Sagester said the team got off to a fast start because of their defensive intensity. From L to R: Dalton Delong, Tanner Printz, Wilson Suggs and Justin Finkbine.
Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
By Drew Terhall
DailyAdvocate.com
NEW MADISON — The Tri-Village High School boys basketball team started hot and didn’t look back against Franklin Monroe High School. The Patriots defeated the Jets, 70-15, at home on Jan. 13.
Tri-Village head coach Josh Sagester said they had problems with starting games off on the right foot so far this season. This was not one of those games.
“We set the tone defensively. I thought we were athletic and we were aggressive. To use Kirby Smart’s language, we were hunting tonight. We have to get back to that aggressive defensive pressure that I thought was good for us tonight and was able to get us in the offensive flow,” Sagester said.
Franklin Monroe were down a few players and will be without some of them for the rest of the season. Sophomore and leading scorer for the Jets EB Fall and seniors Cason Yount and Lukus Miller did not play in this game. Fall will have to sit out the rest of the season due to transfer rules.
From the start of the game, the Patriots had an advantage over the Jets with their height. Seniors Justin Finkbine and Camden Cook combined for 14 first quarter points. They were able to get to the rim and finish with ease.
From there, the offense opened up more. Like Sagester said, the defensive pressure gave the Patriots some easy buckets during the first half. In their half-court offense, the Patriots were able to convert offensive rebounds into points.
Franklin Monroe couldn’t get things going offensively. At first, they had trouble with the press. Then, they just couldn’t get an open look. The Patriots were flying around the whole game.
At halftime, the Patriots were up 46-6. To start the second half, Sagester did play his starters and rotated his key bench players in and out for the third quarter. He said it’s a hard thing to balance playing time in situations like this.
The team is already up big, but the players do need to keep getting shots up and stay in playing shape. The Patriots do have a week off coming up. Even with the heavy rotation during the third quarter, Sagester was proud of how his team handled it.
“Some of these things are difficult to manage, but I thought our kids handled it really well,” Sagester said.
For the Jets, they seemed to show glimpses of getting into a rhythm offensively without some of their key teammates. Franklin Monroe is still a young and inexperienced group. The Jets competed hard and did all they could. The size and athleticism of Tri-Village got the best of them.
For Franklin Monroe, sophomore Ty Riffle led the team in points with six. For Tri-Village, Finkbine led the team with 19 points. Seniors Dalton Delong and Logan Call had 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Franklin Monroe will have more chances to gain some much needed experience with upcoming games against Milton Union on Jan. 14 and at Emmanuel Christian on Jan. 18. The Jets are 4-8 with a 2-6 conference record.
Tri-Village is now 10-3 with a 7-0 conference record. They will wait a week until they travel to Bradford on Jan. 20 for another WOAC matchup.
Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]
