Patriots win sectional over Bethel
T-V to battle Ft. Loramie

TROY – It was just over a month ago, Jan. 24, that Tri-Village and Bethel went into overtime before the Patriots could pull off a 58-55 CCC victory.

On the night, it was Tyler VanWinkle that hit a prayer at the buzzer in overtime to win it for the Patriots.

Friday, overtime was not even an option as the, #2 state ranked, Patriots took a 51-41 sectional title win over the Bees, sending the Pats to their third straight district appearance.

“That’s a really, really good basketball team we beat tonight and they have some special players,” said Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester. “We were fortunate enough to come out on top this evening. What an atmosphere. Patriot Nation came out in force. It’s obvious the Bethel is a very good basketball team. What a shame someone had to lose.”

In the first round, at The Battleground, the Patriots were held scoreless in the first frame, 12-0, and was staring a 20 point deficit in the face after three quarters of play.

With the first half in the books, junior sensation Colton Linkous had been held to a measly two points as the Bees whipped up a box and one on defense.

Linkous scored only three field goals but finished with 13 points, hitting seven free throws.

“We ask a lot out of him,” said Sagester. “We asked him to guard the District 9 player of the year tonight (Bain, 20 points) and I thought he handled himself very well. He never hung his head and hit some clutch free throws for us.”

With the Patriots packing a large crowd and the Bees doing the same, the Patriots led at all the breaks, 10-6, 21-16 and 32-28 before getting the 10 point victory.

It was a huge fourth quarter as the Patriots got to the line 24 times hitting the majority of their foul shots but struggled at times as the big crowd was in the middle of the outcome.

“These are 16, 17 and 18 year old kids and they get a little nervous in situations like this,” said Sagester. “I thought we had- just enough when we had to have it. In this type of environment and these types of games, it’s not always going to be pretty. We stayed focused, hit our free throws, rebounded well and we stayed focused.”

With the Patriots outscoring the Bees, 19-13 in the fourth eight minutes, it was the defense that held Bethel down and kept Bain in check.

“I’ve often said offense wins games and defense wins championships. Tonight we played like champions play on defense,” added Sagester. “We emphasized owning the paint, and defensive rebounding because the team that gets the most easy baskets wins, and we did that tonight.”

With the victory, the Patriots will move on to the district final and a date with the Ft. Loramie Redskins Thursday night at the University of Dayton Arena.

The game is currently set for a 5:30 tip.

Loramie upended Houston, 58-57 for the sectional title played at Piqua Saturday night.