Kiser scores 19, but Rochester defense struggles in loss to Triton

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

BOURBON — Gage Riffle hit three 3-pointers and scored 17 points to lead four players in double figures as the Triton boys basketball team routed Rochester 72-39 at the Trojan Trench Tuesday.

Julian Swanson added 15 points, Jayden Overmyer had 12, and Brady Wood had 11 for the Hoosier North champion Trojans. Triton, ranked No. 6 in Class 1A, extended their winning streak to six and improved to 16-3.

They also beat Rochester for the fifth straight year. Rochester has not beaten Triton since Nick Allen’s buzzer beating 3-pointer in 2020.

Jonas Kiser hit three treys of his own and scored a game-high 19 points and also pulled down eight rebounds for Rochester, who dropped to 8-10.

Alex Chapman added eight, all in the fourth quarter.

Rochester has lost their last three road games to Southwood, Plymouth and Triton by an average margin of 24.3 points per game.

Triton hit 10 3-pointers, including three each from Riffle, Swanson and Wood, but they also scored 21 points in the third quarter without the benefit of a 3.

Rochester allowed dribble penetration into the lane from Triton senior point guard Landon Patrick, who frequently found open teammates for 3s beyond the arc or for layups at the rim.

“Unfortunately, we were giving up middle drives,” Rochester coach Luke Smith said. “That’s something we work on religiously in practice. When you give up the middle drive to get a kickout 3, that’s something we want to do offensively, and that’s what they were getting on us. They shoot the ball really in the first place, so when you have to collapse on the middle drive, they get a drive-and-kick 3, and there’s nothing more rhythm in basketball than a drive-and-kick, paint-touch 3… They shot it very well. We had a hard time staying in front of him.”

Still, Rochester stayed within 17-16 after one quarter thanks to Kiser’s three treys and 13 total points.

Triton went on a 12-2 run in the second quarter to take a 29-19 lead, and a 21-0 run in the third and fourth quarters pushed the lead to 62-26 and triggered a running clock per the IHSAA Mercy Rule.

The third quarter saw Triton score in a variety of ways, from post-ups to transition baskets to back door cuts to passes from the elbow that led teammates to the rim.

“They were all layups,” Smith said. “All we talked about at halftime was keeping them out of our paint, and that didn’t happen. It’s real disappointing to allow those things to happen. Defensively, we broke down all over the place tonight, and we’ve got to fix it. We’re down to the end of the season, and we did not stay in front, and they were getting those little dump-off passes in the block when we stepped up to help, and unfortunately, they got a layups out of it.”

As for Triton, they held their 13th opponent in 19 games under 40 points. Not even Kiser’s hot 3-point stretch in the first quarter and the Zebras’ ball security – they had just six turnovers – could rev up the offense.

“He came out on fire, and we just had to adjust a little bit,” Triton coach Jason Groves said. “We just had to close out a lot tighter on him and get the other guys to help a lot more than what we were doing early. So once we did that, our kids did a nice job adjusting.”

Chapman’s eight points in the fourth quarter came after the running clock started. He made two corner 3s and a post layup.

In the JV game, Van Kiser scored the game-winning basket in the final 10 seconds to lift Rochester to a 32-31 win. Chapman led Rochester with 14 points, Kiser had 10, Aiden Wilson had five, Parker Casper had two, and Taylor Howard had one.

Triton 72, Rochester 39

ROCHESTER (39) (8-10)

Carson Paulik 1 0-1 2, Brady Coleman 2 0-0 5, Liam Spence 1 0-0 2, Jonas Kiser 7 2-5 19, Grant Clark 0 1-2 1, Mitchell Clark 0 0-0 0, Ashton Musselman 0 0-0 0, Parker Casper 0 0-0 0, Alex Chapman 3 0-0 8, Conner Dunfee 0 0-0 0, Jack Reffett 1 0-0 2, Aiden Wilson 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 15 3-8 39

TRITON (72) (16-3)

Landon Patrick 1 1-2 3, Julian Swanson 6 0-0 15, Gage Riffle 7 0-0 17, Brady Wood 4 0-0 11, Jayden Overmyer 6 0-1 12, Blayze Hensley 1 0-0 2, Jamison Swanson 1 2-2 4, Isaac Quintana 1 0-0 2, Jaidyn Arnett 0 0-0 0, Levi McFarland 2 0-0 5, Max Johnson 0 1-2 1, Colton Large 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 29 4-7 72

Three-point field goals:

Rochester 6 (Kiser 3, Chapman 2, Coleman),

Triton 10 (Riffle 3, Julian Swanson 3, Wood 3, McFarland)

Total fouls: Rochester 9, Triton 9

Turnovers: Rochester 6, Triton 5

Score by quarters

Rochester 16 6 4 13 – 39

Triton 17 18 21 16 – 72

JV: Rochester 32, Triton 31