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Tri-Village
senior Kyle Pipenger looks to get two of his game high 24
points against
Troy Christian Tuesday. The Patriots fell in overtime,
48-43, ending their season at 26-1. CNO photos by Dylan Knoop
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Perfect season
comes to an end
Patriots bow out of
tournament
By George Starks
KETTERING - Coming in with a 26-0 record and ranked number one in the
state, the Tri-Village Patriots needed four more wins to make the
2012-13 season a clean sweep, capped off by a state championship.
After winning the district title over Cincinnati Seven Hills, the
Patriots were forced to face a team they had already beaten once in
Troy Christian.
When the Patriots played the Eagles the first time around, it was
Tri-Village coming out with a 56-40 victory. In that game, seniors Kyle
Pipenger and Andrew Wilcox netted 15 and 14 points for Tri-Village to
lead the way.
Tuesday, the Pats faced the Eagles once again, this time with a
different outcome.
A dismal 10 of 23 shooting performance from the foul line proved to be
the difference as the Eagles dropped a 48-43 loss on the Patriots to
move on in the OHSAA boys D-IV basketball tournament.
The defeat ended the Patriots season with 26 straight wins and one loss.
“I told my guys that games are won and lost at the foul line,” said
Patriots coach Josh Sagester. “They (Troy Christian) go 14 of 17 and
there’s your difference. We were a 75 percent foul shooting team this
year. That was probably a school record.”
With regulation proving to be a wash (39-39) and four more minutes
being required to determine a winner, the Patriots had their chances in
the extra period to turn the tide on the Eagles.
It didn’t happen.
With overtime having started, Kyle Pipenger was fouled with 51 minutes
having elapsed off the clock.
Pipenger calmly sank the first one but couldn’t connect on the back-end.
That left the door open for Troy Christian and the Eagles had no
problem with entering through it.
“We got there (to the line) enough times, especially starting the
overtime. We got there four times and could only hit one shot,”
Sagester stated. “We missed the shot and the kid from T/C (Christian
Salazar) hit a 16 foot jumper and we can’t make free throws. It was a
shot he hadn’t been able to hit all night long.”
At that point, the Eagles went on an 8-1 run to open up a 47-42
advantage with 35.1 seconds remaining in the overtime period.
“One game does not make a season and you can’t take away from what our
kids have done this season,” Sagester stated. “It’s just a tough way to
end the season. We come in 26-0 and the 27th game we probably picked to
play our worst game of the year. I thought it was a gutsy effort to get
it to overtime. Once we got it there, I thought we would win.”
Leading 9-6 after one, the Patriots looked jittery in the opening
frame, committing numerous turnovers.
The second quarter would prove to be worse as the Eagles would get the
lead for the first time in the game at 12-9 on a trey by senior Nathan
Kirkpatrick with 6:15 remaining, breaking a 9-9 tie.
Troy Christian would open up a 19-11 lead with 3:36 remaining before
the Pats would close to 21-16 at the break.
It was only the second time this year the Patriots trailed at
half-time. The other was against Franklin Monroe on December 7, 21-15.
As the game wore on, Pipenger tried to put the team on his back and
will them to victory.
At the end of it all, Pipenger had dropped in a game high 24 points but
it wasn’t enough as the T/C defense took his legs from him with some
extremely tight defense.
“He’s the Player of the Year and he’s going to get the other team’s
best defender,” Sagester pointed out. “The kid had 24 points. He’s as
good as advertised.”
Trailing 31-24 with eight minutes left in regulation, the Patriots
started to pull closer and were chipping away, getting the score to
39-37 off a six foot jumper by Pipenger with 26.6 seconds left in the
game.
Thirteen seconds later, junior Tyler Cook hit in the paint and the
Patriots had come from as much as eight points down to force the
overtime.
It was the final game in a Patriot uniform for Pipenger, Wilcox, Matt
Werner, Shade Brubaker and Caleb Chowning.
“There are some great kids, phenomenal kids and they are very upset in
there and rightfully so,” Sagester stated. “They are going to be tough
to replace. There are some big shoes to fill in there but I think we
can do it. Right now, it’s hard to talk about the positives when you
don’t play your best basketball tonight.”
In addition to the 24 by Pipenger, Cook added 12 in support with 13
rebounds.
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A dejected group
from Tri-Village walks off the floor after losing a heartbreaker to
Troy Christian.
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Senior Andrew Wilcox
goes high for a rebound for the Patriots.
Wilcox
had eight rebounds but was held to one point in the Patriots loss.
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