|
|
Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester cuts down the nets after the Patriots
dropped an 88-67 loss on
Georgetrown to claim the District Championship
Thursday at the University of Dayton Arena.
CNO Photos by George Starks
|
|
Patriot Express
continues to roll
Tri-Village enters Sweet 16
By George Starks
DAYTON- Looking at the final score (88-67) one might think it was just
another Ho-Hum Tri-Village Patriot win.
Don’t be fooled by the 21 point margin of victory.
It wasn’t that easy.
After going through the sectional like a hot knife through butter,
Tri-Village ran into a solid opponent in Georgetown Thursday at the
University of Dayton Arena and the G-Men were up to the task.
The only job Georgetown faced was the fact it was looking at the
undefeated, top ranked D-IV team in the state.
Trailing the Patriots, 66-49 after three quarters of play, Tri-Village
opened up a 70-50 lead early in the final eight minutes.
Cutting the Pats lead to a 70-55 count with 5:45 left in the game, the
Patriots needed to break the momentum and Tri-Village coach, Josh
Sagester seen what was coming.
“This is a team that can score,” said Sagester. “They have two kids
that can score the basketball (Jake Cropper and Jacob Miller) and they
were on display at times tonight but I have to give our kids credit.
They were finding the open man in the half court and did a good job of
getting it where we wanted it.”
With 4:08 left in the game, the Patriots lead had been trimmed to a
72-64 count and that was when the fun for Georgetown was over.
The Patriots in the final half of the frame, went on a 16-3 run to
close out the game.
Georgetown did everything in its power to keep the Patriots off balance
by creating confusion and going helter skelter with the ball and
getting physical with Cook.
A plan that nearly worked.
“They tried to pick up and double the ball and kinda make it a rat race
out there,” said Sagester. “I just thought we did a good job of
executing and getting where we needed to go.”
“I think when you’re undersized, I think there’s only so many things
you can do,” Sagester continued talking about the physical play on the
big man, Cook. “They were trying to keep him off balance but we were
still getting pretty good looks and it’s no secret, Damien’s a load.”
Sagester thought the difference came in experience.
Something the Patriots have plenty of as Tri-Village shot 66.7 percent
on the night and 70 percent from outside the arc..
“I thought you could tell how our experience showed tonight,” Sagester
stated. “We have a lot of guys that’s been on this stage and I thought
to shoot it like we did, the experience showed I thought.”
The Patriots were led by seniors Damien Cook (39 points and nine
rebounds) along with Colton Linkous (20 points/11 rebounds).
On the season, the Pats were allowing around 50 points a game but
giving up 67 to Georgetown didn’t bother Sagester.
“When you score 88 points in a game, you’re going to give the other
team a few more chances,” admitted Sagester “I think that’s what it
came down to. Those two kids are good. One’s about a 1500 point scorer
and the other one is a 1200 point scorer. We knew they were going to
score the ball and we wanted to make them work for every basket they
got. We didn’t want anyone else to have a career night so we had to
shut down the other individuals. You’re going to play good teams at the
district level.”
With senior Mason McCabe and sophomore Gavin Richards in early foul
trouble in the second quarter, Sagester was forced to go to Knox Morris
and Brett Boyter off the bench.
“I don’t mind rolling the dice,” said Sagester. “If I’m going to get
beat, I want to lose with my best players out there, Knox hit a big
shot at the buzzer to end the first half and that gave us a big boost.
Him and Brett have been key contributors to our team.”
Now, the Patriots will hook up with a team they seen earlier in the
season at the Flying to the Hoop at Trent Arena…Russia.
“They are a good team with a lot of experience and a good basketball
coach,” Sagester pointed out. “Now, we have to go back and see what
worked for us and see what didn’t work so well.”
Tri-Village and Russia will once again meet at Trent Arena on Tuesday
in a 5:50 tip in the regional semi-final.
|
|
Tri-Village senior Damien Cook eyes the bucket as he
scores two of his game high 39 points.
|
|
|
|
