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Oviedo scores 33 as Trojans advance to regional final
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Sam Smith scored 17 points, and three teammates also scored in double figures, but the Caston boys basketball team lost to Triton 64-52 in two overtimes in a Class 1A regional semifinal at Triton Saturday morning.
Joey Spin added 11 points, and Kade Zeider and Jessie Rock-Wolf had 10 apiece for Caston, who finished 10-16.
Caston lost their regular season meeting to Triton 56-37 on Feb. 6, but Caston had leads of 13-12 after one quarter, 29-26 at halftime and 35-34 after three quarters.
The game was tied at 47 after regulation and at 50 after the first overtime.
Ashton Oviedo scored 15 of his game-high 33 points in the overtime periods for Triton, who improved to 20-5.
Tyson Yates added nine, and Cole McKinney and John Gardner had eight each for the Trojans.
Oviedo hit three 3-pointers, including one in the overtimes. He also made eight of nine free throws in the overtimes.
Caston coach Carl Davis called his team “a fun group to coach.”
“I’m just extremely proud of our guys,” Davis said. “I mean, we knew after going to their place earlier this year and getting beat by 19 that we were going to have to play really well today. And we played really well. These last two weeks, we played our best basketball, and that’s all you can ask for.
“I thought our kids fought. To start every quarter, it seemed like Triton went on a run. And our kids responded every time.”
He said the ballhandling was improved from their first meeting. Caston had 13 turnovers Saturday as compared to Triton’s 18.
“I know we talked about how we had to take care of it, and we did,” Davis said. “We did a much better job of taking care of the basketball today, and I thought we showed toughness on the offensive end of the floor in that regard and worked for some really good shots. I thought our guys were aggressive at attacking the rim all day on the offensive end of the floor, and we executed some things really well.”
Davis also said his team did a “pretty good job” on Triton’s multiple 3-point shooters. Even though Oviedo had a big scoring game, Davis thought his team’s switching man-to-man defense was attentive to Oviedo.
“I thought we had some really good switches and close-outs that limited some of his long-range looks,” Davis said. “Now that said, they did a really good job of dribble penetration. Oviedo was really tough to stop in the halfcourt. I thought we did a better job on him in the second half. … And then obviously, he got going in the two overtime periods and hit some free throws down the stretch.”
Davis also praised Rock-Wolf, whose 10 points were a career-high in his final prep game. He also made just his third 3-pointer of the season and his first in 11 games.
“I thought Jessie Rock-Wolf off the bench today was unbelievable,” Davis said. “Sam Smith picked up his second foul in the second quarter, and we sat him for the rest of the half, and Jake Paschen and Jessie Rock-Wolf and Carter See all got some minutes there. And Jessie scored nine points in the first half, and that was huge. And he came up with some big defensive plays as well to keep us in the game and actually take the lead going into the half.
“Just across the board, our kids battled on both ends. Triton’s a really good basketball team. What a competitive game.”
In the second semifinal, No. 3 Kouts held off Fremont 66-62 as Cole Wireman scored 27 points, Cale Wireman had 21, and Hunter Kneifel had 10.
Gabel Pentecost nailed four 3-pointers and scored 20 points for Fremont. Ethan Bock also hit four treys and had 14. Ethan Bontrager had 13, and Logan Brace had 11.
Kouts then went on to beat Triton 56-42 in the regional final. Parker Kneifel scored 16 points, Cale Wireman had 13, Matthew Baker had 12, and Hunter Kneifel had 11 for the Mustangs.
Yates led Triton with 19.
Kouts outscored Triton 21-7 in the second quarter to grab a 30-19 halftime lead.
Kouts, regional champions for the first time since 2001, will play Southwood in the semistate at 1 p.m. this Saturday at Lafayette Jeff.
Triton 64, Caston 52 (2 OT)
TRITON (64) (20-5)
Cole McKinney 3 0-0 8, Ashton Oviedo 11 8-9 33, Tyson Yates 4 1-3 9, John Gardner 4 0-1 8, Bruce Johnson 2 0-0 6, Hunter McIntyre 0 0-0 0, Keegan Westafer 0 0-0 0, Cole Shively 0 0-0 0, Chandler Westafer 0 0-2 0, Connor Large 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 24 9-15 64
CASTON (52) (10-16)
Joey Spin 4 2-2 11, Kade Zeider 4 0-0 10, Cam Kline 0 0-0 0, Bryce Rudicel 0 3-4 3, Sam Smith 7 3-4 17, Colby Pugh 0 0-0 0, Cain Schanlaub 0 0-0 0, Kobi Martindale 0 0-0 0, Jake Paschen 0 1-2 1, Jessie Rock-Wolf 4 1-2 10, Carter See 0 0-0 0, Evan Howard 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 19 10-14 52
Three-point field goals:
Triton 7 (Oviedo 3, McKinney 2, Johnson 2),
Caston 4 (Zeider 2, Spin, Rock-Wolf)
Total fouls: Triton 13, Caston 18
Turnovers: Triton 18, Caston 13
Score by quarters
Triton 12 14 8 13 3 14 – 64
Caston 13 16 6 12 3 2 – 52
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