December 13, 2003 - New Madison

The Patriots off to an 0-3 start were looking for a way to jump start their season and just like last year the answer was Fort Recovery. Tri-Village in need of victory and a confidence booster got a big win tonight 61-59 in a very close game. Fort Recovery was coming off a two point victory last night over neighbor and rival Jay County. Meanwhile the Patriots were reeling from a dismal 29 point output the night before and looking to get their offense going.

The Patriots opened the game scoring the first 4 points while playing a very aggressive man to man defense. The intensity of the team was evident from the start and after knocking down a few shots the Patriot confidence grew. With the score 12-6 and 3:39 to go in the quarter Fort Recovery called a timeout to set up a play. The plan worked as they executed a nice give and go to cut the lead to 12-8. But then Senior Kyler Burns would make two of his 4 - 3 pointers on the night on back to back possesions that would give the Patriots momentum and an 18-8 lead. For the quarter Corey Jay would go 5-5 from the floor scoring 10 points along with Burns 10 points to give the Patriots a 24-12 lead.

"I was a little disappointed with our effort, we didn't play well in the first quarter," commented Coach Brian Patch from Fort Recovery. "Last night Tri-Village only scored 29 points in the entire game and we gave up 24 points in the first quarter and we are known as a defensive team." "But you have to give them credit they played hard and got some nice play from Jay & Burns."

In the second quarter the Patriots would continue with their solid defense but would fall off a bit offensively. This allowed Fort Recovery to cut the lead at the half, trailing 35-27. In the first half the Patriots shot 71% from the floor to 54% for the Indians and out-rebounded them 14-12 with 5 offensive boards.

Tri-Village would open quarter 3 scoring the first 3 points before the Indians went to a full court press. The press generated a couple of turnovers and Fort Recovery was able to cut the lead to 40-32. The two teams would play the rest of the quarter pretty even and Tri-Village would lead 48-42.

In the 4th quarter Tri-Village found themsevles trying to find a way to hold off a stubborn Indians team that wouldn't quit. The Patriots looked like they had the game under control holding a 59-49 lead with 3:37 left to play. But they would not score again until Corey Jay would step up to the line and knock down two important free throws with 13.2 seconds left to play to seal the victory 61-59. In the final 3:37 the Patriots turned the ball over a couple of times, missed 6 free throws 4 on the front end of a one and one situation. This allowed the Fort to cut the margin to 59-57 until Jay sank his free throws. Fort Recovery would score a bucket at the buzzer bringing the score to 61-59 and giving Tri-Village a much needed win.

"I'm pleased with our effort tonight," said Coach Lee Falknor. "Our youth struggled at the end of the game but we played hard and the kids gave us good effort." "If we play with that kind of effort every night and make good decisions we will be in most of our games."

The Patriots were led tonight by Senior Kyler Burns with 23 points and Junior Corey Jay with 21 points. Tri-Village took a step forward tonight and will looklto duplicate their effort next Friday December 19, when Franklin Monroe will visit the Patriots at home. Go Patriots!

Box Score
Tri-Village 3 - 2 - FT - TP
#5 - Fisherback 0 - 0 - 0 - 0
#15 - Foreman 1 - 0 - 1 - 4
#21 - Ary 0 - 0 - 3 - 3
#23 - Bailey 0 - 0 - 0 - 0
#24 - Burns 4 - 5 - 2 - 23
#33 - Quinn 0 - 2 - 0 - 6
#35 - Lindamood 0 - 1 - 2 - 4
#50 - Jay 0 - 9 - 3 - 21
Totals - 61

Fort Recovery
#14 - Willmann - 2
#15 - Wuebker - 15
#20 - C.J. Tobe - 3
#23 - Kohlig - 13
#30 - D. Tobe - 8
#32 - Reinard - 2
#41 - VanSkyock - 3
#42 - J. Bihn - 13
Totals - 59