BOURBON – It wasn't their best game, but the Class 1A No. 7 Triton Trojans still got a 39-33 win over Bethany Christian in boys basketball action Tuesday in Bourbon. The win was the Trojans' (4-2) 10th-straight win over the Bethany Bruins (2-4), but Triton coach Jason Groves wasn't impressed with the performance of his guys. "The thing that bothers me the most is, it seemed like our focus wasn't there," he said. "That's what we've been lacking all year. They don't have focus. They can't come night-in and night-out with focus. Last night, we got after them at practice. We wanted their effort and intensity to pick up." That lack of intensity helped explain the Trojans' 10-5 lead after the first quarter, even though the Bruins committed 10 turnovers in the opening eight minutes. For the game, Triton made just 31 percent of its shots, going 0 of 12 from behind the three-point arc, as the Trojans struggled to penetrate Bethany's 2-3 zone defense. "When we're 0-11 from the three-point line in the first half — that doesn't help matters," Groves said. "Because they're just going to pack it in and make us shoot." Triton shot just one three-pointer in the second half, and built a 35-22 lead with 5:12 remaining, but then things changed. While it appeared the game was put away, the Bruins embarked on an 11-0 run, capitalizing on five Triton turnovers, to climb within 35-33 with 1:08 left to play. The Trojans eventually righted the ship, but the late game scuffling left Groves bewildered. And despite junior Clay Yeo's 20 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots, Groves wanted something out of him that won't appear in the stat sheet. "That's just his athleticism," Groves said about Yeo's stats. "His focus and his leadership has to get a lot better. He was quiet. He was one of the guys not in our press break when they were pressing. He wasn't the leader he needed to be tonight. Period. I'm not worried about how many points he scored. I'm worried about him being a leader." With Yeo scoring more than half of his team's points, sophomore Tanner Shepherd was the team's second-leading scorer with six, to go with his four rebounds and three steals. Now, Triton plays five-straight games on the road, beginning Friday with its Northern State Conference opener at New Prairie. "They're going to get after us and that's been a tough place to play over the years," Groves said. "They want to start the conference season out right and so do we. It's going to be a battle. It's going to be fun."
