By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

CLAYTON — In the OHSAA Division III Boys Basketball Southwest Sectional, the one seed Tri-Village Patriots took care of business and defeated 20th seed Milton-Union, 82-40, on Feb. 20 at Northmont High School.

Head coach Josh Sagester said he likes to play in these early tournament games to get the tournament nerves out of his team’s system and get them some run in an unfamiliar gym. It was a successful first game for them.

“I thought our kids played really well tonight. We played really well in the first half. Maybe lost a little focus at times in the third quarter. Our second group came in, in the fourth quarter and played well. Overall, pretty good,” Sagester said.

It was a slow start for the Patriots as it was a 10-9 game with a few minutes left in the first quarter. The team then started to get into the flow of the game and ended the quarter on a 13-0 run.

The offense had some small slumps in the second quarter, but was overall efficient. Tri-Village moved the ball in the half-court and were able to get a good look each trip down the court.

Sagester said going up against Milton-Union’s 2-3 matchup defense is tough and not easy to prepare for. The team was going up against an unfamiliar defense.

But, Sagester said everyone on the team shared the ball well and found the open guy almost each time on offense.

Senior Tanner Printz capped off the second quarter with a just behind half-court buzzer beater to have the Patriots up 46-22 at halftime.

Sophomore Trey Sagester was rolling early with 20 first half points. He did cool down with only two points in the third quarter and didn’t play the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs found most of their success scoring by running in transition. At times, they were able to get down the floor quick and get behind the Patriots defense.

A few buckets here and there prevented Tri-Village from getting a running clock in the third quarter.

Tri-Village had the advantage when it was a half-court game. They were able to force turnovers and get out in transition. That helped slow down Milton-Union and force them to earn their points through the Tri-Village defense.

The reserves came in the fourth quarter and finished out the game.

Sagester said the team got contributions across the board. Everyone executed their roles to advance in the tournament.

Senior Jayden Hollinger had himself a night while not feeling 100%. He reached double-digit points for the second time this season and was cleaning the glass whenever he was in the game.

“He was active on the rim, on the backboard. Honestly, not feeling well. We were keeping an eye on him. Hopefully, he feels better after that performance. He gave us a great boost, great energy tonight in the post,” Sagester said.

Trey Sagester led the team with 22 points. Printz had 14 points and senior Braden Keating had 13 points. Hollinger finished with 10 points. As a team, the Patriots made 10 threes.

Tri-Village will wait a week until their next game. They will take on 21st seed Northwestern on Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. back at Northmont.

Sagester said one of the reasons they chose this bracket was to get a weeks rest if they got past their first round matchup. They did have to power through a quick turn around after playing two tough games over the weekend and then go through a quick turn around if they get past Northwestern.

But, that also means the Patriots’ opponent after a potential win over Northwestern would also mean they have one day to prepare for Tri-Village. Sagester said there is some strategy involved in picking the tournament spot, especially if they had the pick of the litter as the one seed.

But right now, Sagester said they will take it one game at a time and have his guys rested for the next game.

“I thought we might have looked a tad fatigued early. I thought we got our legs under us. We had a tough weekend. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we’re going to give them off tomorrow, shoot on Thursday and get back to work,” Sagester said.

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