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Furious rally falls short for Triton Central in regional loss to University

When every opportunity counts, perfection is needed.

Trailing by 15 points going into the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon at the Class 2A Greenfield-Central Regional, Triton Central staged a furious comeback.

A Josiah Blair drive and score cut University’s lead to 52-49 with 99 seconds left in regulation but the Tigers got no closer, missing on key opportunities to flip the outcome.

Robert Russell and Sabien Cain each connected on a pair of free throws at the opposite end to secure the Trailblazers’ 56-49 victory and a spot in the regional championship game against No. 9 Eastern Hancock.

“In these games where it ended up being a seven-point game, pick any two or three possessions, whether it’s a loose ball we didn’t get or a missed box out or a good shot didn’t go in, at the end of the game it’s hard to say one thing didn’t work out for us,” said Triton Central head coach Kyle Ballard.

Larry Pierce led University (16-9) with 19 points, two rebounds and two assists. Cain finished with 17 points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocked shots.

The Trailblazers shot a very efficient 68% from the field (23 of 34), bolstered by hitting 11 of 12 shots in the second half.

A veteran Triton Central squad took the action to a much more inexperienced University team in the first quarter. Senior Caleb Miller scored nine of his team-high 16 points in the first eight minutes to help the Tigers build a 16-14 lead.

The Trailblazers settled down in the second quarter and started rolling, outscoring the Tigers 13-4 then doing it again in the third quarter, 16-8, to take a double-digit advantage.

“We got a little stagnant on offense,” said Ballard. “We kind of went away from some of the things that were working in the first quarter. And it didn’t help our defense at all. We were playing in transition more.”

After missing his first shot attempt of the second quarter, Pierce never missed again, connecting on his last eight shots.

With a more desperate attitude, Triton Central turned up the pressure on University and its youth started to show. The Trailblazers committed nine fourth-quarter turnovers and the Tigers gained momentum.

“We went to our pressure, they tried to slow it down, that’s not something we’ve done much of,” said Ballard. “We got a few steals and there were a couple of other loose balls where if we get on the floor a half second earlier and it’s our ball instead of theirs. We tried to claw back from a 15-point deficit. All those loose balls make a difference in the end, just one or two can make a difference between a seven-point game and a one-possession game with the ball.”

Two and-one plays from Blair and Isaac Morgan got the lead under double digits for good midway through the quarter.

Andre Ozlowski got a fast-break transition dunk with 3:29 to go to make it 50-41 but Josh Kemper hit a 3-pointer for Triton Central and the lead was down to six with just under three minutes to go.

Pierce answered again with a score in the low post for a 52-44 lead but Miller scored in the lane and was fouled. He converted the free throw to get the lead down to five and the Tigers got a stop that Blair turned into a drive to the basket.

University led 52-49 with 1:39 left but the Tigers never scored again.

Cain, a sophomore that was named Pioneer Academic Athletic Conference Player of the Year, hit two free throws with 1:33 left to all but seal the win.

Miller added four assists and two steals to his 16-point performance in his final game with TC. Kemper had 13 points and four steals (three in the fourth quarter). Blair finished with 10 points and three rebounds.

Eastern Hancock reached the championship game with a 63-47 win over Southmont (19-7) in the first semifinal game Saturday morning.

The Royals (22-5) went on to capture the program’s second regional championship with a 54-47 victory over University Saturday night. They will face Providence (19-6) in the Class 2A southern Indiana semistate championship.

Triton Central finished 13-12 in a season that saw the program win back-to-back sectional championships for the first time since 1997 and 1998.

Six seniors will graduate including Aiden Lindsey, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the fifth game of the season. Along with Miller, Kemper, Blair, Alex Crouse and Mason Krebs, a foundation for success has been established for future seasons.

“If you look back, I don’t think it is too dissimilar to what our offseason looked like last year,” said Ballard of the coming months ahead. “We really believe in our offseason development process. The most important thing about these seniors is they bought in from day one when we got there. They have set a great example for the younger guys and I think if you look at where our seniors are now, they were in the same seats as some of our underclassmen were the last couple of weeks here.”

In addition to consecutive sectional titles, Triton Central also produced back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2014 and 2015 when Cary Chandler, TC’s current principal, was head coach.

“I think everyone understands what our expectations are now year to year,” said Ballard. “As much as we hate to turn the page, it will sting for a little bit here, in a couple weeks here we will get back to working with our younger guys.”

 

University 56, Triton Central 49

TC: Blair 4-11 1-1 10, Crouse 1-3 0-0 3, Miller 7-17 1-1 16, Palmer 1-3 0-0 2, Kemper 6-11 0-0 13, Morgan 2-6 1-1 5, Faust 0-0 0-0 0, Dewey 0-0 0-0 0, Stuckey 0-0 0-0 0, Krebs 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-51 3-3 49.

UN: Russell 2-2 2-2 7, Cain 7-11 2-2 17, Ozlowski 2-4 0-0 4, Pierce 9-11 1-2 19, Hogg 1-3 2-2 5, Jeffery 1-2 0-0 2, Bracey 1-1 0-1 2, Gray 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-34 7-9 56.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

TC (13-12)  16    4    8  21  --  49

UN (16-9)   14  13  16  13  --  56

Three-point field goals: TC 4-14 (Blair 1-3, Crouse 1-3, Miller 1-5, Palmer 0-2, Kemper 1-1), UN 3-10 (Russell 1-1, Cain 1-5, Ozlowski 0-1, Hogg 1-3). Rebounds: TC 13 (Blair 3, Crouse 2, Miller 2, Palmer 1, Kemper 1, Morgan 3, Faust 1), UN 21 (Russell 5, Cain 4, Ozlowski 1, Pierce 2, Hogg 4, Jeffery 1, Bracey 3, Gray 1). Assists: TC 10 (Blair 1, Crouse 2, Miller 4, Palmer 1, Kemper 1, Morgan 1), UN 13 (Russell 2, Cain 2, Ozlowski 1, Pierce 2, Hogg 1, Jeffery 3, Bracey 2). Steals: TC 8 (Crouse 1, Miller 2, Kemper 4, Morgan 1), UN 3 (Cain 1, Hogg 1, Jeffery 1). Blocks: TC 1 (Blair), UN 6 (Cain 2, Ozlowski 2, Pierce 1, Bracey 1). Total fouls: TC 10, UN 7. Turnovers: TC 9, UN 15.

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