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The
Tri-Village Patriots won their second district title in school
history Wednesday with a sound
thumping of Cincinnati Seven Hills,
71-33. CNO Photos by Dawn Werner
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Patriots sting Seven Hills in district
title game
TV wins second district in school history
By George Starks
KETTERING- It didn’t take long for the Tri-Village Patriots to
establish their dominance Wednesday at Kettering’s Trent Arena in their
district title game against the Seven Hills Stingers.
The Patriots jumped out to a commanding 10-0 lead and never looked
back, posting a 71-33 victory to advance to the regional semi-finals
Tuesday.
It was the size difference that made the difference as the Stingers had
no answer down low for junior Tyler Cook. Cook netted 18 points with 14
coming in the first quarter as the Patriots held a 20-4 lead with eight
minutes in the books.
“We knew coming in that size was going to be an advantage on our end,”
said Patriots coach Josh Sagester. “Our kids did a good job of finding
Cookie on the block. He has a really good touch and a wide body. They
played a lot of man to man tonight and we took advantage of that early.”
When the Stingers figured out a way to stop Cook, then it was Kyle
Pipenger that stepped up.
The Tri-Village senior netted 20 in the game to lead all in scoring
with 11 coming in the opening half.
The success that Pipenger and Cook enjoyed, started at the point with
another senior, Matt Werner distributing the ball to his teammates.
“We go when he goes,” said Sagester. “He’s our vocal leader and he gets
the ball where it needs to go. On defense, he held the McFarland kid
down. That was our goal was to keep him down and we did that. I can’t
say enough about my kids.”
The championship was only the second in school history with the first
coming in 1991, the year the Patriots were state runner-up, losing to
St. Henry in the state finals.
“It feels good. It really has a good ring to it,” said Patriots coach
Josh Sagester. “This means a lot to the school and the community. I’ve
been here nine years and this has been a nine year work in progress. We
have lost at this level twice, one in double-overtime and once in
overtime. This feels really good. I told the guys in the locker room
that we’ve been knocking on the door and now it was time to step
through.”
The Patriots, 26-0, will face Troy Christian Tuesday night at Trent
Arena at 8 pm as the Eagles downed a good Ft. Loramie team, 65-56.
The Eagles are no strangers to the Patriots as Tri-Village topped the
Eagles 56-40 earlier in the season at Tri-Village.
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Tri-Village
senior Kyle Pipenger poured in 20 points for the
Patriots to lead the way in scoring.
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