NEW MADISON – Tri-Village came out and set the tone early in a Cross County Conference battle with Franklin Monroe, putting 25 points up while holding the Jets to just seven.
It was a game the Patriots were in complete control throughout on their way to an 89-53 win on Friday.
In the first quarter the Patriots were running the floor to precision with all five starters scoring including three players each scoring seven points, Gavin Richards, Tyler VanWinkle and Trace Couch.
The points were hard to come for Franklin Monroe, but senior Zach Hyre would score five points and Bradey Hesler two for the Jets.
“I thought Tyler VanWinkle was a tone setter tonight. On the very first possession even though he picked up a foul you knew he was there, and I thought all of our guys followed suit with his energy,” Tri-Village boys basketball coach Josh Sagester said on the start and tone the Patriots set for the game.
With the Patriots focused on slowing down Hyre, who had two points in the second frame, it would be freshman Ethan Conley who gave the Jets a boost, scoring six straight points to try and keep pace with the hot shooting PATS.
TV big man Couch worked the paint for eight points as the Patriots put up 19 points including a buzzer beater by Jonny Wilson off a sweet give from Richards to end the half up on the Jets 44-21.
Tri-Village held Hyre scoreless in the third period, and the Jets once again needed someone to step up. This time it was senior Hesler, who scored nine of his 16 points in the period, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the PATS.
TV showed good balance again with five players scoring including a nice alley-oop to Knox Morris as the Patriots took a commanding 64-35 lead.
In the final stanza Hyre went off, scoring 12 of his 24 points on the night … but the Patriots were raining treys, connecting on five of their 10 for the game to win it going away 89-53.
“Our kids our playing really hard, and they are really excited about getting on the floor,” Sagester said. “They have put a lot time into this, and they don’t want to waste any the 32 minutes in the game. Right now they are having fun and sharing the ball, and our cohesion and chemistry is getting better because of it.
“Defensively we played really well, and Trace Couch was very active on that end of the floor. He blocked or altered a lot of shots tonight,” Sagester said.
“Gavin Richards was really good all around for us tonight. He did a really good job on Zach Hyre the majority of the night. And we’ve talked about making his game more complete, and when he is able to pass and make someone better like the pass at the end of the half and score 23 points, well, it was a good all around game,” Sagester said.
“I thought Knox Morris gave us really good energy tonight, made some good passes and was good off the break and very active overall, and obviously Tyler VanWinkle was really good, too,” Sagester added.
“I’ve been pleased with our last two outings. It’s not where we want to be … but we keep making improvements and moving in the right direction,” Sagester concluded.
Four Patriots got double figure scoring, led by Couch with game-high honors of 25 points, Richards had 23, VanWinkle 18 and Morris added 10.
Franklin Monroe got 24 points from Hyre and 16 from Hesler.
It was a shootout in the junior varsity contest with Tri-Village winning it by the score of 65-55.
Tri-Village was led in the JV contest by Trey Frech with 28 points, Dylan Pope had 18 and Jared Buckley 10 points.
FM was led by Noah Koffer with 20 points and Parker Hesler added 15.
Both teams will be back in action on Tuesday with Franklin Monroe traveling to Newton and Tri-Village going to Bradford.
Box score:
Score by quarters:
TV….25…19…20…25 – 89
FM….07…14…14…18 – 53
Individual scores:
Tri-Village (4-1, 3-0)
Knox Morris 10, Tyler VanWinkle 18, Jonny Wilson 5, Brett Boyter 6, Gavin Richards 23, Brandon Peters 2, Trace Couch 25 – Totals 10-27-5/9 – 89
FM (2-3, 1-2)
Kyle Ressler 0, Landon Peters 2, Austin Brown 2, Zach Hyre 24, Cade McGlinch 3, Bradey Hesler 16, Ethan Conley 6 – Totals 7-7-8/12 – 53
3-pointers:
TV – 10 (Vanwinkle 4, Richards 3, Boyter 2, Wilson 1)
FM – 7 (Hyre 4, Hesler 4, McGlinch 1)
