BOURBON — In its quest for a seventh-straight Sectional 51 championship, the Triton boys basketball team has a leg up on the competition. Awarded a first-round bye, the Triton Trojans won’t play until Friday’s 6:30 p.m. semifinal at Culver Community High School, taking on the winner of Tuesday’s opening game between sectional newcomer LaCrosse (3-16) and host Culver (13-7). Last year, Triton found itself in a similar situation, earning a first-round bye, then getting Culver in the semifinals, winning 44-32. “It’s a familiar position for us,” Triton coach Jason Groves said. After downing Culver in last year’s semifinals, Triton then defeated Michigan City Marquette, who was replaced by LaCrosse this year, in the sectional title game. From there, Triton won three more postseason games until falling to Borden in the state championship game, 55-50. During its six-year rein at the top of the sectional, Triton’s accumulated an overall postseason record of 30-5, winning one state title and settling for state runner-up three times. With that much success, Groves feels like his team is more than prepared. “This is what we build for all season long,” he said. “The streak we have gives them confidence. I think they feel like they should win this and I think that’s a good thing. That’s an advantage for our kids because they’ve been there.” Senior Tanner Shepherd has been a part of Triton’s last two tournament runs and has been the main reason for its 12 wins this season. Taking over the No. 1 spot on the team, following the graduation of all-time leading scorer Clay Yeo, Shepherd, who sits at 1,102 career points, has averaged 19.6 points, as well as 5,9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game. “It’s his senior year and he doesn’t want it to come to an end,” Groves said of the 6-foot-1 guard/forward. “He’s having a great year and the reason he’s having a great year is because he’s getting other kids involved. His assist numbers went way up this year, as has his rebounding. He’s playing much better defense. It’s not just his scoring. It’s everybody scoring, which has taken some of the pressure off him. We’re a little more balanced than we were last year.” Outside of Shepherd’s production, the rest of the team’s numbers are spread out pretty evenly. Junior sharpshooter Skyler Reichert averages 10.8 ppg, converting 40.5 percent of his three-point attempts, while junior point guard Joey Corder is putting up 7.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per contest. “A lot of these guys have scored double figures at some point in the year, so you’re not sure exactly which one it’s going to be,” Groves said. “As an opposing coach, that would be a little bit harder (to defend). When you have multiple kids that can do different things, like shoot and get to the basket. It’s harder to defend those kind of teams.” The first team that will likely face those multiple options will be Culver, which will enter the opening game against LaCrosse as heavy favorites. Culver began the season with high expectations, entering Class 1A’s Top 10, beginning the year at 6-0, before falling 71-68 in overtime at New Prairie. The Cavaliers followed that loss with a win over Washington Township, but then Triton defeated them 64-56 on Jan. 17 in Culver. Between its loss to New Prairie on Jan. 11 and a 40-37 loss at Argos on Feb. 13, Culver struggled with a 3-6 record. “They’re good and they’ll be really prepared,” Groves said of Culver. “They just have trouble scoring at times, but we always have trouble scoring against them too.” The top half of the bracket seems to be pretty easy to plan out, but who comes out of the bottom half is a little murkier. Playing after the LaCrosse/Culver game Tuesday is South Central (4-15) and Oregon-Davis (6-14). “I just went to see South Central and Culver play (Feb. 24), and South Central was pretty good,” Groves said of the game, which Culver won at home 43-42. “They had some quick guards, played good defense, play with a lot of emotion and have some kids that can shoot the ball. That’s one team I don’t think you can count out on the other side of the bracket.” South Central will be playing an Oregon-Davis team that is on its fourth coach since winning the state title in 2007. With just seven kids on the roster, first-year coach Dean Foster, who’s in his 37th overall year, has been doing his best. “O-D is playing with a lot of teams,” Groves said. “They’re right there, keeping it close. I think coach Foster is doing a good job with them and they’ve gotten a lot better since the beginning of the year.” Whoever comes out of the South Central/O-D game will face Argos (12-7) in the semifinals, and will likely be the underdog in that one. On Feb. 4, Triton and Argos met in Bourbon, and played a 5 p.m. varsity game, as Marshall County was going under a travel advisory at 7 p.m. that night. Playing the hurried game, Triton won 69-39, but Groves doesn’t believe he saw the real Argos Dragons. “(Senior guard Taylor) Ogle didn’t play against us the first time, and he’s their best player,” Groves said. “He kind of makes them go. It was one of those games that we had to play at 5 (p.m.) with no JV game and they kind of looked like they didn’t want to be there. It was a weird game.” The two may get another chance to square off, this time in the sectional championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday night. Before looking ahead to the potential championship matchup, Groves is pleased to have some time off between Triton’s regular-season finale and Friday’s semifinals. “I do like the bye,” he said. “I think that lets us focus on ourselves a little bit and take care of some things that we need to get better at. It also gives us a break as coaches and players. It allows us to re-organize, regroup and refocus.”
