Trojans Earn Season Sweep of South Suburban

The rematch between the Triton College men's basketball team and South Suburban College March 4 at the Collins Center played out similar to the first contest that the Trojans won 67-62 Feb. 16 in Lynwood. Triton controlled the majority the game, leading by as many as 17 points. However, the Trojans once again had to hold off a late Bulldog rally to come away with an 88-76 win in a battle of NJCAA ranked teams.
 
Triton entered ranked No. 12 in the latest NJCAA Division I poll. While South Suburban is ranked No. 4 in the nation among NJCAA Division II programs.
 
But the Bulldogs (9-3) made Triton earn their 12^th win in a row to improve to 14-1 overall. 
 
The Trojans expanded on a 44-32 halftime lead outscoring South Suburban 12-7 the first five minutes of the second half to build a 56-39 advantage when Juwon Carpenter (Nashville, TN) dished out one of his game-high 10 assists to an open DJ Patrick (Atlanta, GA) for the layup.
 
Things continued to look good for Triton as they maintained control with a Raymond Grant (Perspectives) dunk midway through the second half to lead 64-51.
 
Then the Bulldogs made their comeback bid with a 13-4 run to pull within 68-64 following Demarius Byrd three-pointer with 5:42 to go.
 
After a Trojan timeout, Teonta McKeithen (Ferndale, MI) drilled one of his three triples of the evening and then a Patrick three-point play on the next possession gave Triton enough breathing room down the stretch to preserve the victory.
 
"South Suburban is a great team with a lot of pride and knew they would not go down without a fight," said Triton head coach Steve Christiansen. "We know each other about as well as two program can. I thought our transition offense gave us some much needed production. But we had to earn every basket to win against a well-coached team."
 
McKeithen led the way with 17 points on six-of-eight shooting from the field. Kejuan Clements (Simeon), Morgan Taylor (Marist) and Patrick each finished with 13 points. Carpenter nearly had a triple-double as he added nine points and eight rebounds with his 10 assists.
 
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