By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

NEW MADISON — The Tri-Village High School boys basketball team defeated Eaton High School to win the Patriot Holiday Classic on Dec. 30, 54-39.

The win gave head coach Josh Sagester his 300th career win at Tri-Village. He said he wouldn’t have been able to reach that mark if it wasn’t for the players and the parents that have bought into what he is doing for this program.

“I’m real proud of our team tonight, proud of my teams I had and players I had in my program who have gone become a part of my life,” Sagester said. “It’s been a whirlwind, but 300 wins is an excellent mark. It’s attributed to good parents and good players.”

The Patriots started off hot in the first quarter, they led 19-10 after the opening quarter. Senior Dalton Delong had 11 points to get the Patriots offense going. Sagester said his team haven’t gotten off to great starts this season, but did tonight.

Then the Eagles took over in the second quarter. Eaton started to make some three pointers and found open lanes within the Patriots’ defense to drive to the hoop.

On top of that, Tri-Village struggled to get anything going on offense. They were out of sync and kept committing brutal turnovers. Sagester said Eaton’s athleticism and strength was a challenge for them in the second quarter.

Within the last minute of the game, Eaton took a 28-25 lead into halftime. The Patriots only had six points in the second quarter.

It was a back and forth third quarter. Both teams made plays to keep themselves in the game. In the end, the Patriots led 37-36. From that point on, it was all Tri-Village.

The defense started to string together turnovers and converted them into easy points.

After Delong went off in the first quarter, it was senior Wilson Suggs’ turn to get the offense going. After a scoreless first half, Suggs had 13 points in the second half. Eight of those points came in the third quarter.

Sagester said this team has the talent where everyone could lead them in scoring at any given time. He found the right guys at the right time in the final quarter to push them to a win.

“We have a lot of good players on the team. Some nights, it’s somebody else’s night. Sometimes a formula is working or sometime a rotation is working. We caught a spark in the fourth quarter and I stayed with that group,” Sagester said.

The one consistent scorer, who led the team in scoring this game, was senior Justin Finkbine. He had 15 points in the game.

“Justin does so many good things for us on the floor. He’s a warrior. He cleans the glass, finishes around the rim for us to give us a offense to defense presence,” Sagester said.

After the game, the All-Tournament team and Tournament MVP were announced. Suggs and freshman Trey Sagester were named to the tournament team. Delong was named the tournament MVP.

Tri-Village is now 7-2 on the season and will head to Columbus on Jan. 2 for the Harvest Prep Event.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]