The first regular season meeting since 2018 between the Triton College men's basketball team and South Suburban College did not disappoint. The Trojans entered the contest ranked No. 15 among NJCAA Division I programs, while the Bulldogs came in No. 1 in the country in Division II. And as expected the game went down to the last shot as Triton survived a late South Suburban rally to claim a hard-fought 67-62 road victory.
The Trojans have won eight in a row to improve to 10-1 midway through the shortened 22-game season.
Triton led the majority of the game and built a 48-33 advantage when
Morgan Taylor (Marist) found an open
Kejuan Clements (Simeon) who drilled a three-pointer to force a Bulldog timeout with 16:20 to go in regulation.
However, from that point on the Trojan offense struggled to gain traction. A Taylor three-point play put Triton up 58-48 with 6:03 remaining. But the Taylor bucket was only the Trojans third made field goal in nearly a ten minute stretch.
South Suburban guard Deshawndre Washington single-handedly kept his team in the game with 28 points and helped sparked an 11-3 run to pull the Bulldogs within 62-59 with two minutes left.
Triton answered by breaking down the South Suburban defense as Clements attacked the rim and dished off to
Deangelo Elisee (Nassau, Bahamas) for a two-handed dunk to make it 64-59 going into the final minute.
But the Bulldogs would not go away quietly as an Ishmael Martin triple cut the Trojans lead to 64-62 with 11 seconds to play. After Triton split a pair of free throws, South Suburban's Tyronn Mosley missed a corner three that could have tied the game.
Tre Wainwright (Silver Springs, MD) claimed the rebound for Triton and sealed the game with a pair of free throws with 1.1 seconds left in the game.
DJ Patrick (Atlanta, GA) led the Trojans balanced scoring with 15 points, including four three-pointers. Patrick made consecutive three's to close the first half which Triton enjoyed a 40-26 halftime lead.
The Trojans early on trailed 6-3 before going on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good with 14:11 left before halftime. The Bulldogs (5-1) would tie the game twice at 12 and 19 but never went ahead.
Taylor finished with 12 points on five-of-10 shooting from the field. Clements had 11 points and a game-high six assists.
Juwon Carpenter (Nashville, TN) added four points and a team-high 12 rebounds.
"I thought the game was a total tale of two halves," said Triton head coach
Steve Christiansen. "We dominated the first and they the second. The first half success was due in large part to sharing the ball and taking clean looks. In the second half as our energy dipped, our offense became much more of a grind. I'm sure all the games we've played over the last 26 days have cumulatively worn on us. It will be good to catch our breath over the next week or so as we prepare for the back half of our schedule."
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