Jackson Center next
By George Starks

NEW MADISON- In Patriot Nation, things are all Red, White and Blue. March Madness is in full swing and a trip or two to Columbus is in the twinkle of everyone’s eye. 

When the Patriots take the floor tonight against Jackson Center, the 20 win Tri-Village will be up against the undefeated, 23-0, Tigers. While the Tigers come in on a streak, they are primed to be knocked off and the Patriots have the power to do it. 

With two consistent scorers, Jackson Center will face a team that can hit anyone with five or six players, starting with junior Kyle Pipenger. But it doesn’t stop there as Matt Werner, Shade Brubaker, Tyler Cook and Evan Barger can hurt any team at any given time. 

“Our guns are loaded,” said Patriots coach Josh Sagester. “We are looking to do what we have been doing. They have two kids that do the bulk of the scoring so our game plan isn’t going to change.” 

If the Patriots look to get past the Tigers, it starts with a senior and a junior. 

“We will look to focus on senior Andy Hoying and junior Alex Meyer. We are not going to let the big guys that are supposed to beat us, beat us.” said Sagester. “I think they want to play a bit of a higher tempo than we want to and that concerns me. The films I’ve seen and seen in person a couple of weeks ago, they want to get out and go.” 

Patience is a virtue and according to Sagester, patience is not something the Tigers have a lot of. 

“We have to make sure we control the basketball and make sure we play at our speed.” Sagester pointed out. 

It wasn’t too long ago; the Tigers were nearly upended by Mississinawa Valley. In that game, the Hawks came back from 30 points down to make a game of it. 

The Tigers are beatable. 

“I don’t know what happened in that game,” admitted Sagester. “With the three point shot, anything can happen and we laughed about us pulling the ball out against Catholic Central but this is high school basketball and anything can happen. If you get a lead, you have to take care of it.” 

Against the Irish. The Patriots rained three’s to start the game on offense then went to the back door, ally-oop. 

“We are going to take advantage of our mismatches,” Sagester said. “A lot of it depends on who is guarding who. No one wins this many games by accident. They won 23 for a reason and we’ve won 20 for a reason. It’s no accident. You don’t win 23 games in a row and not be pretty good.” 

This is just the fourth team in Patriot history to have 20 wins under their belts. 

Two of those teams were the same group of kids as the 89-90 and 90-91 teams both went undefeated with the 90-91 bunch making it to the state finals only to lose to St. Henry. The third team was the 99-2000 team that Lost to Mechanicsburg in the district finals. 

As of the time of this writing, the Lady Patriots and the Versailles Tigers were still alive in tournament play and Sagester made note of it. 

“Little old Darke County is still kicking it,” Sagester said. This county has a great basketball tradition. Last year, it was Franklin Monroe and the run the Jets had and this year it’s Tri-Village and Versailles. It’s hard to believe but three teams are just a couple of wins away from making it happen. It’s crazy.”

The Patriots and the Tigers will get underway at the University of Dayton Arena tonight with a tip time set for 9 p.m.