NEW MADISON – It was a tough weekend for the Tri-Village boys basketball team coming off a 1-point loss to Covington on Friday night and then taking on Tecumseh Saturday looking to get back on track. After going down 19-points in the fourth quarter they battled back to take a 1-point lead only to lose the game on a tip in at the buzzer by 1-point.
If you are a fan of defense then the game against Tecumseh wasn’t one to watch, however if you are a fan of getting up and down the court that’s exactly what transpired between Tri-Village and the Arrows.
In the opening quarter Tecumseh raced out to a 24-15 first quarter lead. Freshman guard Dalton Delong scored 9 of the Patriots 15-points trying to keep pace.
It was a total reversal in the second period as both Delong and Wilson Suggs attacked the basket. Suggs scored 9-points and Delong 6 along with Ty Linkous putting in 6 as well. Layne Sarver scored just 2-points in the first half sitting due to foul trouble.
The Patriots scored 22-points in the quarter while only giving up 11 to take a halftime lead 37-35.
The third quarter was a flip flop of the second only this time it was Tecumseh coming up bit with 27-points while the PATS scored just 13 with Sarver scoring 7 and Josh Scantland the other 6 but now trailing 62-50 heading into the final stanza.
Tecumseh would extend their lead in the fourth quarter and also see Lewis score his 1,000th career point and he would end with 28-points on the night.
Tecumseh then extended their lead to 19 with about four minutes left to go in the game … and just when you thought the outcome of the game was all decided … well it wasn’t.
The mystique of the Battleground over the years has seen the home team come back from as many as 20-points in the fourth quarter and one of the more memorable games was against Bethel back in 2015.
Tri-Village would charge back and score 35-points in the fourth frame with Layne Sarver scoring 16 of the 35-points including a one handed jam as the Battleground came to life.
When Delong scored on a runner with 25 second left the Patriots held an 85-84 lead. Tecumseh would hold the ball for the last shot and missed a short corner jumper but an Arrow was on the backside all alone and was able to tip it in at the buzzer breaking the hearts of the home crowd.
Tri-Village was led by Layne Sarver with 25 points, Dalton Delong had 21 and Wilson Suggs 18 in the loss. The Patriots fell to 11-10 overall. They are 7-4 in the conference have one regular season and conference game remaining next Friday.
The Patriots drew the No. 3 seed in the Troy DIV Sectional where they will take on Springfield Catholic Central February 21st at 7:30pm.
Scoring Summary:
Score by Quarters:
TC … 24 … 11 … 27 … 24 – 86
TV … 15 … 22 … 13 … 35 – 85
Individual Scoring:
Tri-Village: Dalton Delong 21, Josh Scantland 8, Zach Dowler 4, Layne Sarver 25, Wilson Suggs 18, Ty Linkous 8, Dylan Finkbine 1
Tecumseh: Parker 8, Toops 8, Hale 9, Lewis 28, Dysenger 5, O’Connor 17, Berner 11
