The Triton College men's basketball team has a 1-A motivation besides pure winning as it keeps it undefeated season going.
"We weren't ranked in pre-season and we remind them all the time. We make sure we have a chip on our shoulder," head coach
Brian Burns said after the NJCAA Division I 15
th-ranked Trojans pushed their record to 15-0 with an 86-54 victory over Lake Michigan College on Saturday, December 16, at the Jordnt Athletic Complex.
The Trojans have a chance to remain unbeaten to finish out the pre-holiday part of their schedule Tuesday night at Kennedy-King College before going on their winter break.
The statistically blowout victory over the Red Hawks wasn't a breeze until midway into the second half. The Trojans had to find a way to keep going after star
Amar Augillard had to sit out the last 11:28 of the first half with three fouls.
But Augillard's teammates more than filled the hole in the lineup.
William Scott had nine points, and
AJ Dixon and
Dylan Williams each had eight as Triton led 42-31 at halftime.
Tolu Samuels dominated inside with nine rebounds before intermission.
"They played well the first half," Burns said of the Red Hawks. "They hung around and didn't quit. We didn't shoot the ball great in first half. We just had to find a way to extend it in the second half."
Augillard came back in the second half to contribute to Triton stretching its lead. He had seven points in 10 minutes of second-half play as the Trojans scored the first seven points out of halftime to lead 50-31. The entire roster pitched in as Triton led by 20 with 12 minutes to go, and then by 30 almost three minutes later. The hosts' largest lead was 35 points.
The only seeming deficiency was three-point shooting. The Trojans hit just 4-of-17 for the game after going a school-record 25-for-43 against Wright four nights earlier. But Burns was not complaining.
"You can't go 25-for-43 every night," he said.
Instead, Burns enjoyed balanced scoring from his key contributors.
Dixon led the Trojans with 18 points, while Williams had 17 along with a team-high 10 assists. Augillard finished with 13, while Scott had 12 and Samuels finished with 10.
"That's always good to have five in double figures and we'll take that," Burns said.
The Trojans out-rebounded the Red Hawks 52-38.
Lake Michigan was one of only two NJCAA Division II opponents on Triton's 29-game schedule. The next home game is against Harper, the only NJCAA Division III foe, on January 11. Game time is 7 p.m.
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(Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)
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