Shelby County Boys Basketball Tournament championship game set

WALDRON – Morristown opened the season with a disappointing loss to Triton Central.

The Yellow Jackets will get a second chance at the Tigers in the Shelby County Tournament championship game tonight at Waldron High School.

Class 2A, No. 10 Triton Central used a 16-0 blitz in the second quarter to pull away and defeat Waldron, 59-41, in the first semifinal game Friday.

Four different Tigers splashed three-pointers to turn an 11-all game into a 23-11 advantage. Eli Sego converted a fast-break layin and Conner McClure capped off the run to push the advantage to 27-11.

The lead was 30-15 at halftime.

Back-to-back 3s from Caige Sheaffer early in the third quarter gave the Mohawks momentum and cut the lead to 32-18, but a 9-2 run followed, and Triton Central was never challenged again.

With a pair of free throws in the third quarter, Sego surpassed Mike Wells for No. 2 on TC’s career scoring list. The senior finished with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Brody Hartman made three 3s and finished with 15 points. Grant Long finished with eight points and four rebounds. Henry Kemper had six points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore Eli Stewart led Waldron (6-4) with 20 points. No other Mohawk had more than six points.

Morristown 60, Southwestern 28

The Yellow Jackets delivered a shutout in the first quarter to take a 13-0 lead at the break in the second semifinal game Friday.

Mitchell Clements hit a pair of free throws with 6:56 to go in the second quarter to get Southwestern on the scoreboard. Clements then scored off an offensive rebound and Jay Utley hit the Spartans’ first 3 of the game to cut the lead to 16-7.

The Yellow Jackets followed with a 7-0 run and were never challenged again.

Morristown led 28-10 at halftime and pushed its advantage to 50-22 after three quarters.

Six different Yellow Jackets scored at least seven points to earn a berth in the championship game.

Brody Smith led Morristown with 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks.

Brayden Anderson hit two second-half 3s and finished with 10 points. Owen Rinzel, Kellen Crim, Dalton McMichael and Jake Miesse each scored seven. Rinzel had a team-high eight rebounds.

Utley hit three 3s to lead Southwestern (1-7) with nine points. Josh Karr had three points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Championship

Tonight’s championship game will start at approximately 8 p.m. following the conclusion of the Shelby County Girls Basketball Tournament championship game and celebration.

The matchup is the same in both championship games.

At 6 p.m., Morristown (8-7) will try to reverse a 61-19 loss earlier this season to 2A, No. 9 Triton Central (11-3).

In the boys championship game, Morristown (7-3), winners of six of their last seven, will face a Triton Central squad that is 8-2, with its only two losses coming to teams that were preseason top 10 ranked squads in Shelbyville and Greenwood.

Triton Central won the season opener at Morristown on Nov. 26, 70-33.

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