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Tri-Village
senior Kyle Pipenger gets a rebound for the Patriots
as he boxes out Arcanum's
Dallas Johnson. Pipenger scored a game high
27 points as the Patriots remained undefeated,
beating the Trojans
69-37 in the opening round of the Jet Tournament. CNO photos by Dylan
Knoop
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Hot second half
powers Patriots past Arcanum
By George Starks
PITSBURG- After a less than desirable performance in the first half
Friday night in the opening round of the Jet Tournament, the
Tri-Village Patriots took out a week’s worth of frustration on Arcanum
in the second half.
Going into the locker room at the break with a slim 23-14 lead over the
Trojans, it didn’t take Tri-Village long to whip things into shape in
the third quarter.
A stellar third quarter defense by the Patriots proved to be more than
the Trojans could handle as the Patriots held Arcanum to only 14 points
to open up a 52-28 advantage.
When the final buzzer sounded, Tri-Village proved why it is the team to
beat, dumping a 69-37 loss on the Trojans to advance to the
championship game.
“I challenged them at half-time,” said Patriots coach Josh Sagester.
“We were real lethargic in the first half. We didn’t move the
basketball and didn’t make open shots. It was probably one of the worse
first quarters we’ve played all year long. I told the guys at halftime
it was going to show me a lot about their character as to how they
would respond. I thought our defensive integrity in the second half was
good but we did have a couple of letdowns.”
Respond is exactly what the Patriots did.
With less than two minutes having elapsed off the third quarter clock,
the nine point lead at the half had blossomed to a commanding 30-16
lead with 6:02 showing.
That was when disaster struck the Trojans as Simon Troutwine picked up
his fourth foul then was hit with a technical, fouling him out of the
game.
“That was unfortunate and there was a swing there,” said Arcanum coach
Brian Gunter. “I’m not saying that caused us to not to continue to
compete but to have a chance against a good team like Tri-Village, you
can’t make mistakes like that.”
With 3:29 remaining in the frame, Tri-Village was on its way to a
blowout, leading 42-20.
With senior Kyle Pipenger leading the way for the Pats with 27, Mathew
Werner chipped in with 11 big tallies, including a couple of trey’s.
“I thought Matt Werner, leadership wise, hit a couple of big three’s
for us,” said Sagester. “Pipenger played like we know he can play.”
While two of the Patriots big guns were setting the pace scoring, it
was sophomore Colton Linkous that quietly dropped in 15 for Sagester’s
team.
“Colton is still a baby right now but as you could see, he is skilled
and gives us another dimension that we haven’t had,” Sagester said of
his young sophomore.
With such a large deficit, the Trojans were forced to come out of their
2-3 zone and go man to man on defense.
Enter Tyler Cook on the block.
With the Trojans out of the zone, Cook finished with 15 points for the
Patriots.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of zones,” said Sagester. “With eight games,
we’ve seen zones in seven of those games so teams are making us make
shots. When they go man, we get our guys on the blocks working.”
For the Trojans, it was a case of missed opportunities in the second
half, even minus the presence of Troutwine.
“In games like this and all games, you have to protect the basketball
and secure all possessions,” Gunter stated. Make the game more
manageable. Make them work harder on defense. We didn’t do this. “
With the win, the Patriots went to 8-0 while the Trojans dropped to 1-5.
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Arcanum's
Grady Garno drives on Tri-Village's Matthew Werner
during second half action Friday at Franklin Monroe.
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