By Tony Bleill – Palladium-Item – Richmond, Indiana
NEW MADISON, Ohio – When these Tri-Village Patriots really want to play, when they really want to get the job done, they can devastate opposing teams.
Tri-Village turned on the juice in the third quarter Saturday night and simply blew away interstate opponent Northeastern 94-64.
Tri-Village keeps its record spotless at 7-0 and its regular season winning streak now stands at 30 games. The Knights have dropped five of their last six and now stand 2-6.
The Patriots, who have six players averaging in double figures, put five in that column Saturday. Scoob Cook had game-highs of 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Nate Lindamood scored 19, Shane Bietry 16, Dirk Lewis 12 and Randy Ward 11.
They comprised an offensive attack that proved to be too difficult for Northeastern to match. The Patriots who are averaging nearly 30 points in the third period of their games this year, poured in 27 third-period points against Northeastern to spark the rout.
“We started playing harder, and the harder we play, the better we play,” said TV coach Lee Falknor. Had the Patriots not turned up the intensity a notch, they might have become a notch on the Knights’ belts. The game was tied at 33 with just two minutes remaining in the first half as Knight center Chris Cline scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the half.
“We may have played as well in the first half as we have all year,” said Northeastern boss Tom Zell.
T-V, however, scored the final four points of the half – the final two on Bietry’s steal and lay-up to take a 37-33 halftime lead. The quick flurry seemed to provide the Patriots’ with a much-needed spark.
“We slowed it down at the end (of the half) because we had a couple of kids in foul trouble,” said Zell, who had second-leading scorer Jim Cook on the bench with three fouls for most of the half. “But we never got organized in the semi-delay and it ended up in a couple of turnovers.”
A 21-2 blitz by the Patriots opened the second half and blew the game open. T-V hit eight of its first 12 shots in the third period.
Northeastern, meanwhile, misfired on five of its first six shots and committed eight turnovers. GAME OVER!
“We just started moving a little better on defense, Falknor said, and we got the ball out and ran a little bit.” “I don’t think we really overlooked them,” Falknor said, though not sounding too convincing, “…we just had a hard time getting started tonight.”
“I don’t think we too them lightly,” said Lindamood, who scored 16 of his 19 points after the break. “In the first half we kind of had the blahs.” T-V has had that problem often during the 1990 portion of the season. “Most of the teams we play are pumped up for us,” Lindamood said. “They all want to beat us and they play with us for awhile. But then I think our ability takes over and we’ve been able to pull away.”
T-V’s lead ballooned to as many as 34. The Patriots shot 20-for-33 (61 percent) in the second half.
“They’re and outstanding team,” observed Zell. “They’ve got great balance and they don’t have a weak player. That’s what makes them so difficult to defend. You can’t drop off on anybody (in order to) stop Cook inside or someone else outside.”
Saturday, T-V was an outstanding team with added incentive. The Indiana-Ohio bragging rights were on the line.
“(Falknor) talked about it being Indiana versus Ohio,” Lindamood said. “He said they would never let us live this one down if we lost.”
Scoring
Tri-Village……19……18……27…..30 – 94
Northeastern….19……14……10…..21 – 64
Tri-Village
Bietry - 16
Lewis - 12
Ward - 11
Fisherback - 7
Brandon - 6
Lindamood - 19
Cook - 21
Baker - 2
Totals - 94
Northeastern
Cook - 6
Hicks - 12
Fields - 2
Cline - 19
Sheets - 14
Ringley - 8
Rudd - 2
Miller - 1
Totals - 64
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| 1990-91 State Runner-up 27-1 |
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