The UOG Men’s Basketball team lost their final regular season game against the second seeded Bombers, 95-46 on Oct. 23 at the Father Duenas Phoenix Center. Despite finishing the regular season with a 0-10 record, the Tritons significantly progressed from being students playing pick-up basketball prior to the start of the season to being the team that it is now today.

By the end of the first quarter, the Tritons managed to keep the score close, trailing the Bombers by three points.

However, by half-time, the score was 42-24, with the Bombers taking on the lead.  By the end of the third quarter, the Bombers 37 points ahead of the Triton.

The Triton’s tried to chip down the deficit, but only managed to score 11 points in the fourth quarter.

That has been the occurring outcome throughout the season.

“We played in a few close games, which showed we have heart and that we have fight,” Triton’s assistant coach Josh Torres said. “Unfortunately, we are the only team with no national players.”

The Tritons are a relatively new team that was formed two weeks prior to the start of the Guam Basketball Association (GBA) season.

“We only had two weeks of preparation that included tryouts, teaching the offense, teaching the defense, finding the chemistry with the guys,” Torres said. “That’s more than a two week process.”

The Men’s Basketball team was reintroduced in the first season of the GBA, however this season UOG’s athletic program is more structured with the arrival of the new athletic program director, Doug Palmer, months prior to the start of Triton’s second GBA season. The Triton’s entered into a building stage of the program and faces many challenges along the way.

“Being a brand-new program was the biggest challenge with these guys, there was no precedence and there was no standard,” Torres said. “We just knew where we wanted to be and we had to make our own outline on how to get there.”

Although this is the Triton’s second season, this is their first time having a complete coaching staff consisting of head coach Brent Tipton, and assistant coaches Steve Yates and Josh Torres.

They are an integral part in building UOG’s basketball program and have inspired the players to work hard to achieve long-term goals.

“Our coaches this year have been doing a tremendous job putting together a bunch of guys and making them turn their egos into team-first mentality,” junior guard Andrew Carlos said. “They have been doing everything in their power to make us a better team by pushing us to our limits and teaching us new ways of playing basketball.”

Everyone involved in the building process has the shared understanding of the desired goals.

“We have to focus on the big picture and focus on the goals that are ahead,” senior guard Tony Taianao said. “We are not looking for instant gratification, we are looking for long term success.”