By Kurt Kuster – Palladium-Item
WEST ALEXANDRIA, Ohio – Unbeaten Tri-Village added Twin Valley South to its hit list Friday as the Patriots held off a late Panther charge to claim a 77-64 Cross County Conference victory.
The Patriots, who raised their record to 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the CCC, now own a 33-game regular season winning streak. TVS slips to 5-4 and 1-3.
Shane Bietry and Nate Lindamood led the Patriots with 19 points apiece while Randy Ward followed up with 17. Scoob Cook, averaging nearly 18 points per outing going into the game, was held to just six points.
The Patriots looked to be on their way to another easy win as they opened the game with a 17-2 run, capped by a Bietry bucket midway through the period. South battled back to close the gap to 22-12 to end the first quarter.
“We started out poorly on defense,” South coach Tony Augspurger said. “After that, outside of few stretches, I thought we did some nice things on defense.”
One thing the Panthers did all night was battle. “You’ve got to give Twin Valley South a lot of credit,” said Tri-Village coach Lee Falknor. “We got up on them 20 (points) and that’s a point in time when a team can quit a little bit mentally or physically and let you go ahead and rock over them. They kept coming back, they kept hustling and kept up the pressure.”
Hints of that pressure came in the second quarter. The Panthers closed to within 26-20 when Gates hit a three-pointer, but the Patriots finished the half with an 11-4 scoring spurt that gave them a 37-24-intermission lead.
Tri-Village raced out to a 52-33 lead midway through the third quarter, but again South pulled its way back into the game.
The Panther put together a 13-5 run to start the final frame, Dustin Meyers capped the run by hitting the second of two free throws and the Patriots led 62-55 halfway through the quarter.
“I thought that in the fourth quarter when they (TVS) got it down to seven or six that Tri-Village showed a lot of character,” said Falknor. “We went back after them harder.”
From that point on the Patriots took control, outscoring South 17-9 in the final four minutes and going nine-for-10 at the free throw line to close out the game.
Scoring
Tri-Village…………..22….15……20…..20 – 77
Twin Valley South…12…..12……16…..24 – 64
Tri-Village
Bietry - 19
Lewis - 9
Ward - 17
Fisherback - 2
Brandon - 5
Lindamood - 19
Cook - 6
Totals - 77
Twin Valley South
Stacy - 4
Gates - 20
Creech - 2
Meyers - 7
Fudge - 11
Chad Creech - 14
Planck - 4
Winfield - 2
Totals - 64
|
|
|
|
| 1990-91 State Runner-up 27-1 |
|
|
Untitled Page
|
|
