By Don McDermott – Sports Editor Daily Advocate
It will be a Patriot-ic Division IV Regional
FAIRBORN – About the only person not surprised by the two big plays pulled off in the closing seconds by the Tri-Village High School boys’ basketball team in the final seconds was the Patriots’ coach, Lee Falknor.
“All season long, one boy or another has come up with the key play when we needed it,” said Falknor, minutes after the Patriots had stopped Houston 56-54 in one of three Dayton Division IV championship games played Monday in the Ervin J. Nutter Center on the Wright State University campus.
With the score tied at 52, Lee Brandon, Dirk Lewis, and Shane Bietry trapped a Houston guard at midcourt. The ball was tipped, bounced, and batted around before Lewis, tennis forearm-like, swatted it ahead toward the Tri-Village basket. Bietry, in full stride, knocked in the gimme and the Patriots led 54-52 with 0:32.4 seconds left.
Ryan Maier, the Wildcats’ 6-3 senior guards who along with his brother Joe had been a pain in the Patriots’ plan all night, drove the lane with reckless abandon to tie it at 54 with 15 seconds left.
On the inbounds play, Lewis got behind the Houston defense, took Lee Brandon’s outlet pass at midcourt, and drove to the key, from where he knocked in the winning basket from 10 feet with 0:07.1 seconds left.
Houston called a timeout, but the Wildcats’ got mixed up in their own end and turned the ball over as the clock hit 0:00.0 and the Patriots’ celebration of their first district basketball title ever began.
“Houston,” agreed Bietry, Brandon, and Lewis “is a tough, physical team.” “They play terrific defense,” said Lewis, a senior guard who finished with 12 points. “I felt confident about making that shot, but I’m glad it went in…I had made a couple of turnovers there at the end.”
“Houston moved the ball around and they weren’t selfish,” said Bietry. “Joe Maier was the key…they didn’t shoot well from outside, but he was hitting inside. And defensively, he was pushing Scoobie (Scoob Cook) out of the way.”
“They were a physical team…a very good team,” said Brandon, who didn’t have one of his better offensive games, but popped in four of five free throws to help keep Tri-Village in the lead when Houston was threatening.
Beating Houston (20-3) was no easy endeavor. The Patriots bore the bumps and bruises of a knockdown, drag-em-out game that had the 4,855 fans screaming from the beginning.
But beat the Wildcats they did, and now the Patriots, 24-0 and ranked No 2 in the final Associated Press Division IV ratings, are off to the Southwest Regionals.
Tri-Village will play Fort Loramie, 19-4, at 8 p.m. Thursday March 14, in the Nutter Center. Loramie outgunned Cincinnati Country Day 68-60 in the first game of the Monday tripleheader. In Game Two, Cincinnati Lockland stunned No. 4-ranked Yellow Springs 52-51.
“We’ve met another goal,” said Falknor, whose club has won 44 of its last 45 games. “We’re district champs, and that’s ground Tri-Village has never broken before.
“And I think winning this game was important for the kids. It has to make them more confident, more relaxed,” said Falknor. The Patriots hadn’t been impressive in beating Tipp City Bethel, South Charleston Southeastern, and Mississinawa Valley in the University of Dayton sectional. But they were outstanding against the Shelby County League power, which was a team on a mission.
In the 1990 regionals at Troy Hobart Arena, Houston lost to St. Henry in a game played on a court rendered dangerous by condensation, caused by the heat of the wooden floor and the ice it covered. The returning Wildcats figured they had something to prove.
But so did the Patriots, who led 16-14, 32-25 and 40-38 at the quarters, then extended their lead to 50-41 on Nate Lindamood’s basket with 6:17 left in the game. In that 10-3 eruption, the Patriots were 4-for-5 from the field, with Lindamood and Lewis knocking in 3-pointers, Bietry scoring off a Brandon pass, and Lindamood getting his basket after a steal.
But Joe Maier, a 6-4, 220-pound center whose name was ironically omitted from the district program, wouldn’t let the Wildcats go easily.
He sparked an 11-2 run that forced a 52-52 tie with 2:05 left. Houston, however, had run the gauntlet emotionally, and had little left to counteract the Patriots’ defensive pressure and clutch shots down the stretch.
“Houston is as good as we are,” said Faklnor. “They didn’t get the roll at the end of the game. But teams have to put themselves into position to win at the end, and we did.”
Rob Parin, who’s five 3-pointers and 22 points had lifted Houston past Botkins 62-52 in the Piqua sectional final, was limited to six points and went 0-for-3 from trey-land.
“The key was not letting their outside people get their fee set to shoot,” said Falknor. “In the first half, were were able to shut down the inside to the Maiers, but in the second half, they took over.”
Ryan Maier finished with 17 points, while Joe had 14. But the Wildcats were 0-for-7 from 3-point range. Tri-Village’s long-range shooters were 5-for-9, with Lindamood (18 points) hitting 2-for-3, Lewis (12 points) 2-for-4, and Bietry his only attempt. Scoob Cook added 10 points.
Tri-Village took only 34 shots from the floor, hitting 20 for a sensational 58.8 percent. Houston wasn’t off the pace too much, putting in 20 of 39 for 51.3 percent, and the Wildcats controlled the boards, grabbing 25 rebounds (to 15 for Tri-Village).
“We’re in the Sweet 16, and it feels great,” said Falknor. “In this game tonight, we showed a lot of character. We got the job done.”
Scoring by Quarters
Tri-Village 16 16 8 16 – 56
Houston 14 11 13 16 – 54
Tri-Village
Lindamood - 18
Brandon - 6
Ward - 3
Cook - 10
Bietry - 7
Lewis - 12
Fisherback - 0
Totals - 56
Houston
J. Maier - 14
Stang - 7
Parin - 6
R. Maier - 17
Schaffner - 10
Totals - 54
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