Tri-Village Matt Miller is shown here putting the clamp down on TV South Clint Spitler. It was a strong defensive effort by Tri-Village that help spur them to a victory.
12/16/08
West Alexandria, Ohio
Tri-Village traversed the icy roads to West Alexandria to take on Twin Valley South. The last two games TV has played at South they experienced ice cold shooting woes, was it irony an omen or both?
South came out in a box and one defensive scheme with the one denying Drew Moore the ball. This scheme was successful in that respect… but the box wasn’t effective enough covering Tyler Greer. Greer would knock down 2 of 4 three pointers for the game in the opening quarter along with one by Cody Gunckel that would give the Patriots a 14-8 lead.
On the other side Tri-Village opened up in a diamond and one defense with Heath West assigned to slow down sharp shooter Ryan Innis, while the point of the diamond defense led by Drew Moore tried to shut down the penetration of point guard Clint Spitler.
The defense was effective and forced other South players early on to step up and try to score as the PATS took away the two main offensive weapons in the opening period.
In fact Innis didn’t score his first basket until the 5-minute mark of the second quarter. Teammate Clint Spitler didn’t get a point until the 2-minute mark of the same frame.
Innis would score 7 points in the second period to help keep the Panthers in the game. However, he would be shut out the rest of the way.
TV South changed up their defense and went man to man in the second period allowing Drew Moore to work his magic matching Innis for 7 points in the second period to give the Patriots a 27-24 halftime lead.
At halftime the coaching staff of Tri-Village discussed the defensive situation and decided to go man to man in the second half. Early on it looked like that might not be a good decision as South grabbed the lead for the first and only time in the game 28-27 off a pair of Clint Spitler free throws with 5:20 play.
With the game looking like it might be slipping away, it was time for Senior Tyler Greer to step forward… and did he. Greer penetrated the lane and drew a foul along with the basket to regain the lead for Tri-Village 30-28.
On the next possession Coach Sagester had the Patriots hold the ball to try and pull TV South out of their Box and one defense. Coach Augsperger matched up man-to-man… and that led to another Greer drive to the basket for two and a foul giving the Patriots a 33-28 lead and control of the game. Greer would go on to tally 26 points on the night… but maybe the most impressive contribution was his defense as he locked up on Ryan Innis holding him scoreless in the second half.
With the lead Tri-Village used a ball control 3 man weave forcing South to foul early in the final quarter and Tri-Village finish out the game at the free throw line shooting 13-for-17 on the night and recorded a win 52-39.
“Defense and rebounding, that’s what we talked about as keys to this game,” said Coach Josh Sagester, after the game. We knew they were going to try and take away some of our offensive weapons and we also knew who their offensive weapons were to take away as well. Our diamond and one was effective in the first half and Heath West did a nice job early on in containing Ryan Innis.
“We thought we could match up with them man-to-man in the second half and Tyler Greer did an excellent job of his own in defending Innis. You know he was superb for us tonight scoring 26 points. He knocked down 4 – three pointers early on when they tried to take Drew Moore out of the equation. When they came out to guard him, he took it to the rim. Maybe people should be talking about him as a player of the year candidate. He is a four year players who plays a complete game and comes up big in key games,” added Sagester.
“This win feels good for me as it’s my first win here at South as a coach at Tri-Village and it’s always been a tough place to play. But tonight the ice outside and our past cold shooting in their gym didn’t stop us. We have beat two good teams so far this year in Arcanum and now Twin Valley South. Maybe it’s an omen, the last time we beat both teams in the same year we ended up playing Bethel for a conference championship…. I would love the opportunity for this team to do that again this year,” concluded Sagester.
Well the irony of it all, it was South who was ice cold tonight and I’m sure the bus ride home for the Patriots was warm, and let’s hope the omen is true…. only this time let’s hope the Patriots can find a way to bring home a conference championship.
The win for Tri-Village raises their record to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
In the JV contest the Patriots lost their first game of the season dropping to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
Score by Quarters:
Tri-Village….14….13….10….15 – 52
TV South…..08….16….04….11 – 39
Tri-Village (4-1 Overall, 3-0 CCC)
Heath West 0-0-3/4 – 3
Drew Moore 2-3-1/2 – 13
Tyler Greer 4-4-6/7 – 25
Matt Miller 0-2-3/4 – 7
Cody Gunckel 1-0-0/0 – 4
Totals: 7-9-13/17 – 52
TV South (1-3, 0-3 CCC)
Clint Spitler 3-0-2/2 - 11
Ryan Innis 1-1-2/2 – 7
Ryan Nisius 2-2-2/2 – 12
Jordan Combs 0-1-0/0 - 2
Levi Robbins 1-0-0/0 - 3
Eric Walker 0-1-2/3 - 4
Totals: 7-5-8/9 – 39
Drew Moore overcomes a slap to the head on his way to a lay-up and 13 points on the night.
Ty Greer came up big with 26 points to lead TV over South in a key league game 52-39.
