By Kurt Kuster – Palladium-Item
New Madison – Tri-Village High School
National Trail tried to do something no other team has done this year – beat Tri-Village.
The Blazers didn’t get the job done.
Tri-Village used a big second quarter to send Trail packing as the Patriots cruised to a 78-63 non-conference win and increased its regular season winning streak to 34 games in a contest that was sold out 20 minutes before the junior varsity game started.
The Patriots, 11-0, were led by Dirk Lewis’ game-high 23 points while Nate Lindamood finished with 21 and Scoob Cook put in 12. The Blazers (4-4) had three players in double figures with Travis Miller scoring 18 while Jamie Yount had 15 and Chad kemp finished with 10.
The Patriots pulled a surprise on Trail coach Stand Sanderson and the Blazers to the start the second quarter and, more or less, end the game as they outscored National Trail 19-9 in that period.
“The second quarter is what did it for us,” said Sanderson. “The score never really changed throughout the game after the second quarter. The one big thing I didn’t expect was for them to press the second quarter. All year they’ve pressed teams in the third quarter. I even wrote a note to myself to tell these kids at halftime to expect that press in the second half.”
The press worked, and worked all night, causing 13 National Trail turnovers in the first half as the Patriots went up 4-022 at the intermission.
“We’ve been pressing from the word go a lot of times,” Tri-Village coach Lee Falknor said.
Tri-Village never put together a lengthy point run but “slowly pecked away,” Sanderson said.
The second half rolled on like the first with the Patriots controlling the tempo.
“They’ve got it all,” said Sanderson. “They’ve got Cook who can go inside, and they’ve got three kids who shoot well from the outside. They shot the eyes out of it.”
The highlight of the night came in the third quarter as Cook dunked on an offensive rebound that could have made the NBA highlight film. Lindamood ended the quarter with a three-pointer and the score stood at 62-42 to start the final quarter.
The frustrations showed up early in the final frame as Trail’s Brian Waltz was called for a technical when he let officials Larry Anderson and Don Owens know his opinion.
From that point on the game was an exhibition in trading baskets as the Patriots finished out the game for the 78-63 final.
In the junior varsity match up the Patriots pulled out the win as they outscored Trail 11-to-eight in overtime.
Jason Baker led all scoring with 20 points. Mike VanWinkle finished with 11 for the Blazers.
Next Friday, Tri-Village visits Arcanum and National Trail travels to Mississinawa Valley.
Scoring by Quarters
Tri-Village 21 19 22 16 – 78
National Trail 13 9 20 21 – 63
Tri-Village
Lindamood - 21
Brandon - 7
Ward - 8
Cook - 12
Bietry - 7
Lewis - 23
Fisherback - 0
Totals - 78
National Trail
Miller - 18
Kemp - 10
Yount - 15
DeBoo - 6
Waltz - 5
Mason - 7
Totals - 63
Three Point Scoring
Tri-Village – 7-19 – Lindamood (3), Lewis (3), Bietry (1)
National Trail – 2-6 – Kemp (2)
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| 1990-91 State Runner-up 27-1 |
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