Triton won its fourth semi-state title in six years after a 40-32 win against Lafayette Central Catholic at the Lafayette Jefferson Semi-state Saturday afternoon. (Photos by Mike Deak)
LAFAYETTE — It’s not like Triton hasn’t been here before. But, boy does it feel good to be a Trojan.
Triton is partying like its 2011 after the Trojans knocked off Lafayette Central Catholic, 40-32, in the Class 1-A boys basketball semi-state held at Lafayette Jefferson High School Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t easy in the least, but sticking to the game plan have the blue and gold booking travel plans to face Borden for the 1-A state title game next Saturday morning at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“You just have to block out the fans, it’s five on five on the floor,” said Triton’s Clay Yeo. “You just go out and do what you know how to do. We play defense. We execute. We played physical today and just worked through it. We trusted each other to take care of business down the stretch. We came out on top.”
Yeo was the factor everyone figured he would be, and then some. Not impacting into the second half stats as he had for the sectional and regional championships, Yeo played decoy as Catholic trapped Yeo and left several Trojans open at key times. Yeo finished with a balanced stat line, recording 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal. But it was the attention paid to the 6-6 senior that made a huge difference.
Triton opened the second half with a pair of backdoor lobs, both from the hands of guard Joey Corder. Seth Glingle’s conversion of one of Corder’s passes had Triton open up a two possession lead, and after Yeo hammered home a huge dunk, Triton led 26-19.
“We knew the pressure was coming from outside and they were doubling up on Clay and leaving Seth open,” began Corder. “We knew we could get something going. That was a good confidence booster for us. That really got us going in the second half.”
Triton and Catholic would trade blows for a good portion of the second half, and the Knight’s quick hands pulled them back into the contest. After Triton opened a 37-27 lead when Skyler Reichert broke behind Catholic’s press for a layup, a pair of Trojan turnovers turned in five straight points for the visitors. Residing just two blocks south of Lafayette Jeff High School, the Knights and its well-represented faithful began to rise trailing just 37-32.
Possibly the most key moment of the game came during that momentum swing for LCC. And the gate swung completely to Triton’s capacity crowd.
A jump ball call was made after Glingle got a hand on Jake Church’s layup attempt, which went into the basket, took a deuce off the board and gave the ball to Triton.
The call, which had Knights head coach Dave Barrett pounding the scorer’s table in disgust, really left its impression.
“I thought we failed when we got the ball inside, we couldn’t get a foul call and get to the foul line,” Barrett said. “They did on the other end. It’s tough when you work hard to get open shots and get the ball inside. There was a jump ball call that could have been a three-point play. It just seemed when we had the opportunities, we couldn’t make any shots. Give them credit on the defense, they were all over us.”
But the defense played by Triton, which held the Knights to 22 percent shooting from the floor (11-50) and only four makes in 21 attempts from three-point range, was the real difference. LCC, which made 180 threes in its 26 games heading into Saturday, shot just the 19 percent from deep against Triton, and were 27 points below its season scoring average. Just another day at the office for Triton, which have held its five tournament opponents to just 38.4 points per game.
Church led the sixth-ranked Knights (18-9) with 12 points and chipped in three rebounds. Timmy Mills had eight points, but was just 3-15 from the floor. Andrew Hubertz, who led LCC in scoring this season at 14.5 ppg, was held to just 1-9 shooting and three points.
Cody Shively scored eight points for the Trojans, including his first three-pointer of the playoffs. Glingle chipped in six points and seven boards.
The win at Lafayette Jefferson was the fourth time in six years Triton has won the 1-A northern semi-state, and the third time the Trojans have knocked off the Knights. Triton have won semi-state titles in 2008, 2009, 2011 and now 2013. The ’08, ’09 and ’13 wins were against LCC, the 2011 win in overtime against Rockville. Triton have won just one state title, coming in 2008 against Indianapolis Lutheran.
Up next for Triton, winners of its past 12 games, is a date in Indianapolis with Borden (23-3), which beat University (15-12) in the southern semi-state, 47-44, Saturday afternoon. Borden and Triton both ended up ranked tenth in the state 1-A poll heading into the state tournament. Tip-off for the 1-A title game is 10:30 a.m.
But for today, it’s all about celebrating another chance at glory.
“I’ve got one more week to go, for sure,” Yeo said. “It’s my senior year and there are seniors out there with me just as hungry as I am. We’re going to state, I wouldn’t want it any other way. One week left.”
