BOURBON — It’s a regular season Triton hasn’t experienced that often, but an expectation the Trojans cannot shake.

In the five seasons since Triton won the state championship in 2008, the Triton Trojan basketball team had not lost five games during the regular season before the month of February. After sorting through a brutal December schedule including an absolute grinder of a road schedule, Triton was still breathing. After a deflating home loss to an upstart Culver side and then in the finals against the always pesky LaVille bunch at the Bi-County, the Trojans were staring at an 8-5 record and the meat of their Northern State Conference grid.

One month later, the Trojans (14-5) have righted the ship, redeeming the LaVille loss in the Bi-County tournament to beat the Lancers in LaVille three weeks later and will play Knox this weekend for a chance at its fourth NSC title in as many years. Does that validate the slow start that saw the Trojans lose on the road to 3A powers Plymouth, NorthWood and Mishawaka Marian along with the NSC counterparts?

“Coming into the season, we knew our early part of the schedule was going to be very tough,” said Triton head coach Jason Groves. “Just about all of the teams had most of their starters back. We enjoy that tough schedule, it prepares us for the postseason. Not only the teams are physically tough, but they are all well coached. That is a real plus in preparing for the postseason.”

But as smart basketball fans know, the regular season generally doesn’t mean much other than experience and momentum when it comes to the second season. And with a sectional that not only will be hosted by the Culver team that beat Triton in Bourbon in January, but will feature a Michigan City Marquette Catholic team that is loaded.

Culver (12-7) is led by Trent Elliott, who scored 17 points against the Trojans in early January. The Cavaliers – which should be favored hosting 5-14 Argos in the first round of the Culver Sectional – would be Triton’s first opponent as the Trojans drew the bye. Triton will play either Culver or Argos at 6:30 p.m. Friday night.

Marquette is very deep, but stars 6-8 big man Ryan Fazekas. The Blazers (15-5) drew Oregon-Davis (4-14), winners of three of its last four games, but the Fazekas-led squad likely will find its way to the championship game Saturday night, a 6:30 p.m. start, if it can beat the Bobcats and the winner of the Westville (9-9) versus South Central (Union Mills) (3-15) game.

While Triton have won the past five sectionals in which it played, Groves is fully aware of what’s going on around them in the sectional field.

“Everybody in this sectional is capable of knocking someone off,” said the diplomatic Groves. “Marquette is the most athletic team in the sectional, and talent-wise they have the most overall talent. Culver beat us on our home court. We have to worry about ourselves, though. We have to take care of what we do.”

It’s not that Triton won’t be the favorite, because many within the 1A Sectional 51 table will point to the Trojans as the team to beat. Leading that push is senior Clay Yeo, who is having an incredible individual campaign. Already been named as a nominee of potential candidates to be a McDonald’s All-American, the Valparaiso University recruit is hoping to punctuate his final year in Bourbon with postseason glory.

Yeo is scoring over 27 points per game, but it’s not always about his scoring prowess. Yeo leads Triton in every major offensive category, including assists, but also it tops in steals and blocks. On January 25, Yeo broke the all-time scoring mark at Triton when he scored 36 points in a win against Jimtown. Those points moved Yeo past Ashli (Senff) Faulkner, who scored 1,672 in her career.

The key for Triton to make any run will be what everyone else does around Yeo, according to Groves. But to point to just one person could be tricky, as several individuals have starred at various times all season.

“It’s been a combination of everybody in different games, and I think that is what we have to have,” Groves said. “Tanner (Shepherd) has made some big shots for us. Seth Glingle put together a double-double for us recently. Joey Corder has been doing a nice job for us, Darren Harrell has hit some big shots for us.”

Shepherd is scoring 12 points per contest, but is the only other person on the roster scoring more than four points per game. Senior Seth Glingle is approaching 100 rebounds on the season, and bruising senior Cody Shively, along with Shepherd and Glingle, have nearly as many offensive rebounds as defensive.

Guards Joey Corder and Darren Harrell have provided key leadership around the perimeter while Dillon Meadway and Skyler Reichart have given the Trojans spot starts.

“It’s always a different group and we have to adjust with who we have,” Groves said. “I think the one thing we have established here is a winning tradition. Our kids know that we have to play defense, we have to rebound, and if we do that, we should be able to win games. They understand that, now its just building upon that idea.

“Just having Triton on the jersey doesn’t win us ballgames. The kids realize they have to work hard and get better each and every day.”