LAKEVILLE - The LaVille boys basketball team came close, but couldn't knock off Class 1A No. 3 Triton Friday in the 46th Annual TCU Bi-County Tournament at LaVille High School.
Looking to knock off the defending tournament champs, the LaVille Lancers (6-6) were within 41-36 at the end of three quarters, but were outscored 18-8 in the final quarter, leading to a 59-44 loss to the Triton Trojans (10-3)."Offensively, LaVille took us out of a lot of things we like to do," Triton coach Jason Groves said. "Give them credit. But after we settled down, at the beginning of the second half, we were able to execute some of our sets."
Triton is back at LaVille today, taking on Culver in the 8:30 p.m. championship game. Culver reached the title bout by defeating John Glenn in the night's early game. Triton defeated Culver 69-49 on Jan. 15 in Bourbon.
On top of getting the victory, Triton also had its record books rewritten when senior Griffyn Carpenter nailed a mid-range jumper from the right wing just over a minute into the game.
The jump shot pushed Carpenter past 2004-graduate Todd Blackford's 1,077 points on the school's all-time scoring list.
"I was eager to get it out of the way and put all this stuff behind me," Carpenter said. "I'm glad I got it and I'm glad we got the win. LaVille's a very good team and I knew it was going to be tough."
Carpenter finished the game with 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting, pushing his scoring average to 21.4 points a game this year.
"He just has a lot of confidence right now," Groves said about Carpenter. "He's playing so well inside. The thing is, he's trying to be crafty inside and a little bit smarter. Early in the season, when we'd throw it in to him, he'd bully his way to the basket and probably get an offensive foul rather than drawing the foul. Now, he's kind of playing with the defender, seeing what they're doing."
Just four games ago, Carpenter's career high in a single game was 28 points. In the three games since then, he scored 34 in the win over Culver, 34 in a 62-59 win over New Prairie and Friday's 29 in another win over a Northern State Conference foe.
"From the free throw line in, my driving is clicking right now," Carpenter said. "I'm not the most lightning-quick guy out there, but with my body frame, I'm able to fend them off with my muscle and body control."
Against the Lancers, who are coached by Michael Edison, with his dad Jack Edison and his 545 career wins on the bench next to him, Groves knew the game wouldn't be an easy one.
"We knew this was going to be a close game," he said. "These guys are really well-coached. We told them this was going to be a battle for four quarters."
During stretches in the game, a battle is what occurred, as bodies were hitting the floor and tempers were rising.
"They knocked us off our pedestal last year," Groves said, referring to a 59-55 home loss to LaVille last season. "We were 16-0 going into (the LaVille) game, and they cost us a chance of winning the conference outright. That hurt. That bitter taste was still in our mouthes, and our kids played with some emotion."
The emotions were there, but they never boiled over, unlike the Triton lead.
Over the course of the fourth quarter, the Trojans gradually etched closer and closer to a double-digit lead, which it accomplished when sophomore Clay Yeo scored two of his 15 points with 3:03 remaining. The bucket built the Triton lead to 53-42, and rode it into the title game.
Going for Triton's second-straight Bi-County championship, and only its third overall, the 8-3 Culver Cavaliers aren't Groves' only concern.
"I'm a little bit concerned about our legs," the Triton coach said. "I told the guys, 'You have to be focused and ready to go tomorrow.' I'm sure Culver wants to get revenge on us too."
