NEW MADISON – Tri-Village hosted National Trail in Cross County Conference boys basketball Friday night and came away with a 69-36 win.
National Trail got on the board first from its post player Dalton Mason with a left-handed fade on the left block at the 6:50 mark.
Tri-Village got off to a slow start offensively and finally got on the board with a fielder inside from Trace Couch. The Patriots would go ahead with a 15-foot jumper from Knox Morris at 4:58.
The Blazers started out in a triangle and two, working on slowing down guards Gavin Richards and Tyler VanWinkle.
Rather than get frustrated with the defense, VanWinkle embraced it as he went to work intent on distributing the basketball. Before the first quarter was over Tri-Village big man Couch would have 13 points with many of them a direct assist from VanWinkle as the Patriots went up 19-7.
Brett Boyter also would knock down two triples in the first quarter.
In the second quarter Couch would add six points, Boyter and Richards four points each and Jonny Wilson two as the Patriot expanded their lead to 35-18 at the half.
Trail scored 11 points in the quarter off a triple from Peyton Harrison, his second on the night, and one from Jacob Hurd as well … but the Blazers couldn’t keep pace.
After the break the PATS went back inside to the post, and the Blazers simply couldn’t find a way to slow down Couch, who added another 10 points to his tally. He would end the game with 29 total.
“We shared the ball well and did a nice job of finding Trace tonight. Our guards did a nice job of putting him in a situation where he would be successful and he could finish,” Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester said.
VanWinkle led the way in the category of sharing the ball, as the senior point guard dropped 13 dimes in the contest.
“He’s special. Tyler is really good with the basketball,” Sagester said.
The Blazers for the most part handled the pressure Tri-Village threw at them … but they weren’t able to get many uncontested shots, scoring 11 team points in the third quarter and trailing at 56-29.
In the final stanza the Patriots won it 13-7 on their way to a 69-36 CCC win.
“Defensively we were OK at times. It seems like we went through the motions in the first half … but I thought in the second half we kicked it up another notch,” Sagester said.
National Trail got eight points each from Harrison and Mason to lead the way. The Blazers fell to 3-11 overall and 1-6 in the conference and host Dixie tonight.
Couch led the PATS with 29 points, Boyer and Richards each added 10 points, and VanWinkle had 13 assists in the win.
The Patriots improved to 14-1 overall and 8-0 in the CCC and will travel to Winchester, Indiana, today.
Tri-Village’s junior varsity team won by the score of 48-26 and was led Jared Buckley with 17 points and Dylan Pope with 10.
Box score:
Score by quarters:
Tri-Village…….19…16…21…13 – 69
National Trail…07…11…11…07 – 36
Individual scores:
Tri-Village (14-1, 8-0)
Knox Morris 4, Tyler VanWinkle 5, Jonny Wilson 4, Brett Boyter 10, Gavin Richards 10, Dillon McCullough 3, Trace Couch 29 – Totals 4-28-1/4 – 69
National Trail (3-11, 1-6)
Jacob Hurd 6, Peyton Harrison 8, Thompson 5, Dylan Haas 3, Weston Haws 4, Kaleb Deardorff 2, Dalton Mason 8 – Totals 4-11-2/6 – 56
3-pointers:
TV – 4 (Boyter 2, VanWinkle 1, McCullough 1)
NT – 4 (Hurd 2, Harrison 2)
