Franklin Monroe was the latest victim. A capacity crowd came to The Hangar to watch a potential battle for first place in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference, but went home unsatisfied after Tri-Village stomped its way to a 58-15 win.
“We knew coming in it was gonna be a physical game and I thought for the first half it was [physical], but we came out and pressed them to get ahead early, got out in transition and I mean it was over before you knew it,” said senior Trey Sagester.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
It normally is a bit exaggerated to say games are over in the early minutes. In this case, it may have been an understatement.
Tri-Village (15-0, 8-0) scored the first 18 points of the game. Sophomore Brecken Gray hit a pair of three-pointers in the opening minute and that was enough to outscore Franklin Monroe for the entirety of the first half.
The Jets came in with a 9-3 overall record and were 6-1 in WOAC play. They quickly learned the class of the league — as well as one of the top Division VI teams in the state — were on a different level.
The full-court press applied by the Patriots completely stifled Franklin Monroe’s ability to bring the ball up the floor and caused more turnovers than shot attempts. A free throw by sophomore Grady Myers got FM on the scoreboard before the period ended, but it was the only time the ball went through the hoop before nearly 12 minutes went off the clock.
TV grew its lead to 29-1 midway through the second quarter as they continued to drain shots from beyond the arc. Franklin Monroe head coach Troy Myers called all but one of his timeouts to try and compose his players as the run grew, but they had no answer for handling the press.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
“Defensively we were very active in what we do, and we actually hadn’t been extremely active the last few games, but I thought tonight we had a lot of energy,” said Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester. “We were able to create some easy baskets early which I think got our guys in the flow of the game and from our physicality and our athleticism we were able to kind of impose our will in some areas tonight.”
Carrying a 39-5 advantage into halftime, Gray hit another three to begin the third quarter to begin a running clock for the remainder of the night.
While Trey Sagester is the engine opponents focus on — he scored 16 on Friday — Gray’s night is one of several examples this season that shows Tri-Village are not one-trick ponies. Gray had career-highs of 22 points and six 3-pointers.
“We were throwing to the post and they were doubling,” Trey Sagester said. “Dom [Black] was doing a great job finding the open guy and when they also were doubling off of [Gray] so he was open and the last couple games he’s been on. Hopefully he stays on.”
Three games remain in WOAC play for the Patriots, the culmination coming with a matchup at home against Preble Shawnee on Feb. 13 in what could be a defacto title game if both teams remain unbeaten in the league.
Tri-Village, which has already cruised in a pair of non-conference wins against D-I Fairmont and Central Buckeye Conference leader Jonathan Alder, still have a pair of games at Vandalia Butler and Troy to further test themselves as the final stretch of the season approaches.
The Patriots are averaging a margin of victory more than double than what they allow and have yet to win by l than double digits this season. That’s the effect of having their focus on each individual opponent, which Josh Sagester said comes from all of his players buying into the plan each night.
And it shows their best effort is bad news for their opponents.
“We don’t take anything or anybody for granted and I thought tonight we showed that,” he said.
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