The bright lights and big stage of playing at the NJCAA Division I Championship in Hutchinson, Kan., for the first time since moving from Division II did not faze the Triton College men's basketball team.
The Trojans balance and depth were on full display as No. 11 seeded Triton was too much for the No. 22 seed, Caldwell Tech (N.C.) in an 88-62 opening round victory Tuesday afternoon at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
"The Moberly lost (in the district championship game) refocused us," said head coach
John Clancy. We were locked-in and put together a sustain effort for 40 minutes."
The Trojans (28-5) will move on to the second round of the tournament to take on the No. 6 seed, Indian River State College out of Fort Pierce, Fla. Wednesday night at 8 p.m. The Pioneers (28-4) similar to Triton were an at-large selection after losing their district title game. But the difference was Indian River received a first-round bye and were able to watch first-hand the Trojans put on a show.
Triton trailed 8-6 after the opening four minutes before reeling off the next 11 points and never looked back.
Cobie Montgomery got the spurt started with a three-pointer and then followed with a beautiful dish-off to
Deangelo Elisee for the two-handed dunk. Then consecutive baskets by
Daylan Hamilton,
Teonta McKeithen and
John Ittounas completed the run to make it a 17-8 contest with 13:19 to play in the first half.
The Trojans would build the advantage to 20 points at the intermission as Triton ended the first half on a 7-0 run.
The lead would grow to as many as 31 points with 9:43 to play in the second half as the Cobras (25-8) never really threatened during the final 20 minutes.
Triton had just three players in double-figures, but had seven players range between 8-18 points. That type of balance is tough for almost any team to stop.
"From an overall team perspective, we could not have gotten anymore better results than we did on both sides of the ball," Clancy said. "On any given night, we can have different guys' step-up."
West Virginia bound forward
Patrick Suemnick paced the Trojans with 18 points and six rebounds on 8-of-13 shooting from the field.
"I thought Pat Suemnick showed why he is a high-major player throughout the game," said Clancy.
Brandon Muntu connected on 4-of-6 from three-point range to finish with 14 points.
Cam Denson added 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field along with seven rebounds.
For the game, the Trojans shot 54 percent (34-63) from the field, including knocking down 13 three's as Triton entered the tournament as the best long range shooting team in the nation.
However, Caldwell Tech had had several players capable of matching the Trojans fire-power, but only connected on 5-of-24 attempts from three-point land.
Another key in the Triton victory was winning the rebounding battle by a 43-32 margin as the Cobras were the top rebounding team in the nation averaging 49.3 boards per game.
"Rebounding was a huge emphasis and also limiting there three's," Clancy said. "The team executed the game and plan and played for each other."
Despite the win over Caldwell Tech and significance of it, Clancy and the Trojans are hungry for more.
"This was a huge win for our program and to be the first Triton team to make it to "Hutch" and get win here is major accomplishment," said Clancy. "But we came here to do more than win one game and we're excited to play an excellent Indian River team Wednesday night."
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