NEW MADISON – The Tri-Village boys basketball team once again reign supreme at the top of the Cross County Conference by defeating once beaten Miami East 62-40 to win the CCC Title.
As the season has progressed so has the Patriots defense getting better and better, Friday night was no exception as TV opened up a 10 point advantage in the first quarter 16-6.
Miami East tried to make the lane ugly and battled hard but Josh Scantland scored 6 points in the paint and Layne Sarver 6 as well in the opening period.
But as most good teams do Miami East battled with Nick Prince finding distance on two triples and the Vikings matched TV’s 16 points in the 2nd quarter to keep the lead from growing at the half at 32-22.
Scantland and Sarver each had 10 points at the break.
The physicality of the game intensified in the 3rd quarter as East scrapped and clawed to get back into the game closing the gap to 7 points trailing 36-29 at the 5:05 mark.
But Wilson Suggs stole the ball, scored a lay-up, then knocked down a medium range jumper to help right the ship before Layne Sarver asserted his presence. Sarver scored 8 points including a backdoor dunk to energize the Patriots to go back up 45-33 heading into the final stanza.
East was never able to make a run after that as the defensive effort led by point guard Dalton Delong frustrated the Vikings. Delong was able to slow down leading scorer Jacob Roeth who only scored 4 points in the first quarter and was shut out the rest of the game.
Wilson Suggs led the PATS in the 4th quarter with 6 points as the PATS pulled away to earn the 62-40 victory to run their record to 20-0 on the year and remain undefeated in the conference at 11-0 with one league game left with Covington. Since no other teams in the CCC has less than two losses the win clinches the title for Tri-Village.
The Patriots were led by Layne Sarver with 23 points, Wilson Suggs 14 and Josh Scantland added 12 in the victory.
After the game TV coach Josh Sagester heaped praise all-around on his team’s effort.
“Defensively we were really good tonight especially on the perimeter both our guards Dalton Delong and Wilson Suggs did an outstanding job taking away things they wanted to do,” Sagester
“The job Dalton Delong did on Roeth was phenomenal tonight, it was a hard earned 4 and he came into the game averaging 17 ppg. He did a great job and set the tone for us on defense,” Sagester stated.
Wilson Suggs also had a fantastic game defending Nick Prince and he knocked down some big mid-range shots and hard baskets at the rim,” Sagester beamed.
Sagester continued his praise.
Josh Scantland battled well on the boards tonight, he had to since we were down most of the night without Justin Finkbine due to foul trouble. But ours guys stepped up and got the job done.”
“What a way to end our last game on our home floor by cutting down the nets to another CCC titles in the last year of the Cross County Conference,” Sagester concluded.
Just as the girls’ basketball program did so did the boys as the Cross County Conference disbands after this season they picked up their 12th CCC Championship giving them the most in the 42 year history of the league, Bethel finished in second place with 9 titles.
This championship marks the 6th title for Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester joining fellow Patriot coach Lee Falknor and TV South coach Tony Augpurger at the top, all tied with 6 Cross County Conference titles.
The Patriots continue their march to a perfect season after defeating Tecumseh Saturday night 51-35 with one regular season game remaining at Covington Friday night.
Box Scores
Score By Quarters
ME 06 … 16 … 11 … 07 – 40
TV 16 … 16 … 13 … 17 – 62
Team Scoring
ME: Zapadka 16, King 8, Prince 8, Abshire 4, Roeth 4; Totals 3-10-4/4 – 40
TV: Delong 5, Suggs 14, Scantland 12, Sarver 23, Finkbine 8; Totals 1-25-9/11 – 62
