Regional championship also milestone game for Triton Central head coach

With every game, Triton Central head coach Mark James adds to his legacy as one of the top Indiana high school boys basketball coaches of all time.

On Saturday afternoon, James will lead the Tigers (16-9) into a regional championship game against University (17-9) at Lebanon High School. It will be career game 1,000 for James, who had no idea the sectional championship win at Christel House was No. 999.

“You just jinxed my butt,” said James with a big laugh after the Tigers defeated Indianapolis Scecina to capture the Hall of Fame coach’s 13^th sectional championship in his 43 years of coaching. The Tigers celebrated the impending milestone Thursday after practice.

James will be chasing a third regional title and the Tigers program’s second (only regional title came in 1989).

Triton Central’s last opportunity at winning a regional title came in 2022 when it lost to the same University program, 56-49, at the Greenfield-Central Regional. No current members of either roster participated in that contest.

Despite not being on the regular-season schedule, the two sectional championship squads have faced six common opponents this season.

University is 7-1 against Indiana Crossroads Conference opponents, including sweeping Covenant Christian (56-46), Monrovia (62-49) and Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter (58-42) to win the Park Tudor Sectional. The only ICC opponent University lost to this season was Ritter (78-77 in overtime) back on Dec. 10.

“I feel like we played well,” said University head coach Justin Blanding. “Our sectional was really tough. We were all very close. All the other teams were deserving. We played each other during the regular season. It becomes a game of who will execute the best.”

Triton Central finished 4-3 in the ICC standings and avenged a regular-season loss to Indianapolis Scecina in the Christel House Sectional championship game, 37-30.

Blanding had a very successful 8-year run as head coach of University’s girls basketball program before taking over the boys program in 2023. He went 154-40 and won five sectional and three regional titles with the girls team. He is 29-22 in two seasons with the boys.

University’s balanced offensive philosophy has three double-digit scorers led by senior Max McComb (15.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.6 apg, 2.4 spg).

“(McComb) puts a tremendous amount of time into his game. He is a gym rat,” said Blanding. “He is always in here and he is always in the film room. He plays the right way. He plays hard and is extremely competitive.”

Juniors Blake Gray (11.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and Faisal Mohamud (10 ppg, 2.6 apg) give the Trailblazers multiple offensive options.

“We really put an emphasis on our system, sharing the ball and making everyone a threat,” said Blanding. “I feel like that’s how you have to play. If you are relying on one or two people to do everything, it makes you easy to guard.”

Coach James would agree. Triton Central has four players averaging at least 7.5 ppg, led by junior Eli Sego (16.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, 2.3 spg), the fourth all-time leading scorer (1,063 points) in program history behind Wyatt Felling (1,553), Mike Wells (1,281) and Doug Pardue (1,168).

“They are extremely disciplined on both sides of the ball,” said Blanding of the Tigers. “You can’t really speed them up. If you try to slow them down, you are in trouble. And they are very experienced. They have a great staff that has been doing it a long time.”

The Tigers will continue to rely on senior Silas Blair (11.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg), junior Max Crouse (9 ppg, 2.9 apg) and sophomore Cael Butler (7.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg) to produce points.

James expects pressure from University which will challenge his guards.

“This team is really good. They are athletic. They have 3-4 really good shooters,” he said. “They play really aggressive like they want to take the ball away from you all the time on defense. We will have to adjust to that a little bit and try to play our game.”

The four Class 2A regional champions in southern Indiana Saturday will then wait until 3 p.m. Sunday for the IHSAA Semistate Pairings Show that will air on IHSAAtv.org. The semistate pairings and the host site will be announced then.

Also in Class 2A regional action Saturday are No. 2 South Ripley (23-1) vs. Forest Park (18-6) at Seymour; No. 4 Parke Heritage (23-4) vs. Centerville (20-7) at Martinsville; and No. 11 Linton-Stockton (20-6) vs. No. 10 Providence (17-4) at Loogootee.

The host schools for the southern Indiana semistates are New Castle, Southport, Seymour and Washington.

Triton Central (16-9) vs. University (17-9)

Site: Jim Rosensthil Gymnasium at Lebanon High School.

Broadcast: GIANT fm will broadcast the game live at 1 p.m. An expanded pre-game show with Johnny McCrory and Jeff Brown will air at approximately 12:05 p.m. on 96.3 fm, 106.3 fm, 1520 am or at GIANT.fm (scroll down to WSVX 96.5 icon)

Tickets: General Admission tickets are $10. Cash will be accepted at the door or purchase tickets in advance at: https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=118656&p=182894

Game time: 1 p.m.

Coaches: Mark James, 32-16 in second year at Triton Central, 631-368 in 43^rd year overall; Justin Blanding, 29-22 in second year at University.

Sagarin Ratings: Triton Central, 63.75, 194^th overall, 37^th in Class 2A; University, 68.67, 138^th overall, 19^th in Class 2A. University is a 5-point favorite.

Class 3A Regional at Lebanon: No. 8 Indianapolis Crispus Attucks (19-6) vs. No. 11 Northview (24-2). Tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m. Tickets purchased for the Class 2A regional game are valid for the 3A championship too.

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