Bob Moore
www.cccbasketball.com

Wright State University - We have all heard the saying; “It takes an entire Village to raise a child.” For the Tri-Village Boys Basketball program it took the entire team to raise a victory against the Emmanuel Christian Lions in the first round of the sectional tournament at Wright State University!

Senior Sam Lindamood lead the Patriots with 26 points tonight, but it was the key efforts of junior Mark Wheeler and freshman Tyler Greer off the Patriot bench that gave the Pats a hard fought 57 – 52 victory over a very worthy Metro Buckeye Conference opponent from Springfield.

Emmanuel Christian were 14 – 6 during the regular season and their effort on defense and their love of the 3 ball made it evident why they were successful. EC had 47 attempts at the hoop tonight and 24 of those attempts were from beyond the arc. In comparison, TV only had 40 attempts with 8 shots from beyond the arc. EC hit 5 of their 6 three point goals in the second half of the game at critical times to take or extend their lead. Josh Sagester’s first words in the post game interview were praising the play of the Lions. “You have to give them credit. They came and played their butts off and they stepped up and hit some big 3’s when they needed it.”

Lindamood came up with 26 points over every defense imaginable. The Lions threw a box and one, and a hard denying man D at Lindamood and it was obvious the EC game plan was to stop Lindamood and take their chances with the remaining players on the floor.

Lindamood was able to score the first 6 points of the game and a Logan Brubaker jumper with 3:16 to go put the Patriots up 8 – 4. The Lions would make their first of many runs in this game and they finished the quarter with a 9 – 2 advantage to take a 13 – 10 lead.

The Patriots have had key people step up throughout the regular season and the first contribution of the night came from 6’ 3” sophomore David Barger. “Big D” came up with 2 big buckets on the right block to take some of the pressure off Lindamood. Sandwiched between Barger’s 4 points were a steal and a lay-up by Senior Dan Foreman. That opened things up again for Lindamood and after he scored his next two points of the game, EC called a timeout to cool off the Pats with fewer than 5 minutes left in the half. Lindamood would add one more bucket to end the Patriot 10 – 0 run and TV would take a 20 – 13 lead. Then it was Emmanuel Christian’s turn.

The Lions would come roaring back and a Nathan Reep old fashion 3 point play with 1:15 left in the half would tie the score at 20. The Pats would commit 1 of their 12 turnovers on the next possession and Reep would add a free throw to put EC up 21 – 20. Mark Wheeler would put the Patriot up 22 – 21 at the break with his first bucket of the evening.

In the second half the Lions would come out roaring and Rikkey Brown drained a 3 ball in their first possession and they quickly regained the lead 24 – 22. After a Patriot turnover the Lions crashed the boards for a stickback and they are up 4. Foreman stops the bleeding for TV with a baseline jumper but EC responds with a ‘3 from Aaron Reep and they extend their lead to 5. The Pats close the lead back to one after Mark Wheeler drained a 3 and David Barger gets an old fashioned 3 with 4:36 left in the third. Lindamood ties the game by going 1 for 2 at the line after a Mark Wheeler steal. EC goes on another 5 point run after Aaron Reep drained his second ‘3 of the quarter. The Patriots were able to close the gap and after 3 quarters they trail the Lions, 38 – 36.

After 5 possessions for each team in the 4th quarter, the Lions were able to extent their lead by one more point and hold a 43 – 40 advantage over TV at the 4:13 mark.

With just over 3 and half minutes remaining in the game, the Patriots bump it up a notch and show why they lead the CCC in team defense. Dan Foreman forces a turnover and Lindamood is the recipient of Foreman’s effort with a two that brings TV within one.

After the Lindamood 2, TV steps up the full court defense and Patriots strike a nerve in the EC armor. TV forces a 10 second violation and EC takes a timeout to regain their composure. Each team exchanged turnovers as the game takes on a very exciting and intense moment. It’s tournament time, baby! With just over 2 minutes remaining Lindamood commits a foul on Aaron Reep and he drained both free throws to put EC up 3.

