ppg, Tyson Blackford eight ppg and Steven Boyer seven ppg.
"We'd like to see the game in the 70s, but I'm sure they'd like to see it a little lower," Gaff said. "They will probably try to control the tempo."
Both teams outrebound their opponents, Kouts 34-23 and Triton 26-17. Kouts has held teams to 39 percent shooting from the field while teams shoot 46 percent from the field against Triton. But Triton forces 18 turnovers to Kouts' 14.
The intangible Triton has that Kouts lacks is experience. Triton has won three straight sectionals and advanced to the Final Four last year, where the Trojans lost to eventual state champion Lafayette Central Catholic. Kouts last won a sectional in 1998, advancing to the first round of the semistate and losing to Blue River Valley.
In beating South Central in Saturday's sectional championship, Triton beat the team ranked No. 8 in Class 1A. Neither Kouts nor Triton is ranked in the top 10, but South Central featured a softer regular season schedule than either team with 12 1A teams. Triton played six 1A teams during the regular season, while Kouts played eight 1A teams.
Bennett attributed Triton's sectional win over South Central to experience. Triton still has that benefit, but Bennett knows the key categories on the court that will tell if the Trojans win or lose.
"We try to keep turnovers less than 13," he said, "we like to get at least 10 offensive rebounds, we want to make more free throws than the other team attempts, and we want to get more points in the lane."
Triton tips off at Kouts at 7:30 p.m. EST Wednesday.
*The Whitko and NorthWood regional game previews will appear in Wednesday's paper.
KOUTS 1A REGIONAL
2000-2001 TRITON BOYS BASKETBALL STATS
Name FG FG% 3-PT 3-PT% FT FT% PTS PPG A APG S SPG R RPG
Jim Read 82-149 55 0-2 0 68-106 64 232 10.5 20 0.9 17 0.8 110 5.0
Jake Burnett 78-154 51 34-71 48 37-52 71 227 10.3 33 1.5 16 0.7 36 1.6
Joey Potter 89-148 60 0-0 - 52-69 75 230 10.5 20 0.9 28 1.3 117 5.3
Steven Boyer 49-134 37 23-65 35 32-41 78 153 7.0 21 1.0 24 1.1 45 2.0
Tyson Blckfrd 52-135 39 22-73 30 42-53 79 168 8.0 94 4.5 20 1.0 53 2.5
Josh Moore 42-83 51 0-0 - 16-28 57 100 4.5 21 1.0 13 0.6 65 3.0
Eric Disher 29-79 37 8-26 31 23-38 61 89 4.0 42 1.9 13 0.6 33 1.5
Ben Moore 42-75 56 0-0 - 22-41 54 106 5.6 4 0.2 5 0.3 42 2.2
Derek Sauer 20-43 47 0-1 0 11-18 61 51 2.7 2 0.1 6 0.3 43 2.3
Matt Landis 6-29 21 0-9 0 0-7 0.0 12 0.7 35 2.1 15 0.9 11 0.6
Triton 499-1058 47 90-261 35 312-473 66 1400 63.6 301 13.7 167 7.6 569 25.9
Opponents 450-975 46 63-208 30 259-373 69 1222 55.5 203 9.2 161 7.3 381 17.3
2000-2001 KOUTS BOYS BASKETBALL STATS
Name FG FG% 3-PT 3-PT% FT FT% PTS PPG A APG S SPG R RPG
Jason Birky 25-61 41 10-26 39 9-11 82 69 3.1 43 2.0 13 0.6 28 1.3
Michael Brwnll 30-81 38 11-37 30 17-24 71 88 4.0 11 0.5 6 0.3 38 1.7
Michael Dozier 28-47 60 0-1 0 13-20 65 69 3.6 8 0.4 6 0.3 56 3.0
Josh Earle 112-199 56 0-1 0 37-64 58 281 11.9 19 0.9 21 1.0 137 6.2
Ricky Hise 157-315 50 51-123 42 94-105 90 459 20.9 49 2.2 31 1.4 96 4.4
Jeff Hllndswrth 122-249 49 19-57 33 58-67 87 321 14.6 19 0.9 23 1.1 156 7.1
Blake Martin 41-105 39 10-28 36 40-62 65 132 6.0 151 7.3 42 1.9 88 3.9
Dan Sandberg 35-69 51 0-6 0 29-42 69 99 4.5 9 0.4 11 0.5 122 5.6
Kouts 587-1163 49 103-291 35 303-403 75 1540 70 312 14.2 160 7.3 736 33.5
Opponents 465-1188 39 99-314 32 220-339 65 1249 56.8 252 11.5 168 7.6 514 23.4
KOUTS (17-5)
*Home games
West Central 63, Kouts 57
Kouts 75, Hebron 56
*Kouts 68, North Newton 52
*South Central 81, Kouts 74
*Kankakee Valley 79, Kouts 53
*Kouts 105, Westville 36
Kouts 62, Morgan Township 47
Kouts 81, Hebron 53
Kouts 57, North Judson 48
*Kouts 87, Oregon-Davis 46
Kouts 67, Washington Township 58
Hebron 64, Kouts 56
Kouts 58, Boone Grove 44
Kouts 75, Wheeler 61
*Kouts 70, Morgan 55
*Kouts 85, Hanover Central 60
North White 59, Kouts 58
Kouts 78, LaCrosse 68
*Kouts 86, Rensselaer 79
Kouts Sectional
*Kouts 67, Michigan City Marquette 46
*Kouts 56, Washington Township 42
*Kouts 65, Morgan Township 52
TRITON (15-7)
*Home games
NorthWood 77, Triton 47
*Triton 71, North Miami 56
*Triton 58, Washington Township 49
*Triton 74, New Prairie 47
Caston 59, Triton 46
Triton 90, LaVille 75
*John Glenn 65, Triton 45
*Triton 80, Culver 45
*Triton 70, Elkhart Baptist 43
Triton 65, Bethany Christian 63
Culver Military Academy 82, Triton 60
Triton 65, Jimtown 47
Triton 59, Argos 57 OT
Triton 101, LaVille 55
*Triton 51, Bremen 40
*Tippecanoe Valley 72, Triton 57
Triton 87, Oregon-Davis 27
Knox 77, Triton 71
Plymouth 42, Triton 39 OT
*Triton 61, Rochester 59
Triton Sectional
*Triton 63, LaCrosse 47
*Triton 39, South Central 38
