Grace’s Eddie Gill locks down on defense against Taylor on Saturday. Photo courtesy Jeff Nycz, Mid-South Images

Triton 109, Clinton Christian 28

Message sent. After a deflating loss at LaVille Friday night, Triton returned Saturday afternoon with a vengeance.

Triton scored 63 points in the first half Saturday at the Trojan Trench, more than all of its full games in the month of February. The team also scored the most points in a game since the 1990-91 season when it potted 111 in a win at Argos. It was the first time Triton eclipsed 100 points since a win over LaVille in 2001.

Triton made 16 three-pointers, forced 26 Courier turnovers, and outrebounded its visitors 43-22.

Bruce Johnson led the Trojans (13-4) with 24 points, Cole Shively had 16 points and both Connor Large and Hunter McIntyre each had 15 points.

Nick Schrock had 12 points for the Couriers.

Argos 47, LCA 39

The Dragons held their own at home against visiting LCA.

LCA (8-8, 1-4 HPC) stayed fairly consistent in its scoring, but was a tad short in each quarter. Hunter Rice led the Cougars with 10 points and Seth Martin had nine points. Landon Gause, who has been in double digits in scoring for most of the season, was limited to just two made field goals and six total points.

The win for the Dragons seals at least a share of the Hoosier Plains Conference championship, Argos moving to 4-0 in the standings with a game left with against Elkhart Christian. Both the Eagles and Bethany Christian are 3-1 with a game left.

South Bend St. Joe 58, NorthWood 52

NorthWood lost its second game in as many days in its trip to St. Joe.

Will Terry led the Indians (13-4) with 20 points in the afternoon contest in South Bend.

The Panthers (9-8) had Cade Brenner lead the team with 17 points and Cooper Wiens end with 11 points.

Warsaw 76, Wabash 32

The Tigers stayed red hot in its final home contest of the season Saturday night.

Jaxon Gould and Judah Simfukwe each scored 15 points and combined for nine rebounds, four steals and three assists. Drew Heckaman continued to provide support from the bench, scoring 10 points on 5-6 shooting.

Warsaw (14-7), which has won seven straight, were coming in after claiming a share of the Northern Lakes Conference title in its win Friday at Plymouth.

Wabash (4-13) had Joseph Leland toss in eight points.

Warsaw edged Wabash in the JV contest 47-42. Jeremiah Dawson netted 14 points and nine rebounds to pace the Tigers, Kaden Vogel with 15 points for the Apaches.

Mishawaka Adds Freshman NLC Title

Just hours after the Mishawaka varsity won a share of the NLC boys basketball title, the freshman team from Mishawaka won its own NLC hardware.

The Cavemen defeated Warsaw 42-27 in the championship game of the NLC Freshman Tourney. Mishawaka advanced to the final by knocking off Plymouth, Warsaw getting to the final after bouncing Wawasee 46-33.

Concord won the consolation bracket, beating NorthWood 46-42 and then Northridge 39-36.

Wawasee took fourth place, losing to Plymouth 49-35 in the other consolation round game.

Stat leaders for Wawasee were Carson Smith with 35 combined points in the two games, and Cole Young with 16 combined points.

Full stats from the tournament were not provided.

Grace Men 81, Taylor 67

Grace’s men’s basketball team blew open a close contest after halftime, beating Taylor 81-67 on Saturday.

The Lancers (14-10, 7-8 Crossroads League) torched the nets for 50 points in the second half thanks to a balanced offensive production.

Jakob Gibbs led all players with 23 points, adding five rebounds and two steals.

The Trojans (11-12, 5-10 CL) led in the early minutes, but the lead was never greater than four.

Grace kept the score close and took the lead late in the half. Frankie Davidson and Elijah Malone scored in the final two minutes, giving Grace a 31-30 lead at halftime.

The Lancers shot 46 percent from the floor in the half but were only 1 of 9 from the 3-point line. The Trojans were held to 38 percent shooting. Neither team attempted a free throw before halftime.

The game seemed destined to remain close until the final buzzer. The teams exchanged small leads over the first 10 minutes of the second half, but Grace was about to break the game wide open.

Taylor took a 53-51 lead with 9:26 on the clock, but the Lancers seized control of the game with 16 unanswered points.

Jake Wadding scored in the paint to tie the score 53-53, which was the 12th and final time the score was tied.

Haden Deaton jumpstarted Grace’s run with a steal and breakaway slam while being fouled. Gibbs followed that up with a deep 3-pointer, Grace’s only triple of the second half.

The final points of the 16-0 spurt were memorable. Malone corralled a rebound and made a leading outlet pass to Wadding. Wadding took care of the rest, rising up for a one-handed flush on top of a Trojan defender.

After Wadding’s slam, Grace led 67-53 with 4:26 remaining. The Lancers never led by less than 11 for the rest of the contest. Taylor was unable to mount a comeback on its Senior Day, fading to a 14-point defeat.

The Lancers shot a sizzling 65 percent as a team after halftime, despite only hitting 1 of 5 from beyond the arc. Grace sank 15 free throws in the second half, taking advantage of Taylor needing to foul.

Grace had 21 assists on 32 made field goals, adding four blocks and nine steals.

Malone finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds and a game-high 6 assists. Davidson added 14 points, 7 boards and 2 assists, and Wadding had 13 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals.

Deaton tallied seven points and four assists, and Eddie Gill IV amassed 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

The Lancers play three games in the final week of the regular season. On Tuesday, Grace will host Grace Christian; on Wednesday, Grace travels to East-West; and on Saturday, Grace hosts Huntington at 1 p.m. for Senior Day.