TV takes a timeout and in comes freshman Tyler Greer for some added quickness and defensive intensity. Before the game started, Coach Sagester told Tyler Greer that he is no longer a freshman. “It is time for you to start playing like a sophomore.” He must have listened.

Each team takes a possession and misfires on 3 point goal attempts. EC commits a foul on freshman Tyler Greer and he steps to the line for a 1 and bonus with 1:49 left in the game. Nothin’ but net on both attempts and TV is within one.

EC takes the ball out of bounds and the Pats D forces them to take a timeout. After the timeout the D causes another turnover and the ball finds Sam Lindamood under the TV bucket and he puts in to give TV a 46 – 45 lead.

EC would break the TV press this time and they found Rikky Brown open in the corner and he drained a huge 3 to put EC up 2, 46 – 48. EC then forced a turnover on TV and Dan Foreman fouled Aaron Reep with 1:15 remaining. Reep drained both tosses and just like that the Pats are down 4, 46 – 50.

The next trip down the floor Tyler Greer finds Mark Wheeler open in the corner. The junior who just earned a CCC honorable mention earlier in the week proved why deserved such an honor as he drained a 3 from the corner to get the Pats to within one.

Back comes the TV press. Tyler Greer and Mark Wheeler create more havoc for the Lions and they turned the ball over again. Greer finds Lindamood on the block and Sam powers the ball in for two and is fouled! Sam converts the charity toss and within 10 seconds the Pats from down 4 to up by 2!

TV is able to make a stop on the next EC possession. Tyler Greer and Mark Wheeler are able to get in front of the EC defense and Wheeler gathers in his own missed shot and TV is up 4, 54 – 50 with 40 seconds remaining.

EC is able to connect for two and with 21 seconds remaining they are forced to foul and the put the freshman Greer on the line. Greer hits one of two to put TV up by 3, 55 – 52.

EC comes down and they put up a three point attempt and miss. Tyler Greer comes up with a big rebound with 6.1 seconds remaining and EC quickly fouls Greer. Greer comes up to the line knowing that one free throw makes it a two possession game with 6 seconds remaining.

Welcome to your sophomore year Mr. Greer. He sinks them both to seal the win for the Patriots.

Coach Sagester noted after the game “that for 29 to 30 minutes of this game Emmanuel Christian wanted this game more than we did.” “Our kids have been blue collar all year and it shouldn’t surprise me that they would step when we needed it.”

He noted two players in particular. “Mark Wheeler’s defense and the 3 he made in the corner and Tyler Greer’s defense and free throws at the end of the game were huge for us. He played a heck of a game for a freshman.”

After the game, junior Mark Wheeler and Senior Sam Lindamood talked about key points of the game and noted that Mark’s 3 was a huge boost of confidence. They were also quick to give their freshman teammate some props. Lindamood stated, “Tyler Greer came in as a freshman and stepped it up! He brought in some good minutes tonight. He hit the free throws; came up with the steal; and got the assist to Mark in the corner and me underneath for the ‘and one.’ He played a good game tonight.”

The Pats advance to play Franklin Monroe for the third time this season on Tuesday, February 28th at 6:30 PM.

Scoring by quarters
TV…10…22…36…57
EC…13…21…38…52

TV (14 – 7)
Lindamood - 26
Wheeler – 11
Barger – 7
Foreman – 6
Greer – 5
L. Brubaker -2

EC (15 – 6)
Aaron Reep – 16
N. Reep – 12
Brown – 9
Elliott – 8
Oren – 5
Cartmell – 2

3 point goals TV – 2 (Wheeler) EC – 6 (A. Reep, 2) (Brown, 3) (Oren)

Stats: TV – FG: 21 – 40 (52.5%) 3-Pt.: 2 – 8 (25%) FT: 13 – 17 (76.5%)
EC – FG: 18 – 47 (38.3%) 3-Pt: 6 – 24 (25%) FT: 10 – 13 (76.9%)
Rebounds: EC 26 – TV 25