By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

NEW LEBANON — The Tri-Village boys basketball team got back into the win column as they cruised to a 72-30 road win at Dixie on Jan. 12.

Head coach Josh Sagester said after feeling like they let one slip away at Belmont on Jan. 6, the team came out ready to go.

“Tonight, we came out really engaged and focused on the road after not having school today. I was proud of our efforts,” Sagester said.

The Patriots led 41-10 at halftime after scoring 23 points in the first quarter. Sophomore Trey Sagester had 14 points in the first quarter. Sagester said Trey has been shooting the ball well from all over the court and has been crafty in getting to the rim as teams are starting to try to not let him get to the foul line.

Tri-Village suffocated the Dixie offense. Dixie’s first points in the second quarter came at the 3:30 mark.

Sagester said senior Braden Keating did a great job taking away Dixie’s point guard and the rest of the team locked in defensively.

Senior Reed Wehr started the third quarter with a few steals that led to some points in transition. With the press or in the half court, the Patriots were playing sound defense.

The rebounding for the Patriots also showed up in a big way. Senior Jayden Hollinger and freshman Dom Black both controlled the boards and created some second chance opportunities offensively.

Sagester said both put their rebounding skills on display after the team didn’t rebound well against Belmont. Sagester believes they can be a more dangerous team if they can continue to rebound like they did in this game.

“Big difference for us on the glass than what we had on last Saturday night. If we can continue to do that, that’s really going to be a feather in our cap,” Sagester said.

After the third quarter, the Patriots were up 59-22 and maintained control of the game since the first quarter.

The bench players had the chance to come in and finish out the game. Sagester said the five guys at the end of the game played well and showed some good things.

Overall, Sagester said every one in this game showed what they were capable of and they will only get better from here.

Trey Sagester led the team with 27 points and three made three pointers. Black had 13 points and Wehr had 10 points.

Tri-Village will have an off day and then take on Marion Local at Fort Loramie at the third annual Fort Loramie MLK Classic.

Sagester said with the MaxPreps RPI determining the seeding for the postseason, these non-league games have become a bit more important.

“There’s no nights off, you got to take care of your non-league. Of course your league games (are important), but the non-league are really important because we think we got a really good non-league schedule. Hopefully, that will come to fruition and help us down the road,” Sagester said.

Tri-Village is currently seeded third in Division III Southwest North district. They are behind Indian Lake and Preble Shawnee. They will take on the Flyers at 3 p.m.

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