Triton gets only lead in last seconds, tops Bremen
BOURBON — The high school boys basketball teams from Triton and Bremen will want to throw out any video evidence of the first three quarters of their game Tuesday night, but the fourth quarter finally gave the fans the excitement they expected as the Trojans came back to pull out a 43-42 win at the Trojan Trench.
“It was ugly, but I’m proud of the way we fought through and found a way to win,” said Triton head coach Jason Groves. And just in time. After playing from behind for 31:34 of the 32-minute contest, Triton took its first lead of the game on a driving layup by Cole Shively with 26 seconds remaining, then had to wait out two missed free throws in the last second before the win was secured.
“Give Bremen credit,” added Groves. “They played well and we didn’t. We didn’t get any rhythm at all. It wasn’t a pretty game, but we came through when we needed to. Sometimes you have to win ugly. It’s better than losing pretty. I’m proud of Cole, proud of all of them for finding a way to win.”
The Lions led by six to start the fourth quarter and bumped the lead to its highest mark, 29-20, early in the final frame before Triton’s comeback started with back-to-back 3s by freshman guard Julian Swanson.
“No one was hitting at all so we wanted to get Julian involved,” said Groves, who saw his team score more points in the fourth quarter (25) than the first three combined. “We called his number and he hit some clutch shots. He’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
Anthony Schuh scored six of his seven points in the last eight minutes and his bucket with 2:50 left pulled the Trojans to within two points.
“He’s been like that all year,” Groves said of the junior reserve. “He’s gritty and fights and fights. It’s all effort for him. That’s what he does best - get those put-backs - and he did it at timely moments.”
Two clutch free throws by Dante Workman in the 1-and-1 situation at the 1:23 mark cut the Bremen lead to 39-38. The Lions, who took 17 foul shots in the fourth quarter alone, connected on 3-of-4 after
Workman’s pair to take a four-point lead with 1:04 remaining before a huge 3 by Triton’s Jacob Pitney cut it back to 42-41 and 49 seconds left.
Bremen missed two foul shots on their next possession, then Shively sliced through the defense for a bucket 17 seconds later. Bremen advanced the ball, then called timeout with :16.7 left in the game to set up a potential game-winning basket.
“We thought they were going to go to (Baylor) Orcutt,” Groves said of the the final defensive sequence. “Our kids did a nice job of fronting him and defended him well, but we need to get that rebound.”
Bremen was able to get off a highly-contested shot off in the final seconds, but it missed. The Lions snagged the offensive rebound though, and was fouled on the put-back with :00.6 showing on the clock. After a Triton timeout, both foul shots went off the front of the rim and the final horn sounded.
“We didn’t play our best game, but I’m proud of our kids for finding a way to win,” concluded Groves.
Shively led Triton in scoring with 16 points and also pulled down eight rebounds. Schuh led the team in rebounding with nine. Orcutt led Bremen in scoring with 12 points and rebounds with seven. Silas Laidig had both of the Lions’ 3s as part of his eight points.
Bremen hosts Culver Friday for its final regular season game while Triton is at Knox that same night.
• TRITON 43, BREMEN 42
At Bourbon
BREMEN: Julian Alvarado 2 3-4 7, Camden Hickman 0 6-8 6, AJ Ton 0 0-0 0, Silas Laidig 3 0-0 8, Tyrus Graverson 1 5-9 7, Aden Hunziker 0 0-0 0, Markel Izaguirre 1 0-0 2, Baylor Orcutt 6 0-2 12. TOTALS: 13 14-23 42. TRITON: Dante Workman 1 2-2 5, Julian Swanson 3 0-0 8, Evan Briles 2 0-2 4, Caden Large 0 0-0 0, Cole Shively 6 3-6 16, Wayne Reichert 0 0-0 0, Jacob Pitney 1 0-0 3, Cam Callahan 0 0-0 0, Anthony Schuh 3 1-2 7, Gage Riffle 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 6-12 43. Score by quarters Bremen 13 16 24 42 Triton 8 11 18 43 3-pointers: Bremen 2 (Laidig 2), Triton 5 (Shively, Workman, Swanson 2, Pitney). Fouls (fouled out): Bremen 14 (none), Triton 20 (none). Records: Bremen 1-20, Triton 12-9
JV score: Triton 46, Bremen 12