Argos holds off Triton in OT
ARGOS — It’s sectional time for high school girls basketball, but on the only off-night of the week for that potential Class 1A boys sectional foes Argos and Triton took to the Phil Weybright Gymnasium court Thursday night for a sneak peek into what the postseason might look like for them in a couple of weeks.
Led by a pesky zone defense and plenty of foul shots, it was Argos coming away with the 50-45 regular season win in overtime.
“We were fortunate to win this one,” said Argos head coach Jason Breden.
Triton jumped out to a 6-2 lead, but Argos answered with an 11-2 run to lead by five before settling with a 13-10 advantage after one period.
JJ Morris score nine points in the second stanza (5-6 FTS) as the Dragons gradually increased the lead to nine by halftime. Argos bumped up the gap to 10 on two occasions in the third frame before a pair of late 3s by Jacob Pitney pulled the Trojans back to within four heading to the final period.
Triton’s Cole Shively and Dante Workman scored on back-to-back drives to open the fourth quarter scoring and with 5:46 in regulation, the Trojans had tied the score at 37. The score was tied two more times in the fourth period, the last time at 41-all with 2:05 to play. Both teams missed outside shots over the next minute and then both missed opportunities in close range during the final 12 seconds to send the game to OT. Argos’ missed opportunity came on a highly contested drive to the basket, while Triton had the ball roll off the fingers in the lane just before the buzzer sounded.
Argos’ game-long 1-3-1 zone was effective, but especially so when it extended it out to halfcourt during the extra session. With 3:10 showing on the clock, AJ Mills made a steal at the top of that defense and went the length of the floor for a layup and a 44-41 lead that Triton never recovered from.
“AJ’S steal might have been the play of the game,” said Breden. “A 1-3-1 defense is kind of boom or bust. You rely on the pressure to create turnovers and we were fortunate enough to get some steals.”
Triton maintained possession for the next minute and half before Anthony Schuh’s bucket cut the lead to one, but for the last 1:30 of the OT Argos nailed 6-of-8 from the foul line to offset just one bucket by Triton for the final margin.
Triton used a box-andone defense to limit Morris to just two field goals, but the senior was 12-for-16 from the free-throw line to finish with 16 points.
“We ran a little of our man offense (against it) and some of our zone offense,” said Breden. “You just have to be patient, move the ball, and get (JJ) the ball in the middle when the right opportunity presents itself. When we move the ball, good things tend to happen.”
Luke Stults tied Morris for scoring honors with 16 points as well (7-13 FTS), while Sean Richard had a dozen (4-5 FTS). Argos had a whopping 29 more freethrow attempts and made 22 more from the charity stripe than the Trojans. Triton had almost double the fouls of the Dragons (27-14).
“From our perspective they were fouls, from their perspective they’re probably not. That’s just basketball,” Breden said of the foul/free throw disparity. “They tried to take away the middle and some fouls were called. (Triton’s) Jason (Groves) is a great coach and I think they came out with a great game plan.”
Cole Shively led Triton in scoring with 15 points and Schuh was next with 10.
Both teams are back in action tomorrow night as Argos travels to Peru, while Triton hosts Caston for a Hoosier North Athletic Conference game.
• ARGOS 50, TRITON 45 (OT) At Argos
TRITON: Dante Workman 3 0-1 6, Julian Swanson 0 2-2 2, Evan Briles 3 0-3 6, Caden Large 0 0-0 0, Cole Shively 7 0-1 15, Jacob Pitney 2 0-0 6, Gage Riffle 0 0-0 0, Cam Callahan 0 0-0 0, Anthony Schuh 5 0-2 10. TOTALS: 20 2-9 45. ARGOS: Nate Manikowski 1 0-0 3, JJ Morris 2 12-16 16, AJ Mills 1 1-3 3, Elijah Osborn 0 0-1 0, Luke Stults 4 7-13 16, Sean Richard 4 4-5 12. TOTALS: 12 24-38 50. Score by quarters
Triton 10 18 33 41 45
Argos 13 27 37 41 50 3-pointers: Argos 2 (Manikowski, Stults), Triton 3 (Pitney 2, Shively). Fouls (fouled out): Argos 14 (none), Triton 27 (Workman, Pitney). Records: Argos 10-5, Triton 8-7 JV score: Triton 50, Argos 15