PITSBURG – The Tri-Village Patriots set the tone early and never let up, rolling to a 58-15 Western Ohio Athletic Conference road victory over the home-standing Franklin Monroe Jets Friday night.
Tri-Village raced out to an 18-1 first-quarter lead and carried a commanding 39-5 advantage into the halftime break, using pressure defense to disrupt Franklin Monroe’s offensive rhythm and turn turnovers into points.
“Our kids found the rhythm and got off early and kind of coasted from there,” said Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester, an OHSAA boys state championship coach. “Franklin Monroe is a good team, had one loss coming in (6-1 WOAC). They’re going to win a lot of games.”
The defensive-minded Patriots bolted to an 18-0 lead in the opening six minutes before Franklin Monroe got on the board with a free throw at the 1:33 mark of the first period. Trey Sagester paced the opening-quarter scoring with seven points, including a 3-pointer, while Brecken Gray knocked down two of his eventual six triples on the night and Griffin Richards added five points, including a trey.
“Our defense obviously set the tone early,” Sagester noted. “We were very active, as active as we’ve been in our press in some time now. Tonight we were able to turn some turnovers into some baskets early and get into the flow of the game.”
Franklin Monroe struggled to settle into any offensive rhythm against the constant pressure.
“We just did not control offensively any kind of rhythm, any kind of delay game, anything from the very git-go,” said Franklin Monroe coach Troy Myers. “We were getting turnovers for touchdowns, and that is not a recipe for anything.”
Tri-Village continued to pour it on in the second quarter, pushing the lead to 29-1 and forcing a Franklin Monroe timeout with 5:03 remaining. The Patriots outscored the Jets 21-4 in the period to head into the break up 39-5. Gray added eight second-quarter points with two more triples, Sagester chipped in seven points including a 3-pointer, and Dom Black, Hayden Hunt, and Kaysn Hollinger each added a basket.
“Brecken Gray played really well,” Sagester said. “Dom Black’s an elite passer, and he was able to find Brecken. Obviously, Brecken does what Brecken does, and that’s make open shots. He’s a real nice piece to the puzzle to have.”
With a running clock in play for the entire second half, Tri-Village maintained control. The Patriots edged the third quarter 7-5, led by five Gray points on a 3-pointer and a basket, taking a 46-10 lead into the final period.
Defensively, Tri-Village continued to lock in on Franklin Monroe’s top options.
“Noah Finkbine was a stalwart defensively for us, like he always is, on Riffle,” Sagester said. “He’s a really good player. Griffin was guarding Brenner — same thing, a really good player — so to hold those guys between them to eight points, that’s a yeoman’s job.”
Tri-Village closed out the night by winning the fourth quarter 12-5. Sagester scored five points in the period, including a 3-pointer, while Richards and Gray each drained another triple. Carson Bedinghaus added a free throw to round out the Patriots’ scoring in the lopsided win.
“Carson Bedinghaus came in and defended,” Sagester noted. “Kaysn Hollinger gave us good minutes off the bench, and Hayden Hunt’s the Energizer Bunny. All our guys got meaningful minutes tonight — we were pretty sound in our roles.”
Franklin Monroe, which entered the night with just one conference loss, was quick to credit the visitors.
“Tri-Village is a very complementary team — their positional skill is very complementary of one another, and it’s just overwhelming,” Myers said. “If you can’t control your side of the ball when you have it, they’re just going to overrun you, and that’s what happened.”
Tri-Village finished the night with 11 made 3-pointers, accounting for 33 of the Patriots’ 58 points.
“Coach Myers does a great job with his kids,” Sagester concluded. “He’s been here a long time, and the kids play really hard. His kids are always prepared, and tonight we were on point in a lot of different areas of the game. Sometimes that happens — if you make perimeter shots, it always looks a little bit better.”
BOX SCORE:
TRI-VILLAGE 58, TRI-VILLAGE 15
TRI-VILLAGE – B. Gray 22, T. Sagester 19, G. Richards 8, D. Black 4, H. Hunt 2, K. Hollinger 2, C. Bedinghaus 1 – TOTALS 11 3-6 11 58
FRANKLIN MONROE – L. Brenner 8, G. Myers 4, M. Skidmore 2, R. Brumbaugh 1 – TOTALS 3 3-6 2 15
3-POINTERS
Tri-Village 11 (B. Gray 6, T. Sagester 2, G. Richards 2, H. Hunt 1)
Franklin Monroe 2 (L. Brenner 1, G. Myers 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
18-21-07-12 58 Tri-Village
01-04-05-05 15 Franklin Monroe
