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| Mark Wheeler puts up a shot over Kyler Booher from Newton. |
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By George Starks
January 20 - PLEASANT HILL, OHIO
It may have been a case of mistaken identity. At best, split personalities maybe.
After playing 32 minutes of stall ball against Ansonia Friday and coming away with a huge Cross County Conference win over the Tigers, Tri-Village was looking to make it two CCC wins in a row Saturday night at Newton.
For the first 16 minutes, the hold the ball and take the game away from Newton worked to near perfection. The Patriots held the high-powered Indian offense to just four first quarter points and 16 total in the first half.
While Patriots coach Josh Sagester was doing well with the Dr. Jeckel approach for six straight quarters, it was Mr. Hyde that came to life for the last 16 minutes against Newton.
For everything that went right for the Patriots, it all went wrong as Newton posted a 44-36 victory in a key CCC matchup.
It was key for one reason. If the Patriots could have downed Newton, then Friday night’s showdown between the Indians and Ansonia, as huge as it will be, would have allowed the Tigers to come in with a one game lead in the conference.
Now, it will be for the conference lead outright.
It was a third quarter demise that spelled doom for Tri-Village though.Holding a 7-4 lead after one and a 17-16 lead at the break, the Patriots fell apart in the third frame.
“We dominated the first half in my opinion and we were only up one point at the half and that kind of scared me a little bit. But we did what we wanted to do,” said Sagester. “The second half, we missed three or four point blank shots to start the half and they (Newton) came down, made a couple of shots. It really just came down to that we were not making our shots when we had them. we had plenty of good looks at the bucket but couldn’t get anything to fall. We were shooting 20 footers at times and those were in the paint most of the time. The Powell kid hit a couple of big three’s and then they went up seven on a three. I know once we got down, it was going to be tough to come back. Give Newton credit, they hit some timely shots and played well.”
Scoring just four points in the third eight minutes and committing six huge, mostly unforced, turnovers, Newton was able to take control of things holding a 29-21 lead after three quarters of play.
What happened in the third was almost duplicated in the fourth as the Patriots once again had six more miscues while putting up 15 markers in the final stanza.
But in the end, missed shots and costly turnovers told the story for Sagester’s squad.
“We have to be able to take care of the basketball, especially when our margin of error is very, very tiny,” Sagester admitted. “Combine that with our inability not to be able to make shots in the third quarter and that is a bad mixture there for us. We have done a good job up to this point of taking care of the basketball. They were not putting that much
pressure on us and we was careless with the ball and that’s what happens.
But they (Newton) have won 10 games now and they have been able to do that for a reason and they find a way to win.”
Kyler Booher led all scorers with 16 points while pulling down 12 rebounds. The Patriots were paced by Tyler Greer with 13 and nine rebounds while Mark Wheeler netted nine in support.
In the junior varsity game, Brett Foreman scored 11 with Craig Dill netting seven as Tri-Village posted a 49-34 victory.
The Patriots will take Friday off and will travel to Fairlawn on Saturday.
Score By Quarters:
Tri-Village 07 10 04 15- 36
Newton 04 12 13 15- 44
Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village (36)
Wheeler 2-4-9, Greer 4-4-13, Stutz 1-1-3, Brubaker 0-2-2, Chowning 1-1-3,
Buck 2-0-4, Barger 1-0-2, Totals 11-12-36.
Newton (44)
Kale Booher 0-2-2, Powell 3-3-12, Walters 2-0-4, Snipes 1-1-4, Lavy
1-0-2, King 1-2-4, Kyler Booher 6-3-16, Totals 14-12-44.
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| Ryan Buck splits defenders for two points. |
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