Triton falls in Midwest District Championship Game

A sluggish start set the tone for the Triton College men's basketball team in an 84-72 loss to Three Rivers College in the NJCAA Division I Midwest District Championship game Saturday (March 15) in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

The No. 7 nationally ranked Trojans will now have to play the waiting game on Sunday evening during the selection show to see if their overall season resume of 28-5 will be enough to qualify for an at-large bid in the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Triton committed 10 first half turnovers and only had seven total rebounds in an opening 20 minutes that the Raiders would eventually take control of.

Back-to-back threes by Three Rivers guard, Ethan Johnson followed by a Matt Hampton layup sparked a 10-2 Raider run to build a 27-13 lead midway thru the first half. The Trojans had difficulty answering as Three Rivers would increase the advantage to 38-19 with 2:40 to go before intermission on a Kevin Peleyron layup.

The Raiders (21-12) shot an impressive 61 percent from the field (17-of-28) to enjoy a 43-27 lead at halftime.

Triton did their best to claw back into things during the second half as Vijay Wallace went on a personal 8-0 run to pull the Trojans within 55-48 with 10:42 to play. However, that would be as close as Triton would get as Three Rivers reestablished control with a 13-2 spurt capped off by a Johnson three that jarred in from the corner, which increased the deficit back up to 66-50 with 7:17 left in regulation.

One of the other big stories of the contest was the Trojans getting outrebounded 38-14 for the game, including a 16-5 on the offensive glass.

Triton did a better job taking care of the basketball in the second half with only three turnovers, but was not enough to overcome the bad start.

Wallace led the Trojans with 19 points. Tolu Samuels was one of three other Triton players in double-figures with 15 points. Dayjaun Anderson tallied 14 points. Peitok Machar finished with 13 points for the Trojans.

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