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Tri-Village
senior Colton Linkous hits for two of his game high 30
points Friday at Troy in the sectional final
against Newton. The
Patriots advanced to play for the district title on Thursday at the
University of Dayton
Arena against the winner of the
Georgetown/Cincinnati Seven Hills game of the Taylor sectional. Linkous
also collected 10 rebounds on the night. CNO Photos By Dylan Knoop
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Tri-Village
moves on with big win for sectional title
Patriots to play for district crown Thursday
By George Starks
TROY- The first time Tri-Village locked up with Newton, it was a 73-42
victory for the Patriots.
That was December 12, 2014.
Friday, the Patriots and the Indians faced each other again but for a
bigger prize.
This time, it was for a sectional title and the right to move on in the
OHSAA state tournament.
Coming in undefeated and ranked number one in the state in D-IV, the
Patriots once again proved why they are where they are.
At the top of the pile in the state of Ohio.
It was a senior showcase night for Tri-Village as Colton Linkous and
Damien Cook recorded double-doubles while Mason McCabe scored in double
figures as well.
Linkous led all scorers with 30 points and pulled down 11 rebounds
while Cook back that up with a 20 point, 11 rebound night with McCabe
adding 13 points of his own.
In the end, it all added up to a 75-43 Tri-Village victory.
“I thought we played exceptionally well,” said Patriots coach Josh
Sagester. “I thought Mason McCabe was really good tonight. I thought he
was a big sparkplug there in the middle of the third when we looked a
little lethargic at times. I don’t think we were extremely crisp but
again today, a win is a win and our three seniors have been there
before.”
Using some stellar defense, Tri-Village held the Tribe to only five
first quarter points in building a 16-5 lead after one.
In the next two frames, the offense took over as the Patriots held a
38-20 lead at the break and was well in command after three, up 55-33.
Regardless of the size of the lead, it all started with the defense.
“I thought we did a great job, especially with our secondary defenders
being in the right spots,” said Sagester of his defense. “They ran a
lot of ball screen action and rightly so with some of their guards but
I thought our guys did a really nice job defensively.”
With Sagester’s secondary defense getting the job done, the primary
defense set the table, applying pressure on the ball in the backcourt.
“One of our goals tonight was to put pressure on the ball as they
brought it up,” Sagester quipped. “We had to make their guards worry
about bringing it up 94 feet and then when they got in the half-court,
they had to score. Then, they had to guard us as well and that’s a
tremendous amount of pressure for 32 minutes for a high school kid.”
Now, the Patriots will move on to the district and a night at the
University of Dayton Arena this coming Thursday.
A familiar place for the Patriots as Tri-Village has been here several
time over the last few years.
“This is an even keeled bunch,” said Sagester. “I told them to just
enjoy the night and not get too greedy. This is a special night and a
special accomplishment. This is the forth in a row for us at the
sectional level. We have some lofty goals and we’re not going to take
it for granted.”
The Patriots will meet the winner of the Georgetown/Seven Hills game
that was played Saturday at Taylor High School for the right to head to
regional action.
That game will be played Thursday, March 12 at the University of Dayton
Arena.
If you can’t attend the game, you can catch all the action on wtgr,
97.5 or wtgr.com.
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Senior Damien Cook works the ball against a Newton defender as he
netted 20 points for the
Pats and had 11 rebounds in the sectional
final Thursday.
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Patriot senior Mason McCabe dropped in 13 in support of Linkous and
Cook.
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