Triton’s Tyson Yates flies in for a layup at LaVille Friday night. InkFreeNews photo by Mike Deak

By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews

LAKEVILLE – LaVille looked incredibly lost for a good part of the first 10 minutes of the game. Triton had the same look walking back to its lockerroom after a 44-43 boys basketball loss to LaVille Friday night.

A three-pointer with 17 seconds left by Leyton Czarnecki gave LaVille its only lead of the night at 44-43, a stunning turn of events considering how the game started.

Triton opened the game scoring the first 15 points of the contest, a stretch that extended to the 6:05 mark of the second quarter before LaVille got a free throw to fall through. And even after LaVille chipped itself away to trail just 24-10 at the half, the lead didn’t seem safe in the least to Triton head coach Jason Groves.

“We just didn’t play smart,” said Triton head coach Jason Groves. “We didn’t learn from our mistakes from the night before. That’s pretty rough when you don’t learn from your mistakes. We were playing like we were down 20 instead of up 15. We put our head down and tried to drive through people, we weren’t sharing the ball. We had long spurts like that all night.”

The Lancers opened the second half with a 13-5 run, but an Ashton Oviedo three near the end of the quarter bumped Triton to an eight-point lead as the frame came to a close.

LaVille got the game within three points twice, but Triton was doing just enough to keep the Lancers at a distance. That distance, however, shrunk quickly as Oviedo was whistled for a foul on Andrew Dill shooting a three. Two of the freebies went through, cutting the lead to two.

LaVille’s pressure defense, however, coaxed Triton to turn the ball over, setting up Czarnecki’s bomb, his third triple of the night and putting him at 15 points, 13 of those coming in the second half.

“The kid just put his head down and drove,” Groves said of Czarnecki. “We had to buckle down, someone needed to step in there and take a charge. We don’t have enough guts to take one, so it makes it pretty easy.”

Triton had a good look at a game winner, a shallow cut pass to Oviedo allowed a shot, but the attempt rattled out. Triton got the offensive rebound, but Oviedo’s attempt to shuttle a pass back into the post was intercepted as the old Buick sounding horn LaVille uses went off.

The win was crucial for LaVille’s hopes of a shared Hoosier North Athletic Conference championship. LaVille improved to 5-1 in the standings, sitting in a deadlock with Triton and Knox, all with one game to go. LaVille (11-6, 5-1) will meet Caston (6-12, 2-4) next Friday while Triton (12-4, 5-1) has to travel to Knox (8-9, 5-1) on Feb. 26.

“Mentally, we have to get right,” pointed out Groves in going forward. “We have guys who it’s not about the team, it’s about themselves. We have to worry about ourselves before we start worrying about anybody else.”

Oviedo led Triton with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists while Bruce Johnson had 10 points and four rebounds.

A strong second half helped Triton’s JV to a 35-37 win. Triton outscored LaVille 21-13 in the second half, helped by a 10-2 third quarter, part of a 19-2 run overall.

Chandler Westafer had 11 points to lead the Trojans. Owen Smith had eight points for the Lancers.