Triton does enough late to advance to second round of NJCAA Championship

It wasn't pretty, but the result was effective for the Triton College men's basketball team in a 58-55 win over Columbia State Community College (Tenn.) in the opening round of the NJCAA Division I Championship March 22 in Hutchinson, Kan.

The No. 15 seeded Trojans (29-5) trailed for nearly two-thirds of the game after getting off to a similar slow start as they did a week earlier against Three Rivers Community College in the Midwest District title game. The Trojans committed eight first half turnovers and shot 24 percent from the field (8-of-34), including 3-of-17 from three-point range the first 20 minutes.

However, unlike Three Rivers who shot a blistering 61 percent out of the gate to build a 16-point halftime lead against Triton the previous week, Columbia State had their own struggles. The Chargers (27-5) had nine first half turnovers and shot 34 percent from the field (12-of-35) to only enjoy a 29-25 advantage at the intermission.

"It was an ugly game and we had some jitters early and were not ourselves in the first half," said Trojans head coach Brian Burns.

Columbia State, seeded 18th would increase their lead to 38-31 three minutes into the second half before Triton used an extended 13-6 run over the next nine minutes to draw even at 44 apiece when Hassan Dorman attacked the lane and set-up Tolu Samuels for a two-handed baseline dunk with 7:40 to play in regulation.

The teams would see-saw down the stretch with four ties and five lead changes.

The Trojans would eventually take the lead for good when Dayjaun Anderson sliced through the lane and got the hoop to put Triton up 55-53 with 1:26 left.

A defensive stop by Triton and then a key steal by Samuels kept it a two-point contest before Vijay Wallace split a pair of free throws to make it a 56-53 margin with 18 seconds to play.

The Chargers would come back with a slam dunk to inch within one. Then Anderson was fouled with 7.3 remaining. He would calmly hit both foul shots to make the score 58-55. Columbia State had one final chance, but the Trojans brought pressure in the backcourt which forced an errand pass that Peitok Machar picked off near mid court and Triton was able to run off the last few ticks off the clock to preserve the victory.

"We did what we needed to close the game," Burns said. "The guys fought and found a way to win despite not playing our best."

Wallace led the Trojans with 16 points and six rebounds. Anderson had 13 points and five boards. Chase Coleman off the bench hit some timely shots to finish with 13 points.

Triton will have a day to rest and prepare for their second-round game against the No. 2 seed, Cowley College from Arkansas City, Kan. on Monday (March 24) at 2:30 p.m. The Tigers (29-4) will make the short 100-mile trip to the Hutchinson Sports Arena after getting a first-round bye.

A year ago, the Trojans shocked No. 2 seed South Plains College in the quarterfinals on their way to the national championship game. Burns would love noting better than history to repeat itself.
 
"Cowley is a great team and we're playing with a little bit of house money with them being the two seed," he said. "We hope we can do what we did last year and pull off an upset."

The game vs. Cowley will stream live exclusively on ESPN+.

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