Third quarter onslaught carries Triton over PHS
PLYMOUTH - A very tight first half turned into a romp for Triton as they took a big win over Plymouth, 60-40, in high school boys basketball Saturday night at The Rock.
With an 8-0 run early, Plymouth gave themselves a lead and had the Trojans on their heels. Some poor shooting by Triton initially got them behind the eight ball, but coming out in the second half they ran the table.
Plymouth’s Easton Strain was involved early and often hitting for seven firsthalf points to go with six rebounds, while Triton’s Ashton Oviedo struggled to find his shot, but the Trojans saw a sign of things to come with a solid final three minutes to the half to go into the locker room with an 18-14 lead.
The third quarter would be the undoing of the Pilgrims as Triton came out on fire, forcing seven turnovers in the quarter and putting in points in transition behind the energy play of Tyson Yates.
“He’s explosive offensively. If you don’t take his penetration into account he’s going to get to the basket and score,” said Triton coach Jason Groves. “He sets up our team. He does a lot of nice things. He can suck in the defense and we can kick it and we have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball.”
Yates had six steals on the night, most of which turned into points in transition. He added four assists and 15 points.
Meanwhile, Aston Oviedo came to life hitting 18 of his 25 points in the second half and reviving his shooting percentage ending with 11 of 18 as Triton scored 26 points in the third quarter and took command.
Triton ended the night with 22 points off of turnovers, which was much of the story of the game.
“We are short three varsity guys tonight and two of them were starters for us,” said Groves. “I like our depth and our team. Guys like Hunter Mcintyre and Connor Large real
ly stepped up for us and filled those voids. That was nice to see.”
For the Pilgrims offensive rebounding was troublesome on Friday night against Northwood when they had none. They ended Saturday night with 13 and 11 second-chance points, but it wouldn’t be enough.
Strain ended the night with 17 points for Plymouth to go with nine rebounds. Tanner Feece had nine points and Owen Yoder eight rebounds.
“I’m really proud,” said Groves. “These guys get along. They like playing basketball so that makes my job a lot easier. We have a long way to go. We have some deficits that we have to work on. Our kids are playing with confidence, we are doing a lot of good things. We just have to keep getting better every day.”
Triton goes to 4-1 on the year with a game scheduled for Tuesday at Winamac. Plymouth is 0-6 and will be at South Bend Riley on Tuesday.
• TRITON 60, PLYMOUTH 40 At Plymouth
Plymouth 10 14 28 40
Triton 9 18 44 60 Plymouth (40) - Strain 5 5-7 17, Feece 2 4-7 9, Weidner 2 0-0 5, Bales 2 0-0 4, Mills 1 0-0 2, Wray 1 0-0 2, Yoder 0 1-3 1, Aker 0 0-0
0. Totals 13 10-17 40.
Triton (60) - Oviedo 11 1-1 25, Yates 6 0-0 12, Gardner 3 0-0 6, Johnson 2 0-0 5, Mcintyre 1 3-3 5, Mckinney 1 1-2 4, Westafer 1 0-0 3, Large 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 5-6 60. 3 Pt. FG - Plymouth 4 (Strain 2), Triton 5 (Oviedo 2). Rebounds - Plymouth 29 (Strain 9), Triton 22 (Yates 6).
Assists - Plymouth 7 (Feece 3), Triton 9 (Yates, Johnson, Mckinney 2).
Steals - Plymouth 7 (Feece 2), Triton 14 (Yates 4). Turnovers - Plymouth 18, Triton 10.
Fouls (Fouled out) - Plymouth 7, Triton 14.