The Triton College men's basketball team is one win away from playing for the NJCAA Division I National Championship. The Trojans, seeded No. 11 in the 24-team field, punched their ticket to the national semifinals by upsetting the No. 3 seed, Kilgore College (TX) 76-65 Thursday night in the quarterfinals played in Hutchinson, Kan.
Triton (30-5) will play the No. 10 seed, Northwest Florida State College (29-5) Friday night at 7 p.m. in the second semifinal game. The first semifinal at 5 p.m. Friday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena will feature top seeded Salt Lake Community College (34-1) against No. 5 seeded Chipola College (30-5) from Marianna, Fla.
"I couldn't be more happier for our kids, our program and our school," Triton head coach
John Clancy said about earning the trip to the "Final Four."
The Trojans were up to the task against a Kilgore team who came into the match-up with Triton 31-2 and were ranked among the top five nationally throughout the regular season.
Similar to their second round win over Indian River State College the night before, Triton broke open a close 31-29 game they led at halftime with a 45-point second half against a Rangers team that is considered one of the best defensive teams in the country.
However, it was an adjustment defensively by Clancy that proved to be the game-changer. He went to a 1-3-1 zone which gave Kilgore fits. The Trojans capitalized by outscoring the Rangers 25-8 the first 10 minutes of the second half and limited Kilgore to just one field goal made as their other six points during this stretch all came from the free throw line.
"The difference in the game was our 1-3-1 (zone)," Clancy said. "I thought it could be something that could throw (Kilgore) off their rhythm. They're a really good man offensive team and we did a nice job rebounding out of the zone as well."
Offensively, the first part of the second half was the
Cobie Montgomery show for Triton. The sophomore from Louisville scored 12 points during the key 25-8 run out of halftime including a corner three with the shot clock running out followed by three consecutive free throws to give Triton their biggest lead of the contest at 21 points (58-37) with 10:04 remaining in regulation.
"I thought he made some unbelievable shots tonight," Clancy said of Montgomery who led the Trojans in scoring with 18 points.
With the sizable cushion, Clancy began to have his team air the ball out the final ten minutes but Kilgore gained the edge and mounted a late rally. The Rangers were able to pull within eight points at 67-59 with 4:16 left to play.
But the Trojans kept their poise as a
JJ Kalakon bucket driving down the lane followed by a
Brandon Muntu layup past the Kilgore press help put the game away as Triton took a 72-59 advantage with under two minutes to go. Both Kalakon and Muntu would finish with 16 points each for the Trojans.
Cam Denson was the final Triton player in double-figures with 12 points.
"Dudes have to be dudes," said Clancy. "Big time players step up in big time games and we have so many dudes up and down our roster who contributed to our success. It's a special group and we're not done yet."
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