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Tri-Village's
Andrew Wilcox battles junior Trey Mong of Franklin Monroe
in their sectional
title game at Troy Saturday. For the third time this
season, the Patriots out-dueled the Jets,
winning 46-40. CNO photos by
Dawn Werner.
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Tri-Village advances to districts
Patriots beat FM for third time
By George Starks
TROY- A sold out Troy High School gymnasium witnessed two Darke County
foes go at it for the third time this season.
In a classic battle for the sectional title, Franklin Monroe and
Tri-Village locked horns in an old fashioned barn burner.
In a game that went down to the wire, the Patriots held off a late
charge by the Jets, pulling out a 46-40 victory.
With 1:58 remaining in the game and the Patriots up 40-37, Franklin
Monroe picked up a quick steal with Marcus Horner looking at an easy
lay-up.
Horner missed the bucket but junior Trey Mong was there to clean it up
and with 1:51 remaining, the Patriots held a slim 40-39 lead.
“We knew coming in tonight it wasn’t going to be easy,” said
Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester. “Franklin Monroe has a very good
basketball team and are very well coached. They have a lot of varsity
experience even though they don’t have a lot of seniors. When you play
the same team three times in a year, it’s never going to be easy. I
thought we did a pretty good job weathering the storm. I told the kids
in the locker room there was going to be some adversity tonight and the
question was how were we going to handle it. We had to fight the fight
and play 32 minutes and I think our kids did a really nice job of
keeping their composure.”
Down the stretch, the Patriots would spread the floor, forcing the Jets
to foul.
That’s when Tri-Village shined as it would hit six of six from the line
with senior Matt Werner, junior Tyler Cook and senior Kyle Pipenger
doing the damage.
“We have the varsity experience and it showed down the stretch,”
Sagester pointed out. “Matt hit some big foul shots as did Tylet Cook.
Andrew Wilcox got a big bucket off Kyle’s feed. We had a lot of
contributions tonight and it wasn’t pretty but how many sectional final
games are?”
Both teams came out like two heavyweight prize fighters, going toe to
toe, absorbing one punch after another.
With the adrenalin levels on both sides so high, the question was which
team will come down to earth first?
With the Pats up 11-9 after one, the second quarter would bring out the
answer to the question.
Tri-Village would get the second underway when senior Shade Brubaker
would nail a three, giving the Pats a 14-9 advantage.
The Patriots would eventually score seven of the first eight points of
the frame to go up 18-10 with 6:28 left in the half.
Franklin Monroe would finally come down from its adrenalin rush and
close it to 20-18 at the 2:38 mark of the half.
In a back and forth, see-saw battle, the half would show there was no
clear-cut choice to win as Tri-Village held a 26-26 advantage.
The third quarter brought on much of the same as the Patriots would go
into the fourth and final quarter, holding a 34-27 advantage.
In big games, big players step up and it was Pipenger and Cook that led
the way with 18 and 14 points each.
“Obviously, we were trying to ride Kyle Pipenger down the stretch,”
said Sagester. “Anytime you’ve got the Player of the Year, you’ve got
to give it to him to make some plays and I think he did. Give them
(FM), they were stepping up and making shots.”
For the Jets, the player came in the form of freshman Zach Hyre.
Hyre finished with 11 points for the Jets. Points that included two big
trey’s that kept the within striking distance in the second quarter.
“Hyre, Mong and Feitshans all three did some damage with Mong and
Feitshans doing the damage in the second half,” said Sagester. “We are
not going to keep them scoreless and hold them down the entire evening.
Mong had the big tip in down the stretch and made some big free throws
for them. This is a tough team and they will be tough to beat next
year.”
Despite the outcome, there has to be a winning team and a losing team.
Jets coach Troy Meyers said there are no losers after this game.
“There are no losers tonight,” said Myers. “We are 25 strong and those
guys in there care. There wasn’t a dry eye in there and that tells me
we’re not done. We lost to a very good basketball team but we’re not
done. We will be back. I have leaders in there that will continue to
work.”
Even though the Jets aren’t a high powered offense, it was the FM
defense that nearly pulled the rug out from under the feet of the
Patriots.
“Our defense was good right up to the very end,” stated Myers. “At the
end, we were going possession for possession and we were in a fouling
situation. They knocked down all their foul shots in the last minute
and that made the difference.”
Tri-Village, 26-0, will play Tuesday night at the University of Dayton
Arena against Cincinnati Seven Hills for the right to move on to the
regional. That game is scheduled for a 5:30 tip.
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Patriot
senior Shade Brubaker connects in the paint for two
of his six points in the Patriots victory.
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