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| Seniors David Barger and Logan Brubaker let their emotions show on Senior Night down the stretch as the Patriots handed Greenville a 44-35 defeat. |
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New Madison, Ohio – February 2, 2008
It was an emotional evening for the Tri-Village Patriots playing to a packed house to celebrate senior night. It also turned out to be a very memorable experience as well with the Patriots defeating intra-county foe and a division one team in the Greenville Green Wave by the score of 44-35 in non-conference action.
Greenville entered the contest on a high note after defeating a 14-2 West Carrolton Pirates team the previous night by 21 points.
“We couldn’t have written a better script for our seniors to go out”, said Coach Josh Sagester. This group of boys have been instrumental in building up our basketball program here at Tri-Village over the years and have quite a few wins to show for it.” “I’m glad they will be able to reflect back on senior night with good memories and a good win,” added Sagester.
Tri-Village put together a game plan to shut down the two leading scorers for the Green Wave by employing a diamond and two defense. Tyler Greer at 5’10” took on the challenge of shadowing 6’6” Mac Fiely with Logan Brubaker and Kendall Stutz rotating off Nic Warren. The game plan was effective enough to hold Fiely to just 4 and Warren to 2 points in the contest.
Tri-Village got on the board first with Tyler Greer dropping in a trey but Greenville scored three straight baskets to go up 6-3 at 5:40 in the opening period. That was until Kendall Stutz got the hot hand. Stutz erupted for 10 points including a three at the buzzer to give the Patriots a 15-8 first quarter lead.
Greenville opened the second period with a basket by Nic Warren (his only points of the contest)… but it was Stutz again who answered with a drive to the basket drawing the foul for an old-fashioned three-pointer as the Patriots went up 18-10.
Stutz then fired in his third three-pointer from behind the arch and Ryan Buck followed it with a goal inside to give Tri-Village their largest lead of the night 23-10 at the 3:00 mark.
A frustrated Green Wave team finally found some relief at the foul line after going 5 minutes without scoring. Ryan Boyer closed out the scoring for the first half with a fielder… but Greenville trailed the Patriots 25-14 at the half.
Halftime couldn’t come soon enough for Greenville and the adjustments they made at the half appeared to be what the doctor ordered. The Wave roared back in the third period nearly matching the entire first half output by finding holes in the gimmick defense for easy scores and trailed 30-24 at the end of three quarters.
In the final stanza Greenville was able to tie the score 30-30 on a Mac Fiely goal inside at the 6:27 mark and it appeared Tri-Village was running out of steam defensively.
With the Patriots struggling to get the ball inside against the larger Greenville team Senior Kendall Stutz again jump started the PATS with two straight drives to the hole for scores. The margin was just enough for the Patriots to run some ball control offense while trying to shorten the game by keeping the clock running. The strategy forced Greenville to foul and the Patriots were able to take advantage with Tyler Greer and Kendall Stutz sinking free throws down the stretch and the Patriots pulled away for a 44-35 win.
“Wow, it you would have told me we only had three players score in the contest and won I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Josh Sagester. “This was a fitting ending for our seniors who really played well tonight and earned this win.” “Although some of them didn’t score they all contributed big in other ways to earn this win.” “After losing two straight games to Miami East and Franklin Monroe I was beginning to wonder if we even had a pulse… but our seniors showed their toughness tonight.”
Kendall Stutz led the PATS with 22 points and Ryan Buck added 12 while Tyler Greer chipped in 10 points on the night. Logan Brubaker dished out 4 assists with David Barger and Buck both pulling down 10 rebounds.
Tri-Village improves to 14-5 on the season and 8-3 in conference play. Tri-Village is back in action to complete the regular season on Friday at Bradford.
In the Junior Varsity contest the Patriots won in double overtime 56-55 on a Troy Pearson free throw with 7 seconds to play. They improved to 17-2 on the season.
Scoring by Quarters:
Tri-Village 15 10 05 14 - 44
Greenville 08 06 10 11 – 35
Tri-Village
Barger 0
Brubaker 0
Buck 12
Evans 0
Fisherback 0
Greer 10
Stutz 22
Totals 44
Greenville
Warren 2
Marker 2
Guillozet 8
Boyer 8
Cox 0
Lockhart 4
Fiely 4
Totals 35
Three Pointers:
Tri-Village – 5 (Stutz – 3, Greer – 2)
Greenville – 1 (Lockhart – 1)
Free Throws:
Tri-Village – 9/14
Greenville – 2/9
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| Senior Kendall Stutz rose to the occasion on Senior Nights pouring in 22 points. |
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