By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

CLAYTON — At this point in the tournament, it’s all about surviving and advancing. The one seed Tri-Village Patriots avoided the upset from 10th seed Waynesville in the OHSAA Division III Boys Basketball Southwest District semifinals as they won 45-43 at Northmont High School.

Head coach Josh Sagester said Waynesville is a really good and athletic team that kept fighting. When senior Tanner Printz fouled out with just over three minutes left in the game, there wasn’t a ton of experience on the floor.

“We didn’t do a great job of closing it out. Things got a little difficult. But, it is what it is. We got a lot of young guys on the floor tonight. We had a little foul trouble and our main ball handler didn’t play at all really in the second half. That takes us out of some things we wanted to do,” Sagester said.

The Patriots looked like they were going to cruise through this game early. They led 15-3 after the first quarter. The defense was shutting down Waynesville as the offense was finding their footing.

Sagester said the effort was there as the defensive success shows that. They just couldn’t deliever an early knockout blow with their offense.

“We were a couple shots away from blowing it open in the first quarter. We didn’t finish a couple around the rim, we didn’t make some perimeter shots we been accustomed to making. On defense, we were really good,” Sagester said. “Anytime you hold a team to 43 points, you think you’re going to win.”

Tri-Village led 25-14 at halftime. The offense started to stall out during the middle of the quarter. The Spartans went on a small run to get the game to single digits before Tri-Village responded to get back up 11 points.

The game got more physical as it went on. Both teams were hounding the ball handler and were forcing turnovers.

Both teams didn’t play clean basketball. Turnovers were an issue for both teams.

While only having one made field goal, the Patriots got to the free throw line 10 times in the third quarter and led 33-24 after the third quarter.

The tide started to turn in favor of the Spartans after Printz fouled out. All game long Waynesville was able to hang around. Sagester said good teams are going to make a run at some point in the game and Waynesville did when they couldn’t shut the door on them.

With 1:40 left in the game, the Spartans made a three to tie the game at 41-41. Sagester said he thought the team got a little fatigued towards the end of the game as they couldn’t get many perimeter shots to fall. They made zero threes in the second half.

With physicality comes the fouls. Both teams were in the bonus late in the game. Sophomore Trey Sagester got to the line four times in the last 45 seconds of the game and went 4 for 4.

After the first two, Waynesville went down the floor and tied it back up again. The last two Trey Sagester made came with about 6.1 seconds left. On the next possession, Tri-Village was called for a foul and that sent Waynesville to the free throw line with a chance to tie it.

Sagester said overall they did enough to get the win, but you do need a little luck to win. Both teams were lucky to get calls late to try and take a lead or tie the game from the line.

But, the Spartans couldn’t capitalize like the Patriots. They missed both free throws, but did get the ball back with 0.3 seconds left after Tri-Village was called for traveling.

The last second lob attempt was unsuccessful and Tri-Village moves on. Sagester said they were fortunate to get this win and now they have to set their focus on the next task ahead.

“Next game, big game. Doesn’t matter what happened now. We just got to come back and get better. We give them off tomorrow to try to get their legs back under them,” Sagester said.

Trey Sagester led with 24 points. Sophomore Noah Finkbine came up huge at times in the second half and had nine points.

Tri-Village will take on seventh seed Summit Country Day at UD Arena at the University of Dayton. The Patriots are familiar with that court as they have not only played their over the summer, but have made many trips over there the past few years during the tournament.

“We’ve been playing there the last three years. Hopefully, our kids are relaxed. It’s all about finding a way to win. I always say you win 23 games, you’re not going to be pretty every night. In the tournament, you got to have a little bit of luck,” Sagester said.

They will play on March 5 at 5:30 p.m.

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