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Franklin
Monroe senior Travis Feitshans shoots over Tyler Cook Tuesday
in the biggest game of the
season in the Cross County Conference. In a
classic battle if the titans, the Jets celebrated a 54-46 victory to
remain undefeated in the CCC. CNO Photos courtesy of Danny Stockton,
stocktonstudio.com
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Jets
lay claim to top spot in CCC
Patriots have
regular season 45 game winning streak snapped
By George Starks
NEW MADISON- It was a date many had circled on their calendars since it
was announced.
In a game that was originally scheduled for December 6 and was
cancelled due to snow, Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester probably wished
he had re-scheduled it again for the exact same reason.
With all eyes on ‘The Battleground’ at Tri-Village, ranked second in
the state in D-IV, the 16-0 Patriots welcomed the 15-1 Franklin Monroe
Jets, undefeated in the Cross County Conference.
Billed as the ‘Battle of the Unbeatens’, Franklin Monroe came in with a
chip on its shoulder from a year ago as the Patriots topped the Jets on
three different occasions. The most recent coming in the district title
game played at Troy.
With snow blowing outside, the Jets engines were heating things up on
the inside and when the afterburners had shut down, Franklin Monroe had
walked away with a 54-46 CCC victory, snapping a 45 game regular season
game winning streak.
“Oh my goodness,” said Jets coach Troy Meyers. “When you get into
another tough game in a four or five game stretch, it gets a little
crazy. My kids came in here and they were well prepared and when
adversity strikes, you have to be ready.”
Adversity for the Jets came in the opening quarter as Tri-Village
opened the game with a 7-0 run before senior Trey Mong put the visitors
on the board at the 2:20 mark of the frame.
Shortly after that, Mong connected in the paint with his patented baby
hook.
Those would be the only points scored by the Jets as Tri-Village scored
the final points as junior Colton Linkous hit for a deuce with 27
seconds left in the quarter, leaving the Patriots up with a 9-4
advantage.
Mong finished the night with 20 points and 11 rebounds with two being
put backs off the offensive glass.
“Rebounds is a really big part of what we do,” said Meyers. “It’s
really hard to put that on a white board saying box a certain kid out.
Trey has been training for this for the last two or three years and
he’s really hard to stop on the boards. We prepare for moments like
this and the things that aren’t set up.”
It was the second eight minutes that started to prove, the Jets were in
the house and were ready to play.
With one lead change after another, it was Zach Hyer and Trey Mong that
did the majority of the damage.
With Franklin Monroe up 23-21 after Martin Maksvytis hit a 15 footer
with 10.6 seconds remaining, the Jet junior was fouled taking a three
pointer with 1.9 showing on the clock.
Maksvytis connected on two of three but then, Franklin Monroe returned
the favor, fouling Linkous on a trey at the buzzer.
Linkous drained all three of his shots, leaving the Patriots trailing,
25-24 at the break.
Holding that slim one point lead going into the third stanza, Jets
senior Travis Feitshans had yet to get into the scoring column.
At the end of the third, the Jets were up 36-33 and Feitshans had two
points, finishing with seven total.
It was Hyre that stepped up, dropping in three bombs and netting nine
points in support of the 20 posted by Mong.
“I’ve not seen the books and I really don’t care about the stats,” said
Meyers. “What I do care about is that at no point in this game did
anyone become selfish. A team (TV) can only watch so much film and they
will shut a guy like Travis down. Zach stepped up and drained some big
shots for us and we played like a team tonight.”
In the final eight minutes of play, the Jets were in total control.
Franklin Monroe would go up by as much as 14, 50-36, but the dagger in
the sides of the Patriots that was devastating came with 5:56 left in
the game.
On the bench with four fouls, junior Damien Cook re-entered with just
over six minutes left with the Pats trailing, 43-33.
Damien lasted just a few seconds, picking up his fifth personal and
sitting the rest of the night.
“We have no one to blame but ourselves,” said Sagester. “I think they
out played us to be quite honest. They had something to prove tonight
and my hat’s off to them.”
With Cook on the bench for the final 5:56, the loss of the Pats big man
was only part of what Sagester saw as a contributing factor for the
loss.
“Not having Damien on the floor hurts,” admitted Sagester. “We didn’t
hit perimeter shots. When you can hit perimeter shots in your own gym,
you’re not going to beat anyone, especially a good basketball team like
they are. You have to hand it to them. They out played us tonight.”
Now 16-1, 9-0 in the conference, the Jets will travel to Covington
Friday for a huge conference game with the Buccs.
Tri-Village, 16-1, 10-1, will play at Brookville Friday then will
return home Saturday for a battle with New Breman.
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Tri-Village
junior, Colton Linkous (33) hits for two of his team high 19 points in
a losing effort to Franklin Monroe.
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