BOURBON — Having won three of the last four regionals on their home floor, the Class 1A No. 5 Triton Trojans will be tested this season. Following the 10:30 a.m. game between Pioneer and Fort Wayne Canterbury, the Triton Trojans (19-5) will face No. 4 Kouts (19-3) at approximately 12:30 p.m. “They’re a good shooting team that is athletic, long and very, very aggressive on the offensive end,” Triton coach Jason Groves said about the Kouts Mustangs. “They’re the kind of team that could hit 10 three-pointers in a game.” On the season, the Mustangs are hitting 5.7 treys a game, with senior Stephen Keller being the most dangerous, connecting on 36 of 112 this season (32 percent). Along with Keller, Mustangs sophomore Max Everaert is hitting 25.7 percent of his three-point attempts and leads the squad with 16 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. “Max Everaert is leading with 16 points a game and Keller is at 13.3 a game,” Kouts’ 29-year coach Marty Gaff said. “But, a dark horse I’d say is (senior) Matt Bradley.” Bradley is averaging 12.7 points per game this year, but will be making his first appearance after missing nine games. The reason for Bradley’s absence was thought to be a concussion, but after more tests were done, it was revealed that he was suffering from a severe case of mononucleosis. Now, back on the court, the Mustangs have three players averaging double-digit scoring, but Groves is worried about even more. “They’ve got four, five, maybe even six guys that can score in the double digits,” the Triton coach said. “We’re really going to need to work on our matchups. We may need to switch people around to cover whoever’s hot.” The Trojans have two players averaging more than 10 points per game in junior Clay Yeo (25.6) and sophomore Tanner Shepherd (10.8), but the former will garner the most attention from Gaff. “Yeo is an outstanding player,” Gaff said about Yeo, who’s verbally committed to Valparaiso University. “He’s so smooth and does so many things. He moves without the ball very well.” Not only has Yeo led Triton in scoring this season, but he’s also leading the squad in rebounds (8.1), steals (2.0) and blocked shots (1.9), while also averaging 2.3 assists. And he’s not just doing it in quarters one through three. He’s doing it in crunch time. In Saturday’s 56-55 sectional championship win over Michigan City Marquette Catholic, Yeo scored 16 of Triton’s 19 fourth-quarter points, his last bucket being the game winner. “He’s been playing well,” Groves said about his 6-foot-6 guard. “He seems to be more focused. He knows it’s postseason time, which is a time when we’ve had success. He knows how to win.” Triton is the defending regional champion, and by playing on their home floor, Gaff knows what stands before his Mustangs. “Every team at the regional is capable of winning it,” Gaff said. “But when you look at it, Triton should probably be the favorite, but it is well balanced.” Triton may be the favorite, but the three-point shot can really level a playing field. “We will go up and down and we shoot the 3 quite a bit,” Gaff said. According to Groves, that three-point shot can come from anywhere. “We’ll just need to get out and get a hand in their faces,” Groves said. “They’ll shoot it from five feet behind the three-point line. We need to be disciplined and close out, then make sure we box them out.” Giving up offensive rebounds has been a bug-a-boo for the Trojans, as opposing teams are averaging 9.3 of them a game, resulting in an average 7.6 second-chance points. “We have to limit them to one shot,” Groves said. If Triton can limit Kouts to one-shot possessions, it may be able to slow down a Mustangs team averaging 64.3 points per game this year, and get some points themselves. On top of worrying about Yeo and Shepherd, Gaff is also concerned with Triton’s senior point guard Zak Shively. Facilitating the offense, Shively is averaging 4.7 assists per game, as well as 7.5 points. “He does a good job of penetrating to the basket and he’s a good playmaker,” Gaff said. Of common opponents, Triton and Kouts have each played Oregon-Davis and Knox, with both teams going undefeated. Kouts downed O-D 86-42 in Hamlet on Jan. 7, and Triton defeated the same Bobcats on two occasions, first by a 89-33 count on Nov. 23 in Bourbon then again 70-45 in the opening game of the sectional. As far as Knox goes, Kouts defeated the Redskins 66-34 on Feb. 4 and Triton got the best of them 60-31 in the final game of the regular season. If Triton wins the morning session game, it will play for its sixth regional title at 7:30 p.m., but the Trojans won’t be out of the woods. “Pioneer is a big, physical, disciplined team with a couple of shooters,” Groves said about the 19-5 Panthers. And if 17-6 Fort Wayne Canterbury advances, the game plan will be similar to what Triton used against Kouts. “They have a lot of good players and shoot a lot, kind of like Kouts,” Groves said. “Those two are similar.” In a pretty balanced regional, one advantage Triton will have over every competitor is the fact it’s playing at the Trojan Trench. “We enjoy playing at home,” Groves said. “Hopefully we cane continue to defend our home court.”
