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Tri-Village
senior Evan Barger fights for a rebound Saturday in the
Patriots 53-38 victory over the Catholic
Central Irish. Barger scored
eight points and pulled down six boards in the victory. The Patriots
will
play Jackson Center Friday at the University of Dayton Arena at
8:30 p.m.
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Patriots as
cool as the other side of the pillow
By George Starks
TROY- When it comes to being cool under pressure, Tri-Village and its
coach Josh Sagester are exactly that. Cool, very cool!
No matter what the Catholic Central Irish did on offense, the Patriots
never buckled. Junior Kyle Pipenger scored a game high 21 points as the
Patriots showed no mercy to the Irish, claiming a 53-38 sectional final
victory Saturday.
Leading 17-12 after one, the Patriot offense went off like a rocket and
the defense put the clamps on the Irish, holding them to a measly five
second quarter points while scoring 13 to open up a 30-17 lead at the
half.
“What a performance by our kids, especially early on in this
environment and hit the perimeter shots the way they did,” Sagester
said. “I thought our zone did its job early. I think our man defense
did its job but I think our triangle and two in the second half was a
good call by our coaching staff and our kids. Our goal was to make
other kids beat us. Kelly (Brian) and Lathum (Calum) are good players
and I thought we would win tonight if we could hold them down.”
Holding them down is exactly what the Patriots did. Kelly scored 11 for
the Irish while Lathum was held to just eight.
When the offense kicked in for the Patriots, the Irish had no clue.
Tri-Village got it going from three point range early. When the Irish
figured out what to do, the Patriots opened up the back door, leaving
the Irish without a clue as to what was coming next.
“Catholic had no idea how to defense us,” Sagester said. “They threw
man and some zone at us and we did a really good job executing our half
court stuff. We got a little tired but I’m extremely proud of our guys.
We are the fourth team in our history to get 20 wins and our third
sectional title in eight years.”
Going into the final quarter with a 42-27 bulge, the patriots went to
the Sagester trademark on defense. They spread the floor on offense and
ran the clock.
“Some people don’t like that and some people do,” Sagester stated. “We
worked too hard to get that lead just to let it go. I have confidence
in our guards to protect the ball.”
Now, the Patriots will look to clinch the district title Friday at the
UD Arena against Jackson Center in a scheduled 9 p.m. game.
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Tri-Village
junior Tyler Cook puts up two of his seven points against Catholic
Central in the Patriots sectional title win.
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