#22 Moberly Topples #10 Triton For Guaranteed Entry At Hutch
(March 5, 2022) Moberly, MO – For the fourth time in seven seasons the Greyhounds are headed to Hutch as Midwest District Champions (2016, 2019, 2020 the others). Moberly, a former kingpin of Juco ball, is suddenly making some noise again on the national scene. This time at the expense of an upstart #10 Triton College program under the leadership of first year coach John Clancy, who is trying to establish them as a team to be reckoned with at the top level in the NJCAA.
As a DII competitor in 2018, Triton won the DII championship. The following year, the Trojans made a successful jump to DI, finishing with a 30-4 record and Region 4 Champs. Moberly, the Region 16 champ that year as well, went to the Collins Center in River Grove, IL for the District Title game, a place where Triton had won 80+ games in a row.
Moberly came out on top that night, 96-92, denying the Trojans a chance of a national tournament DII to DI double dip. Since then, Triton has added two more Region 4 championships, making that three of the four years since leaping into the DI landscape.
This season, Triton was right back at it, going 27-5, laying stake to the Region crown earning another chance to advance to Hutch. Under Clancy, who’s previous gig was assisting Kyle Smithpeters at John A. Logan, Triton appears to be right on track to continue the momentum established by the previous leadership.
It won’t be long until Coach Clancy has the Trojans holding up their first District title plaque, and quite possibly earn its first invitation to Hutch by the end of this day as one of the eight at-large teams.
Moberly didn’t have an 80+ home court streak going on, but they have been trying to restore the luster to a proud and tradition rich program who has been a tad bit inconsistent the last several decades. Head Coach Patrick Smith of the Hounds is in his 10th season of his second stint, 13th season overall, has built some of his momentum. Not only is this fourth time in 7 years the Hounds have collected first place district hardware, it’s the third time in four seasons to be the top dog in the Midwest District.
In this game, Moberly was quick out of the blocks taking a 10-2 lead. Following a Triton timeout, the Trojans reeled off 15 straight to lead 17-10. Moberly preceded to a 15 to 2 run to find themselves up 25-19. Actually, the whole game was like that. Very few times did the teams get into a trading basket rut. But that was no surprise to Triton coach Clancy.
“We got off to a shaky start, but then we answered. We knew this was going to be a game of runs, and they out executed us, their runs were more sustained than our runs,” stated Clancy, following his teams 83-74 defeat.
“Give credit to Moberly, they were the more talented team and the tougher team. I was proud of our fight, we were on the verge of getting blown out tonight. That was a high level game. I felt in most of our losses this year we kind of beat our self, but Moberly beat us tonight,” added a respectful Clancy.
Moberly, having won 11 straight, improves to 27-6 and will look forward to finding out their seed and pairing for their first game at Hutch.
The Hounds were led by Sincere Parker who powered and finessed his way to game high 23 points. Parker scored 19 of those in the second half and opened the second half with seven straight points.
Michael Thomas tossed in 18 points while Tyren Moore and Dorian Staples ended with 17 and 14.
Coach Patrick Smith on Staples, “Dorian Staples was huge for us tonight. With Jimmy Bell in a little bit of foul trouble he just stepped in and did an unbelievable job for us.” On the win, Smith added this, “We knew they (Triton) were going to be tough, we probably led for the last 32 minutes of the game, but it was never safe.”
Trailing by 14 at one point midway thru the second half, 66-52, Triton trimmed the deficit to two, 74-72 with just over two minutes left. But the Hounds, led by Parker sealed the deal by out pointing the Trojans 9-2 to the finish.
Cobie Montgomery led the Trojan attack with 17 points. JJ Kalakan and Keonte McKeithen finished with 12, Kalakan added 7 rebounds. Patrick Suemnick put in ten. The Trojans now sit at 27-5, and are a good bet to receive one of the eight at-large bids to make the final 24 team cut.
