Two teams with great basketball programs met in the Tiger Den Tuesday night. The Warsaw Tigers and the Triton Trojans have both had phenomenal successes under their respective head coaches. The Tigers coached by Doug Ogle and the Trojans by Jason Groves.

Fans from both sides flooded the Warsaw High School campus to watch the Kosciusko County rivals do battle. How would Lucas Grose and the Tigers fare against Clay Yeo and the Trojans?

From the opening tip, Triton made it very clear that they believed they could win this basketball game. They were not intimidated by the class 4A Tigers at all.

Clay Yeo scored a 3-point basket after Seth Glingle opened the game with an easy basket for Triton. The Trojans had an early 5-0 lead in enemy territory.

The Tigers looked sluggish early. Trailing 8-4 with less than 3 minutes left in the half, Warsaw sophomore sensation Jordan Stookey drained a triple from the right wing. Warsaw's bench duo of Stookey and Kevin West played a huge role in this game.

END OF FIRST QUARTER: Triton 10 - Warsaw 7

The Trojans exploded out of the huddle to start the second. Sophomore Tanner Shepherd nailed a long range jumper and Clay Yeo scored on a lob from Zak Shively to give Triton their biggest lead of the night at 15-7.

Again it was Jordan Stookey and Kevin West leading the comeback. Stookey passes the ball much like Nic Moore from a year ago. If there is an open player on the floor, you can rest assured Jordan will find them with a pass. Stookey used his gifted passing to find Jared Bloom on a Purdue cut and Kevin West under the basket. Stookey then scored a basket of his own -- on a nice dish from Jordyn Coon.

When the Stookey show had come to rest at half time, the Tigers had completed a massive 13-0 run. Triton had no idea what had hit them. How could they be losing when they had held Lucas Grose and Jordan Coon to just 6 points in the first 16 minutes of action? The last two paragraphs, well - let's just say they didn't game plan for that.

HALFTIME SCORE: Warsaw 20 - Triton 15

The 3rd quarter started with a Trojan explosion. The blast came in the form of Tanner Shepherd. Shepherd scored 10 quick points using a barrage of 3-point shots and power drives to the basket. The 6'3" sophomore single-handedly brought his team back from a halftime deficit to tie the score at 26-26 with 4:58 left in the 3rd. How would the Tigers respond? You guessed it...Jordan Stookey. Stookey entered the game, after sitting the first few minutes of the period, and scored a fast 4 points. The 6'2" guard also found Taylor Cone at the end of the quarter to push the Tiger advantage to six points.

END OF THIRD QUARTER: Warsaw 34 - Triton 28

Stookey started the 4th frame where he left off in the third. He found a cutting Kevin West for an easy basket before scoring a basket on a "one dribble left" move along the baseline. Warsaw suddenly had there biggest lead of the game at 38-28. The stat sheet I am reading only has Jordan for 2 assists, but I can assure you he had at least four - maybe five. The Tigers are simply a better basketball team when he is on the floor.

The Trojans made a late push to cut the Tiger lead to 43-40. Again it was Clay Yeo who led the charge with a steal and slam dunk.

Seniors Jordyn Coon and Rhett Kesler calmly nailed free throws down the stretch to give the Tigers the victory.

FINAL SCORE: Warsaw 46 - Triton 41

Complete Scoring for The Tigers:

The Trojans were led in scoring by Clay Yeo's 20 points and Tanner Shepherd's 16.

With the win Warsaw improves to 6-1 on the season while Triton falls to 5-3 overall. Warsaw will travel this Thursday to Fort Wayne to battle the South Side Archers. FW South is 1-4 on the season, but was one of Warsaw's only losses two years ago during the magical state championship run. Warsaw will be looking for revenge.

Posted In: Boy's Sports > Basketball

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