Triton defeats South Plains in thriller to advance to NJCAA Final Four

The toughness and resiliency of the Triton College men's basketball team was on full display in their NJCAA Division I quarterfinal matchup with South Plains College March 27 in Hutchinson, Kansas.

The Trojans managed through a chaotic second half that featured four ties and 16 lead changes to punch their second trip to the Final Four since the move up to NJCAA Division I in 2018 by winning an 88-87 nail biter over the No. 2 seeded Texans.

"We stuck with it, we stayed together and at the end of the day found a way and made more plays than (South Plains) did," said Trojans head coach Brian Burns. "It was a high-level game and really good junior college basketball from both teams."

Triton (33-2) will play Connors State College (OK) in a national semifinal Thursday at 7:15 p.m. The game will stream live on ESPN+.

The Cowboys (34-2) have made a deep tourney run as the No. 19 seed with wins over No. 14 Moberly Area (MO), No. 3 Salt Lake (UT) and most recently an impressive 91-69 win over the tournament hosts, No. 11 seeded Hutchinson Community College in the quarterfinals.

"Connors State is a really good team, beating Hutch in front of a packed house," Burns said. "We'll have the next 24 hours to prepare, come up with a game plan and we'll be ready."

The Trojans similar to their first tournament game against Trinity Valley got off to slow start falling behind 9-1 out of the gate.

However, Triton fought and scratched their way back into the game as a Dior Conners three-pointer the closing seconds of the first half pulled the Trojans within 47-43 at the intermission.

That set the stage for the most dramatic second half of the tournament thus far.

Five consecutive points from Amar Augillard gave Triton an 81-76 lead with five minutes remaining.

South Plains (32-3) would answer with a 7-0 run to retake an 83-81 advantage with 3:05 to go in regulation.

Dylan Williams would tie the game at 83 apiece with a layup at the 2:49 mark. The contest stayed even until Augillard buried a corner three to give the Trojans the lead back at 86-83 with a minute left.

After a bucket by the Texans Malique Ewin pulled South Plains within 86-85, Triton maintained possession on drive by Williams' that was ruled on the floor goal-tending. But after video review, the call was reversed. Fortunately, the possession arrow was in favor of the Trojans and Triton kept the ball with 11.8 seconds on the clock.

Ilija Varajic was fouled and calmly sank two free throws to put Triton ahead 88-85.

The Texans had one final shot in the closing seconds. Then some controversy when a foul was called on the Trojans on Jabori McGhee's three-point attempt from the right wing. It appeared Triton had cleanly blocked the shot, but McGhee with 0.7 seconds left was awarded three attempts from the foul line to potentially send the game into overtime.

McGhee made the first attempt. Then the second free throw clanged off the back iron no good and South Plains called their final timeout. McGhee made the third free throw attempt to make the score 88-87.

After a Triton timeout, Conners tossed a deep inbounds pass to Williams' near mid-court who flung the ball up in the air as time expired and a massive celebration ensued on the court.

Augillard led the Trojans with 23 points. AJ Dixon had a solid performance on both ends of the floor and finished with 20 points. Williams added 13 points for the Trojans.

But the play of Tolu Samuels and Antonio Lisenbee held their own against South Plains "big man" Ewin, who is rated as one of the top centers in the nation. Lisenbee off the bench had a solid line of nine points, eight rebounds and a block. Sameuls finished with six points five rebounds and three blocks. Ewin led the Texans with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

"(Lisenbee) was awesome," Burns said. He's a great kid and deserved to have a game like today and I'm so happy for him. Tolu has been really good all year and set the tone with a couple blocks, made a fade-away that energized the entire team."
 
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