Triton’s Bruce Johnson scored 21 points to help the Trojans to a big win over Bremen Tuesday night. InkFreeNews file photo by Mike Deak

By Adam Yoder
InkFreeNews

BOURBON – The Triton boys basketball team returned home to the friendly confines of the Trojan Trench on Tuesday night after a rough outing last Friday night at Argos. Facing another Marshall County non-conference opponent, the Bremen Lions, which made the trip down 331 to visit its rivals to the south.

This night went much better for head coach Jason Groves’ squad as the Trojans blitzed the Lions, 73-42.

With all three of the seniors (Hunter McIntyre, John Gardner, and Keegan Westafer) in the starting lineup on senior night, the home squad came out with a tremendous amount of passion and energy from the tip, especially on the defensive end.

That defensive mentality buoyed the Trojans to an early lead after the first quarter, 14-8.

From there, the defensive intensity bled right into what Triton needed, and that was a hot shooting night from sharp-shooting juniors, Bruce Johnson and Ashton Oviedo, who combined for 47 points on the night, including 12 three pointers.

By halftime, the Trojans had stretched the lead to 40-23 and had hit nine out of 16 from three in the process.

About that first half, Groves noted, “I thought it started on the defensive end. We came out with passion, emotion and energy. We got some turnovers and made good decisions out of them.”

In the second half, the Trojans cooled of, slightly, ‘only’ hitting six more three pointers on 11 attempts.

Johnson ended with 21 points, all from three, on seven of eight shooting, while Oviedo shared game high point honors with Bremen’s Carson Miller. Each had 26.

On Oviedo, Groves commented, “I was really happy for Austin tonight. He just needed to go out and have fun. He does so much for us on both ends, and it was nice to see him smiling. Bruce Johnson was on fire as well, and it seemed everyone fed off that.”

The hot shooting opened things up for Tyson Yates in the second half as he was able to slash to the basket at will, garnering eight second points, all in the second half, to go with six assists and five rebounds for the game.

Triton, now 15-5, finishes off the regular season Friday night at Knox with a share of the Hoosier North Athletic Conference on the line. Both squads can match LaVille’s conference leading 6-1 record with a win.

“We have a chance to win the conference title, it’s a huge game for us, and we’re excited to be in this position.”

IHSAA 1-A Sectional 50 play at Culver begins on Tuesday, March 2, with the Trojans taking on West Central in game two.