NEW MADISON – Tri-Village on the strength of a solid first half took a 28-13 lead on Troy Christian which was enough for them to hold off a late surge by the Eagles to win the Patriot Holiday Classic Tournament for the 3rd time.
The Patriot Holiday Classic hosted by Tri-Village started in 2014 with the host team winning the first two years. But over the last 4 years Cincinnati Mariemont and Eaton have won once and Ansonia twice as Tri-Village broke the 4 year title drought.
The Patriots defense was again key in setting the tone for the contest with a full court trap creating some easy buckets early while keeping Troy Christian from getting into any sort of rhythm on offense.
The press led to one attempted dunk by Layne Sarver over the top of a Troy Christian defender and moments later a two handed slam on the baseline as the Patriots went up 4-2 early.
Tri-Village took an 11-5 first quarter lead with Josh Scantland and Sarver each scoring 4 points along with a triple by Dalton Delong.
Delong connected on two more triples in the 2nd quarter scoring 11 points in the first half along with Layne Sarver adding 10 as the Patriots took the 28-13 lead at the break.
Tri-Village came out strong in the 2nd half, mainly behind the play of Sarver who scored 8 of the 10 points in the frame. Sarver helped the Patriots build a 38-22 lead by the end of the 3rd quarter.
The Patriot offense sputtered somewhat in the final stanza scoring just 4 points while the Eagles scored 9 the most in the game for one quarter … but it wasn’t enough to catch TV who went on to claim the Tournament Championship with the 42-31 win.
Layne Sarver scored 40 points in the two game tourney and for that was named MVP of the Patriot Holiday Classic. TV’s Dalton Delong and Josh Scantland both were named to the All-Tournament Team. Joining them on the team were Ben Major and Alex Free from Troy Christian and Isaac Barga from Ansonia.
The Tri-Village junior varsity boys also won the Holiday Classic tournament with a 63-36 win and remains undefeated like the varsity boys both at 9-0 on the year. The boys will host Mississinawa Valley on Tuesday January 5th.
Ansonia won the consolation game over Eaton by the score of 42-34 with Reece Stammen scoring 13 points and Isaac Barga 11. Ansonia improves to 5-4 on the season and will host Franklin Monroe on Tuesday January 5th.
Box Scores:
Score by Quarters:
TC: 05 … 08 … 09 … 09 – 31
TV: 11 … 17 … 10 … 04 – 42
Team Scoring:
TC: Dohme 3, Penrod 10, Major 8, Martin 3, Frye 4, Werkmeister 3; Totals 4-7-5/8 – 31
TV: Delong 11, Scantland 7, Sarver 20, Finkbine 4; Totals 3-13-7/9 – 42
