BOURBON - It seemed like everybody without a rooting interest in Saturday's Class 1A boys basketball regional at Triton High School wanted the third-ranked Triton Trojans to take on No. 1 Bowman Academy.
Bowman held up its end of the bargain in the first game of the day as the Eagles destroyed Pioneer 89-39.In the day's second game, however, the basketball gods would not look so kindly on Triton.
Facing a much bigger Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian squad, the Trojans ended their season with a 72-49 loss.
Behind a dominant effort from Michigan State-bound Russell Byrd, Blackhawk used its size and took advantage of poor shooting from Triton to cruise to the win.
The Braves used a 15-0 run in the second quarter to build an 18-point lead and never looked back.
The closest Triton got was within 13 in the third quarter.
Midway through the third, freshman guard Quentyn Carpenter launched a three that would have cut Blackhawk's lead to 10 but it banged off the rim.
After that miss, Blackhawk scored six straight points moving its lead up to 19.
Triton shot less than 38 percent (17 of 45) from the field and couldn't keep the Braves off the glass.
Blackhawk outrebounded Triton 43-26 in the game and pulled down 21 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second chance points.
Byrd led with a game-high 14 rebounds to go along with his 29 points.
But Byrd, who will be playing for Tom Izzo next season, didn't shoot particularly well from the field.
Byrd was just 11 of 24 from the field and 6 of 9 from the free throw line for the game.
But it seemed like whenever he missed a shot a teammate was there to grab the board.
"The big kids do a great job," said Blackhawk coach Jay Sefton. "Russell Byrd, (Seth) Kisler and (Tim) Howard really go hard at times."
Kisler, listed at 6-foot-8 and Howard 6-5, along with 6-7 Byrd, were too much size for the Triton squad.
Howard and Kisler finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively and combined for 12 rebounds.
Despite a 15-0 run in the second and poor shooting through the first two quarters Triton trailed by only 12 at 31-19 going into halftime.
"With the way we shot going into halftime, we were fortunate to be down just 12," said Triton coach Jason Groves.
Groves said containing Blackhawk's size combined with poor shooting proved to be too much.
The loss kept Triton from a chance at its third straight state title appearance in as many years.
Triton won the Class 1A state title in 2008 and was runner-up in 2009.
The Trojans were led in defeat by junior Griffyn Carpenter and senior Ben Montalbano.
Carpenter finished with 16 points, while Montalbano had 10.
Freshman Clay Yeo had seven points and seven boards.
The Trojans lose five seniors going into next year in starters Montalbano and Taran Holderman, along with reserves Curtis Nordman, Camron Garey and Kreig Voreis.
"It's going to be tough to see them go," said Groves, who noted that this year's team had the best record in school history, were Bi-County Champs, won the Northern State Conference title and were sectional champs.
In Saturday night's championship game, Bowman beat Blackhawk 72-60.
Tyrae Robinson led Bowman in a balanced effort with 15 points.
Byrd ended his career with a 17-point, 19-rebound effort while Kisler had a game-high 23 points.
