BYFIELD — You can’t tell the seniors on this Triton boys basketball team that there’s nothing left to play for.
You just can’t.
Yes, nobody on the roster is going to lie to you and say that this season has gone to plan. The Vikings entered Thursday night with only three wins this winter, basically no Division 3 playoff hopes, and to be honest, some nights have been an absolute struggle scoring the basketball.
But watch this team play, and you wouldn’t know it.
Triton welcomed in Pentucket to its home gym on Thursday night, and put together an effort like it was Game 7 of the NBA Finals. With seniors Liam Londergan, John Prendergast, Thiago Tameirao and Simon Bissell leading the charge, the Vikings put the clamps on in a dominant defensive effort, stiffling the Panthers to the tune of a 53-30 win.
“You saw how hard they played tonight,” said Triton coach Mike Trovato. “They played like we’re getting ready for the state tournament. We’re 3-12, 3-13, something like that. So it’s a testament to their character, and they do that every day.”
The 53 points is the second most the Vikings (4-12) have scored all season.
“The defense was what really put us over the edge tonight,” said Trovato. “We struggle on offense a lot, but tonight we created some open looks off our defense.”
With their specific circumstances, it was an admirable performance worthy of praise.
But it was actually Pentucket (3-14) jumping out to a 9-7 lead after the first quarter, with Matt Pipan and Dylan Scott each hitting a 3, and Peter Hart converting an and-1. It looked like Triton may be in for another rough night offensively early, but Bissell came up with a couple of baskets late in the quarter to swing momentum.
Then, the Vikings put on a defensive clinic.
Moving and switching beautifully as a unit, the Vikings generated a handful of turnovers and would hold the Panthers to just 11 points over the next two quarters. Which, like their coach said, led to offense on the other end, with Londergan (14 pts) and Prendergast (10 pts) heating up in the second. The Vikings would jog to the locker room at halftime with a 23-17 lead, then would hold the Panthers scoreless until the 1:32 mark of the third.
And by that point, the Vikings were up 15.
The defense only continued to suffocate in the fourth, with Tameirao (10 pts), Bissell and Harrison Huynh hitting 3s on the other end. A sophomore, Huynh has played big minutes for Triton this year, as has juniors Liam Friis, Jason Holscher and Charlie Mollineaux. So hope for the future is certainly within the program, and if those young guys emmulate the effort they see night in and night out from their seniors, the Vikings will be in good shape.
“It’s a rebuild and it takes a while, but we’re making progress,” said Trovato. “I like the direction that we’re going. There’s been many teams with a record like this who just lay down at the end of the season, but they came out and played as hard as they did today. I’m proud of them.”
Triton 53, Pentucket 30
Pentucket (30): Matt Pipan 2-0-6, Steven Harper 1-0-2, Dylan Scott 2-0-6, Peter Hart 3-2-8, Colby Eckholt 1-2-5, Trevor Cloutier 1-0-3, Max Cloutier 0-0-0, Tedy Cloutier 0-0-0. Totals 10-4-30
Triton (53): Liam Londergan 6-0-14, Simon Bissell 1-0-3, Thiago Tameirao 4-0-10, Liam Friis 2-1-5, Jason Holscher 2-1-6, Harrison Huynh 2-0-5, John Prendergast 5-0-10. Totals 22-2-53
3-pointers: T — Londergan 2, Tameirao 2, Bissell, Holscher, Huynh; P — Pipan 2, Scott 2, Eckholt, Tr. Cloutier
Pentucket (3-14): 9 8 3 10 — 30
Triton (4-12): 7 16 12 18 — 53