Tri-Village Sinks Skins!
By Jeff Higley – Palladium-Item
FAIRBORN, Ohio – Tri-Village needed a good start and got one. Tri-Village needed a solid game and got one. Now the second-ranked Patriots need one more win and they’re in the final four.
T-V used some hot shooting, including a pair of three-pointers to open the game, to sideline Fort Loramie 76-71 in Division IV, Region 16 action Thursday at the Nutter Center. The Patriots play Lockland, a 59-46 winner of Hannan Trace Thursday, in Saturday’s regional championship game at 12:30.
The winner of that game advances to the state finals next Thursday against the winner at Zanesville – most likely third ranked Columbus Wehrle. Thursday, it was 63 percent shooting (24 of 38) that carried Tri-Village to its 25th straight win without a loss.
Fort Loramie, on the other hand, hit just 39 percent (25 of 64) and ended its season with a 19-5 record.
Scoob Cook, appearing to be fully recovered from a late-season ankle injury, led Tri-Village with 20 points while Dirk Lewis added 16, Shane Bietry 13 and Lee Brandon 10. Lewis added nine rebounds and Cook had eight.
Mitch Middenford, Chad Gasson and Jason Boerger, who had 13 points each, paced Fort Loramie. Scott Schwartz, the Skins’ leading scorer at about 20ppg, was hampered by the flu and held to 11 points.
“We missed some easy shots and they hit some big shots,” Fort Loramie coach Dan Hegemier said.
The early highlights were back-to-back three-pointers by Nate Lindamood and Cook.
It’s expected that Lindamood comes out and hits one – he has hit 52 three-pointers this season. But Cook is a different story – he is now two of three on the year.
Some reactions: “I guess he just felt it,” Tri-Village coach Lee Falknor said. “It was one of those nights wasn’t it?” Hegemeir added. “I was elated, so happy, “ T-V guard Lewis said. “After he hit it I could have done cartwheels. When your center starts hitting those, you know things are going well.”
And from the big man himself: “Me and Shane (Bietry) were talking about it today when we were shooting around in practice. I told him I was going to take one if I was open. I just felt pretty good.”
It must have rubbed off – Bietry was three-for-three from beyond the arc. Cook’s three-pointer gave the Patriots a 6-0 lead – one they would never relinquish.
After Fort Loramie closed it to 6-4, the Patriots went on a 9-0 scoring spree to go up 15-3 when Randy Ward hit a double-pump shot in traffic with 1:20 left in the quarter.
Ward added two free throws with: 24 seconds left to give the Patriots a 17-8 lead after the first quarter.
“They were quicker than I thought,” said Hegemier, who guided the Redskins to a state championship in 1988. “They’re very strong with the ball in their hands and they just play great defense.”
“Our defense is a little underrated,” Falknor said. “You win the big games with defense and that’s what we did tonight. “Our game plan was to use the zone press and zone and then go to man-to-man to change their rhythm and tempo. In the first half, it worked.”
Tri-Village maintained a 10-point lead through most of the second quarter and the Patriots’ spirits were soaring when Lewis nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to give them a 35-24 halftime edge.
The Patriots then poured it on in the third quarter when they opened up a 16-point lead. Cook scored 10 of his points in the third quarter as the Patriots led 54-38 heading into the fourth frame.
Things looked comfortable for the Patriots as they had a 64-47 lead with 4:10 left. But Fort Loramie refused to die and came storming back by forcing the Patriots into turnovers after turnover. In all, T-V committed nine fourth quarter turnovers as the Redskins made it a game.
But each time Fort Loramie would get within striking distance the Patriots would answer with free throws. Tri-Village hit 14 of 15 freebies in the fourth quarter – and 22 of 27 overall – to nail down the win.
“That’s typical of our team in a pressure situation,” Falknor said. “I didn’t expect us to be able to pull away from them like we did then they really started scrapping and we just didn’t handle the ball. But we hit the free throws.
Scoring by Quarters
Tri-Village 17 18 19 22 – 76
Fort Loramie 8 17 13 33 – 71
Tri-Village
Lindamood - 8
Brandon - 8
Ward - 9
Cook - 20
Bietry - 13
Lewis - 16
Fisherback - 0
Totals - 76
Fort Loramie
Middendorf - 13
Gasson - 13
Winner - 10
Boerger - 13
Schwartz - 11
Meyer - 9
Sanders - 2
Totals - 71
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