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| Kendall Stutz dropped in a big three with 1:09 to play to tie it at 44 and finished with 11 points to help the Patriots get a big win over Versailles. |
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Pitsburg, Ohio – December 28, 2007
The 45th Annual Jet Holiday Tournament commenced Friday night with Tri-Village the 4th place finisher last year taking on the reigning champs the Versailles Tigers.
In fact Versailles has won the tournament 6 straight years and over the last 15 years the Tigers had won an incredible 12 times. Tri-Village won 3 straight years in between to break the Versailles stronghold on the tournament.
Surprisingly neither team from Arcanum or host Franklin Monroe claim a championship in the last 15 years.
So it’s safe to say it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Versailles one more time in the championship game.
For a period of time the game appeared to be going Versailles way, as they were able to build a 17-8 first quarter advantage. Versailles was able to hit three trifectas by using a screener in the short corner to pick off the defender and to their credit knocked down the shots.
The Patriots got all 8 points in the paint, four by Ryan Buck and two each by David Barger and Kendall Stutz.
Tri-Village made a defensive adjustment in the second period going man-to-man which slowed the Tigers holding them to just 5 points while closing the gap.
In the period Drew Moore gave the Patriots a lift off the bench with two straight baskets a three-pointer and an elbow jumper to make it 17-13. The Patriots also got 4 points each from Ryan Buck and Tyler Greer sending them into the half trailing by just one 22-21.
After the game I asked Coach Sagester about his defensive adjustment. “I didn’t know if we could do it effectively, Versailles is an athletic and physical team… but we really played good man-to-man defense,” added Sagester.
In fact Tri-Village continued with solid man defense in the third quarter allowing just 8 points while scoring 14 of their own to take a 35 – 30 lead.
The Patriots changed up their offensive attack by spreading the floor and was able to get penetration and scoring from Stutz 6 points and Greer 4 points with Buck adding 4 inside as well.
In the final stanza Tri-Village opened up a 7 point lead their largest of the night… but in just a matter of minutes with just a few defensive lapses Versailles led by Bryant Ahrens five straight points tied it 37-37 with 6:00 minutes to play.
Over the next six minutes there would be eight lead changes or ties. With just 1:09 to play Versailles held a 44-41 advantage that is until Kendall Stutz stepped up and fired in a three to knot the score at 44.
“That shot was big, it was a senior stepping up and making a play,” said Sagester.
More heroics were to follow. The Tigers called a timeout and were able to execute an old-fashioned backdoor cut with Ian Nisonger finishing the shot and Versailles led 46-44.
On the next possession Tyler Greer was fouled and went to the line converting one of two tosses and TV trailed 45-46.
The Patriots were then forced to foul and sent Versailles to the line with just 5 seconds left to play. Almost nothing short of a miracle would help the PATS now.
The first miracle happened when Versailles missed the front-end of the one and one… the second miracle came when the Tigers were whistled for an over the back violation.
The foul sent Ryan Buck to the line with TV trailing by one with just 3.1 seconds left to play. Needing at least one to tie it Buck calmly swished the first then sent the second shot true as well… and Tri-Village was back in front 47-46.
Versailles then with one last hope drew iron from 35 feet… but it bounced off and Tri-Village ended the Tiger streak at the Jet Holiday Tournament.
“Those were big foul shots and Buck came up big, said an elated Coach Sagester. They (Versailles) have a great program and this is a good win for our program as well. Playing teams like that on our schedule is a measuring stick and validates our kids, their hard work and the progress we our making with our own program. I’m proud of our kids, we got a great effort from everyone, concluded Sagester.
Ryan Buck led the Patriots with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Tyler Greer and Kendall Stutz also reached double figures with 11 points each. David Barger and Tyler Greer both also dished out 4 assists each.
Tri-Village now stands at 6-2 on the season and will face Arcanum tomorrow night in the championship game at 8pm. Arcanum won another close game 52-50 over Franklin Monroe.
The Junior Varsity raised their record to 7-1 overall pulling out a 4-point win over Versailles and will play in the championship game tomorrow as well at 2:30pm.
Scoring by Quarters:
Tri-Village 08 13 14 11 – 47
Versailles 17 05 08 14 – 46
Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village (6-2, 4-1)
David Barger 02
Ryan Buck 18
Tyler Greer 11
Kendall Stutz 11
Drew Moore 05
Totals 47
Versailles (3-4)
Bryant Ahrens 13
Kevin Grieshop 04
Clayton Nieport 06
Ian Nisonger 09
Jon Richard 11
Brady Selhorst 03
Totals 46
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| Ryan Buck sank two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to play as TV beat Versailles 47-46. |
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