Tritons Split at the KCKCC Hall of Fame Classic
Following a road split against two tough teams at the Hall of Fame Classic hosted by KCKCC, Triton Head Coach, Ryan Kirch, is seeing improvement from the Tritons' opening weekend. "We shared the ball much better than in our first weekend which needs to continue for us to be successful. We also have to continue to work on limiting turnovers and winning the rebounding battle."
On Friday (11/8) the Tritons faced North Central Missouri who are a top-5 nationally ranked NJCAA D2 program. The Tritons struggled in the first half with NCMC's full court pressure and allowed a 25-9 run before closing the gap to 47-53 at the half. Giving NCMC the large early lead would prove costly as the Tritons fell 99-74.
Jordan Cain and Lane Campbell led the way for the Tritons with 14 points each and Aleix Sempere Serrano added 10 off the bench. CJ Mitchell had six points, five assists, and two steals.
Saturday (11/9) afternoon was a matchup with Metropolitan Community College. With gym renovations ongoing at KCKCC, games were played at Metropolitan's gym, which proved to be a tough road test for the Tritons in front of the home crowd. Trailing 62-63 with seven minutes to play, the Tritons went on a 30-14 run to end the game, winning 92-77. Kirsch knew playing on Metro's home court would be a challenge. "Metro's defensive pressure and aggressive style caused us issues. Once we got the ball into half court we had success scoring."
Jalen Wynter scored 26 points in the Triton victory, going 5-of-10 from three and 7-of-7 from the foul line. Cooper Randall had 11 points and Jordan Cain scored 10. Lane Campbell dished out eight assists and Vice Grbic had 12 rebounds.
Up next for the Tritons is their home opener in Hodges Fieldhouse on Wednesday (11/13) night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM vs. Central Columbus.
Coach's Key Moment – With three minutes left to play and up 11 in the Metro victory, Lane Campbell got fouled. There were two technical fouls issued to Metro and Jalen Wynter stepped up and made all four free throws and Lane added another FT from his shooting foul. That stretched our lead to 16 points.
Statistical Leaders vs. North Central Missouri –
Points – Lane Campbell (14), Jordan Cain (14), Aleix Sempere Serrano (10), Jalen Wynter (9)
Rebounds – Terrius Walker (7), Vice Grbic (5), Aliex Sempere Serrano (5)
Assists – CJ Mitchell (5), Lane Campbell (4), Jordan Cain (2)
Steals – Lane Campbell (3)
Statistical Leaders vs. Metropolitan –
Points – Jalen Wynter (26), Cooper Randall (11), Jordan Cain (10), Lane Campbell (9)
Rebounds – Vice Grbic (12), Irakli Akhalaia (6), CJ Mitchell (5)
Assists –Lane Campbell (8), CJ Mitchell (5)
Steals – Jalen Wynter (2)
*Photo courtesy of Charles Martin, KCKCC