Argos’ Morris Delivers When It Matters Most, Helps Dragons Survive Triton And Advance

You hear it all the time … marquee players step up and make plays when the game is on the line.

That’s exactly what Argos senior star J.J. Morris did Wednesday night in his team’s thrilling one-point win over Triton in the Triton Sectional.

With his team trailing by four points midway through the fourth quarter, the 6-foot-6 Morris delivered.

How good was No. 5 in the final half?

Well, in a span of about nine minutes in the third and fourth quarters Morris scored 14 points in a row for Argos.

None of those points were bigger than the back-to-back traditional three-point plays he had just 25 seconds apart from one another in the final stanza.

Morris’first three-point play came with 4:11 remaining and got his Dragons to within 44-43.

Following a Triton offensive foul on the game’s next possession, Morris again proved to be unstoppable driving to the bucket for the hoop and harm.

That three-point possession by Morris with 3:46 to play gave his team a 46-44 lead.

Argos would only relinquish the lead once more down the stretch.

Surprise surprise … NOT … it was Morris coming through in the clutch again by connecting on a pair of free throws with just under two minutes to play to give Argos the lead for good at 48-47.

Considering Morris was held to just one point in the first half, what he did in the second was pretty eye-opening.

He finished with a team-high 17 points, scoring 12 of those in the final eight minutes of the game – hitting all six of his free throws in that quarter.

Although Morris was pretty much a one-man show in the second half for Argos, his teammates did some heavy lifting of their own in the first half.

Despite Morris not hitting a field goal in the opening 16 minutes, Argos held a four-point lead after the opening quarter and the narrowest of margins (one) at the break.

Luke Stults scored 10 of his dozen points in the opening two frames and Sean Richard had six of his 10 points in the first half.

Nate Manikowski and Elijah Osborn chipped in five and six points, respectively. As the final score would indicate, Argos needed every single one of those points.

Thanks to Morris and Co., the Dragons improved to 15-7 on the season and have won six of their last eight games.

Morris will have to have another Herculean effort in the sectional semi-finals because Marquette Catholic is the real deal. The Blazers improved to 17-7 thanks to their Wednesday night double-digit win over Westville. Argos and Marquette Catholic will square off in the semis.

Like nearly every northern Indiana sectional, the Triton Sectional semi-finals will have to wait due to Mother Nature. It is postponed due to inclement weather until tomorrow so the semis and championship will all be played (weather permitting) on one day. Now, that’s some old-school stuff isn’t it and we of the single-class basketball days will love every second of it.

No doubt it will be exciting, but what else is new? Hoosier Hysteria always delivers!

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