CULVER - Forget moral victories, Triton boys basketball coach Jason Groves wanted the win on the scoreboard.
He wanted the one that got away from his Trojans Monday night against top-ranked Oregon-Davis in the championship game of the Class 1A Culver Sectional.The contest was postponed from Saturday because Oregon-Davis' girls team was playing in the state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Monday's boys game saw its share of ups and downs, twists and turns, as Triton raced out to a 10-2 lead to start the game but allowed Oregon-Davis to score the final 12 points of the first half.
The Bobcats led 24-21 at the half, 39-33 after three quarters and held on for a 49-47 win as Triton junior Jake Everett's shot in the lane that would have sent the game into overtime fell short at the buzzer.
Oregon-Davis, a team with six seniors, escaped a Triton team with no seniors.
Despite taking the No. 1 team to the wire in the sectional championship game, Groves wasn't settling for a moral victory.
"I'm definitely not into moral victories," said Groves, whose Trojans fell 57-43 at Oregon-Davis in the first game of the regular season back in November. "We expect to win every game. We knew we could play with them. We're excited about next year, but like I told the kids, there's no guarantees for next year. Why not do it this year? We're not looking for moral victories. We're very disappointed."
The Trojans, who had four juniors and a sophomore in the starting lineup Monday, finished the season with a 14-8 record. The Bobcats, whose starting lineup consisted of four seniors and a junior, ran their win streak to 10 games and improved to 23-1 on the season.
Oregon-Davis advanced to Saturday's Triton Regional, where it will square off with third-ranked Tri-County (22-1) at 10 a.m. Fort Wayne Blackhawk (14-8) and Morgan Township (16-8) will battle in the second semifinal game, with the winners playing Saturday night for a berth in the semistate.
At times during Monday's sectional championship, it looked as if it was going to be Triton playing in the regional on its home floor.
But after Triton started the opening-quarter with a 10-2 run Oregon-Davis finished the first frame on a 10-2 run.
After the Bobcats' Adam Pflugshaupt knotted the game at 12 to start the second stanza, the Trojans rattled off nine straight points, only to see Oregon-Davis finish the first half on a 12-o run.
"Oregon-Davis is a good team," said Groves. "We knew we could play with them. We made some plays and they made some plays. They just made a few more."
With Triton trailing 47-43 in the waning moments of the game, Trojan junior A.J. Harrison went to the free throw line and hit the first of two charity tosses. Everett rebounded the missed attempted and was fouled. The 6-foot-7 junior then made the first of his two free throws, cutting Oregon-Davis' lead to two, 47-45, with under a minute to play.
A bucket by Triton junior Colton Keel knotted the game at 47-all with 44 seconds remaining, and then senior Brandon Egger gave the Bobcats a 49-47 lead with 30 seconds to play as he hit a jumper in the lane.
The Trojans worked the clock down to nine seconds and called a full timeout.
Groves drew up a play to have the ball in Everett's hand, and it nearly worked.
Everett drove the lane and put up a shot, it just came up short and Oregon-Davis rebounded the miss at the buzzer.
"That's what we wanted," Groves said of Everett taking the final shot, trying to send the game into overtime. "Jake has been playing well. He's a go-to guy. It just didn't happen tonight."
Everett led Triton with 16 points, while Keel added 12 points. Keel was 5 of 5 from the field and 2 of 2 from the free throw line. He also pulled down a team-high six boards.
Harrison added nine points for the Trojans, while T.J. Carpenter scored six points and Bart Christian added four points, which came on back-to-back steals and layups in the second quarter.
Egger led all scorers with 21 points, while Pflugshaupt scored 13 for the Bobcats.
"He's a good player," Groves said of Egger. "He's their spark plug. He really hurts you off penetration. He's tough to defend."
Ryne Sweeney, the lone non-senior in the Bobcats' starting lineup, scored seven points.
OREGON-DAVIS 49, TRITON 47
Triton 12 9 12 14 - 47
O-D 10 14 15 10 - 49
Triton FG FT R S Pts.
* McIntyre 0-5 0-2 4 0 0
* Carpenter 2-3 0-0 1 0 6
* Harrison 3-8 2-4 4 0 9
* Everett 6-10 3-5 4 0 16
* Keel 5-5 2-2 6 1 12
Davis 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Christian 2-3 0-1 0 2 4
Totals 18-34 7-14 19 3 47
O-D FG FT R S Pts.
* Johnston 2-2 0-2 0 0 4
* Sweeney 2-3 3-3 4 0 7
* Ferch 1-4 2-2 3 2 4
* Egger 6-17 7-8 6 3 21
* Pflgshpt 6-12 0-0 6 0 13
Henigsmith 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Corneil 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
Totals 17-39 12-15 20 5 49
Three-point goals - Triton 4-10 (Carpenter 2-3, Harrison 1-4, Everett 1-2, Christian 0-1), O-D 3-10 (Egger 2-6, Pflugshaupt 1-1, Ferch 0-2, Corneil 0-1). Turnovers - Triton 13, O-D 10. Fouls - Triton14, O-D 15. Fouled out - none.
