By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

DAYTON — The Tri-Village boys basketball team are once again District Champions. The one seed defeated seventh seed Summit Country Day, 49-46, in the OHSAA Division III Boys Basketball Southwest District Championship at University of Dayton Arena on March 5.

Head coach Josh Sagester said even when the team didn’t play well down the stretch, he is extremely proud of his team’s effort against a really good Silver Knights team.

“We talk about the most recent being the most special. Our kids played really hard tonight. We weren’t perfect in some areas and we didn’t do a phenomenal job down the stretch of closing it out defensively,” Sagester said. “But, we found a way. This team has been finding a way. We’re 24-2, we’ve won a few like that.”

The Patriots got off to a slow start in the game. They seemed surprised when SCD came out and pressed them early. That caused some early turnovers and gave the Silver Knights an early advantage.

By the end of the first quarter, Tri-Village settled in and sophomore Trey Sagester got into a rhythm. No matter what the Silver Knights defense was doing, Trey found a way to get open and knock down his shot. He had 13 points in the first half.

Once Tri-Village got the lead, they never gave it up. However, Summit Country Day kept close to Tri-Village.

The Silver Knights went on a 6-0 run to trail 23-22 entering halftime. They were one free throw make at the end of the quarter from tying the game.

But Tri-Villaga came out at halftime and extended their lead a little bit. Both teams struggled to score in the third quarter. Sagester said the athleticism and the length from SCD gave them problems offensively.

But whenever they needed to hold off the Silver Knights, the Patriots were able to find a way to get that much needed bucket to keep a comfortable lead.

“We continued to battle, continued to fight. We made some opportune plays when we needed them,” Sagester said.

Late in the fourth quarter, Tri-Village led 45-39. The defense continued to make life hard on SCD. Sagester said the team executed the defensive gameplan. They started to get a bit shaky in the last minute of the game.

SCD player L.J. Stocks was able to knock down the three and draw the foul. He drained the free throw to get a four-point play.

With about 50 seconds left, Tri-Village turned over the ball and gave it back to SCD. But, the defense stood tall and senior Tanner Printz found senior Reed Wehr wide open for a transition layup.

Sagester said Printz stepped up for them with his defense, ball handling and senior leadership along with his fellow seniors.

“Tanner is the heart and soul of what we’re trying to get done on both ends. He just keeps fighting. Got experience for us, got big game experience,” Sagester said.

But the Silver Knights didn’t go away. On the next possession, they drained another three. With 22 seconds left, Tri-Village only led 47-46.

Already in the bonus and after calling two timeouts, the Patriots were able to get the ball to Trey and have him go to the free throw line. He was the one to help push the Patriots past Waynesville in their last tournament game with four made free throws in the final seconds.

Sagester said he felt confident giving the ball to Trey late and having him go to the free throw line. With 11.9 left in the game, the Patriots held a three-point lead and were a defensive stop away from another District Championship.

SCD missed a contested three and didn’t have time to grab the offensive rebound and kick it out for another attempt.

Trey led with 28 points with four made threes. Printz chipped in 10 points and made two big free throws late in the game.

Sagester said the goal in March is to survive and advance, and this team has done that the last two games.

The stage is now set for a WOAC rematch. The Patriots will take on three seed Preble Shawnee in the Regional Semifinal on March 13 at 5:30 p.m. at Kettering Fairmont High School. Tri-Village lost 49-35 to Preble Shawnee at home on Feb. 16.

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