BOURBON - After using a buzzer-beater in the morning semifinal, the Triton Trojans opted for a blowout in the regional championship game Saturday at Triton High School.
"The less exciting, the better," Triton senior Troy McIntyre said after his team's 61-47 championship win over the Fort Wayne Blackhawk Chrisitian Braves. "Each team seems to have that close game during a postseason run, and hopefully we can roll from here on out."That close game was the 51-49 semifinal win over the Morgan Township Cherokees, setting up the championship game against seventh-ranked Blackhawk, a 66-49 victor over Tri-County in the day's other semifinal. In the final, the Trojans used a staunch defense to limit Blackhawk to just 13 first-half points, four coming in the last 44 seconds.
"We take pride in our defense," McIntyre said. "A lot of people have been saying we don't have the offensive firepower to defeat teams like Blackhawk or Lafayette Central (Triton's semistate opponent), but defense wins championships."
The third-ranked Trojans will have there chance to see if they can keep up with fourth-ranked Central Catholic Braves Saturday in the 1 p.m. Class A semistate at Lafayette Jefferson High School. But before that game, the Trojans were basking in their first regional crown since 2000.
"It feels great," Triton junior Colton Keel said. "Last week was good (at sectionals), but this is even better."
Keel was Triton's top scorer in the finals, going 6 for 7 from the field, netting 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds. The Trojans also received 13 points from Jake Everett, and 11 each from McIntyre and Harrison.
"I can't describe it," Triton coach Jason Groves said about his emotions following the championship win. "I'm so proud of all the kids, and that goes for all of them. This week, we had our best week of practice ever."
That week of practice was very beneficial, as the Trojans limited 6-foot-7 Blackhawk sophomore Russell Byrd to six points on 2-of-13 shooting. His offense may have been limited, but the recruit of such school as Indiana, Iowa, Louisville and Purdue did nab 10 boards.
"A.J. really hounded him," Groves said of Harrison's defense on the taller Byrd. "We played with no help-side defense, so we were just front guarding him. That made him put the ball on the floor, which is what we wanted him to do."
Limiting Byrd was a big objective, but slowing senior Dayton Merrell was also key. With McIntyre drawing the Grace College-bound Merrell most of the night, Merrell went for 18 points, 13 of which came in the second half.
"He's a great player," McIntyre said of Merrell. "I just tried to contain him and keep him in check."
The Trojans kept all the Braves in check in the first half, using a 13-2 run over a 7:24 time span between the first and second quarters to hold a 21-7 advantage with 5:04 remaining in the half.
"Early in the game, we really wanted to take the ball at them," Blackhawk coach Gary Merrell said. "They like to block shots, so we hoped to drive to the basket and draw some fouls, but we had several guys miss attempts."
Blackhawk shot just 5 for 20 in the opening half, leading to a 24-13 deficit at intermission.
During the Braves offensive struggles, Triton was spreading the scoring wealth, as Harrison and Everett each scored seven first-half points and Keel chipped in another six.
"We're a pretty unselfish team," Groves said of the 23-2 Trojans. "We find the open man."
Blackhawk's offense picked it up in the second half, but with Triton's not dipping off, it wasn't enough. The closest Gary Merrell's team could get in the second half was 10, as Triton built the lead to as many as 19.
"The main thing with them is their size and athleticism," coach Merrell said of the Trojans. "Each time you penetrate into the lane, there's a pretty good athlete there."
And those pretty good athletes will now prepare for a Central Catholic team that's making its second-straight semistate appearance, losing 61-54 to Oregon-Davis last year.
"We just have to come back and work really hard and practice each day to get ready for them," Keel said.
"We're not satisfied," McIntyre said about the regional championship. "We're not done."
TRITON 61, FW BLACKHAWK CHRISTIAN 47
(Championship)
T 13 11 17 20 - 61
B 5 8 13 21 - 47
Triton - McIntyre 5-7 1-2 11, Harrison 3-5 4-5 11, Christian 1-2 0-0 2, Everett 4-10 3-4 13, Keel 6-7 4-6 16, Davis 1-2 0-0 2, Montalbano 0-0 0-0 0, Meister 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, C. Carpenter 0-0 0-0 0, G. Carpenter 2-3 0-0 6, Moriarty 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-38 12-17 61.
Blackhawk - Wharton 2-6 2-3 7, Merrell 7-15 2-3 18, Byrd 2-13 1-4 6, Van Laar 2-6 0-0 5, Deason 3-6 0-0 6, J. Friesen 0-0 0-0 0, T. Friesen 1-1 0-0 3, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, Whitman 0-0 0-0 0, Bone 0-0 2-2 2, Bland 0-0 0-0 0, Neumeister 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-47 7-12 47.
In a game that saw 12 lead changes and 12 ties, it seemed the last team to score would be the winner between Triton and Morgan Township in Saturday's first regional semifinal.
And it was.
After Morgan Township Cherokee senior Troy Turner tied the game at 49-49 with 30 seconds remaining on a fadeaway three-pointer, the Trojans opted to go without a timeout. The decision appeared to pay off, as junior Colton Keel ended the game on a tip-in following an initial miss by A.J. Harrison and a subsequent missed tip-in by Troy McIntyre.
"We thought about taking a timeout, but that would have kind of allowed them to set up their defense," Triton coach Jason Groves said after the 51-49 semifinal win. "We were just gonna give it to A.J., becasuse he was creating well this morning. We let him take it, and we crashed the boards. We talked about that, crashing the boards, and Colton did a great job."
Triton was actually outrebounded by the Cherokees 25-23, but the Trojans last two boards were by far the biggest of the game.
"We knew that a huge key would be rebounding," Morgan Township coach Collin McCartt said.
The win put the third-ranked Trojans into the championship game against seventh-ranked Fort Wayne Blackhawk, who defeated Tri-County 66-49 in the day's second semifinal. But in order to get to that championship game, Triton had to get through a very defensive-oriented game.
"Both teams play great defense," Groves said. "I told our kids that this would be one of the best defensive teams we've seen this year."
Morgan Township entered the game allowing 42.2 points a game, 10th in the state, but unfortunately for the Cherokees, Triton's 39.6 points allowed per game was second.
That defense was on display in the first half, with the two squads entering the locker rooms with Triton in front 20-16. The scoring picked up in the second half, as Morgan Township's Eric Spaulding led all scorers with 14 points and Turner netted 13.
Of his 13 points, none Spaulding's were as big his last three, which tied the game. The shot was made with 6-6 Triton senior Jake Everett right in his face, and showcased the never-die attitude the Cherokees played with all morning.
"Every time we'd get up, they would hit a big shot," Groves said.
"They're just mentally tough," Morgan Township first-year coach McCartt said. "We've battled back from 16 points down a couple times this year. They don't get rattled."
The biggest lead they had to battle back from Saturday morning was five, but battling Triton's balanced scoring proved to be too difficult. Triton was led by Harrison's 13 points, followed by McIntyre's 11, Everett's 10 and Keel's eight. The Trojans also shared the wealth on the boards, where McInytre and Everett each nabbed six and Keel finished with five.
The outcome of the game could not have been anymore exciting, but with a championship game only eight hours away, the celebration could only last so long.
"You enjoy it for about 10 minutes," Groves said.
At least he and his guys had a celebration. McCartt's guys did all they could to hand Triton its first home loss of the season, but had to settle with a campaign that ends with a 20-5 mark.
