Class 2A, No. 10 Triton Central did not need to be explosive to win the 2024 Shelby County Tournament. That’s a good thing since the Tigers produced two of their three lowest scoring outputs of the season at Southwestern High School.

Following a 42-35 win Friday over Waldron in the semifinal round, Triton Central nailed down a 43-36 victory Saturday over a pesky Morristown team it defeated by 40 points in the season opener.

“We are struggling a little bit right now offensively with confidence,” said Triton Central head coach Mark James. “We are 12 games into this (season) and that is going to be a concern coming up.”

Morristown appeared to be on life support after the first eight minutes Saturday against the Tigers. The Yellow Jackets trailed 13-3 and only took two shots attempts – that would be a theme.

In the second quarter, Owen Rinzel and Kellen Crim each hit a three-pointer and Morristown’s confidence slowly started to rise. So did James’ blood pressure just a little.

Trailing 22-15 at halftime, Cade Mahin sank a pair of free throws early in the third quarter and the Yellow Jackets were suddenly within five points of their state-ranked opponent.

Triton Central always had an answer though before any Morristown momentum swing could get out of hand.

Taggy Goul scored his only points of the game on back-to-possessions in the third quarter to push the lead back to nine.

Silas Blair was Triton Central’s only consistent offensive threat in the championship and he nailed a 3-pointer late in the third quarter to get the Tigers a 34-24 lead.

“They were fighting. They played really good defense,” said Blair of Morristown. “We played good defense but our offense just hasn’t clicked the last few games. We are still working on that.”

Despite being a 2-win team, Morristown would not go away. Dalton McMichael came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer and Mahin had a pair of baskets and the Yellow Jackets twice got within five points in the game’s final 30 seconds but Blair hit two free throws to seal the victory and start the celebration.

While the county title was the second straight for Triton Central and third in the last four seasons, it was the first for head coach Mark James, who has 608 career victories.

“It’s never easy. It wasn’t easy,” said James. “Everybody we played in this tournament was very prepared and played very hard. It was sort of what I expected – a lot of tradition, the kids really get up for the games and play hard. I thought our kids played really hard and Morristown’s kids played really hard.”

Blair finished with a game-high 17 points and had seven rebounds and three assists. The junior was named the Shelby County Tournament Most Valuable Player.

“This is awesome. I didn’t think I could do this but my teammates push me hard in practice,” he said. “They want what is best for me. No one is selfish on this team. That means a lot.”

Eli Sego had 12 points and four steals for Triton Central, now 9-3, with a road trip ahead to Milan (0-9) on Saturday.

Mahin led Morristown (2-9) with 10 points and seven rebounds. Crim finished with nine points.

The Yellow Jackets took just 22 shots in the game --  11 less than Triton Central -- and hit 12 but were 6 of 10 from the 3-point arc.

Morristown will seek its third win in four games Friday at Rushville (1-11).

Steve Bush photos

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