February 21, 2004 - University of Dayton Arena

Tri-Village opened tournament play tonight against Middletown Christian at UD Arena. The Patriots were able to play just good enough to get a win over the Eagles by the score of 64-50.

TV opened the first quarter jumping out on top of MC 15-9 with Jay leading the way with 8 points and 6 rebounds, Josh Fisherback rained in a 3 ball and Kyler Burns and Sam Lindamood each had 2 points.

In the second period the Patriots would extend their lead to 10 points at 24-14 when Fisherback got a stickback after 5 Patriot attempts on goal. But over the next 3 minutes Tri-Village lost their intensity and with Jay sitting on the bench after picking up two fouls the Eagles went on an 8 point run 24-20. After a Burns charity toss the Eagles dropped in a three pointer and were within two 25-23 and Coach Falknor needed a timeout. Each team would score a basket before half with TV leading 27-25.

Even though Middletown Christian had only won 4 games this year if you let a team play with you they start to gain confidence believing they can win. This was the case with the Eagles as they came out in the third tying the game 27-27. Shortly after they gained the lead 31-30 at 5:13 off a Robby Harman drive and a bucket. The two teams would go back and forth the rest of the way ending in a 40-40 deadlock. The big play of the quarter was a Nic Brant assist to Cameron Quinn who was fouled and converted the hard three point play to keep pace with the Eagles.

In the final quarter Middletown Christian jumped up again on the Patriots 42-40 and both teams played even for a while... but just like the first quarter the Patriots went inside to their big man Jay, it was lights out for the Eagles. Jay would score 15 points in the period going 7-7 from the free throw line. For the game Jay was 10-15 from the field, 8-8 from the free throw line and pulled down 15 rebounds a monster game. Senior's Kyler Burns also pulled down 7 rebounds and Derek Ary dished out 7 assists wtih 10 points.

The Patriots move on to the next round of the tournament facing the #2 seed Southeastern at UD Arena Friday, February 27th at 5pm. The Patriots won't be able to have lapses in their game as they did tonight. The Trojans are an experienced team with a 1,000 point scorer in 6'5" Matt Poole and containing Seniors Jason and Wade Rice won't be easy.

In other news the 7th grade Tri-Village boys team will be playing for the tournament championship versus Franklin Monroe on Tuesday, February 24th, 5:30pm at National Trail High School.

The Tri-Village girls will play the same night at 8pm versus the Bethel Bees in tournament play at Tipp City. Let's all get out and support out teams - GO PATRIOTS!

Box Score
Tri-Village
Ary - 10
Fisherback - 7
Bailey - 3
Burns - 5
Quinn - 5
Lindamood - 6
Jay - 28
Totals - 64

Middletown Christian
Hudson - 4
Haddly - 10
Gordon - 6
Ebright - 2
Harmon- 6
Russler - 15
Lockridge - 7
Totals - 50

Score by Quarters:
Patriots...............15................27..................40................64
Eagles.................9.................25..................40................50