
NEW MADISON – The final two undefeated teams Franklin Monroe (13-2, 7-0) and Tri-Village 12-2, 7-0 battled it out for the top spot in the league Friday night. Tri-Village on a spurt in the 2nd quarter enjoyed a 7-point halftime lead, 18 by the end of the 3rd and finished the game 70-47 claiming sole possession of 1stplace in the WOAC.
Prior to the game Tri-Village inducted three former Patriot basketball players into the Athletic Hall of Fame, the 2024-25 inductees were 2011 graduate Drew Moore and 2015 graduates Damion Cook and Colton Linkous, both members of the 2015 State Championship Team.

After the induction the packed “PAC” filled to capacity was ready for the main event and the first quarter delivered high energy with both teams defenses taking center stage.
Franklin Monroe grabbed the lead 5-3 early on a trey from Brandt Filbrun … but the Patriots went on a seven-point run starting with a Dom Black score in the paint, followed by a Noah Finkbine score on a goal tend lay-up and Griffin Richards rained in a triple for a 10-5 lead.
Jets senior EB Fall connected long range at 1:25 to end a four-minute scoring drought to close the gap to 10-8. Senior Eric Brenner, who just came back after missing 6 games with his left hand heavily bandaged, added a free throw to make it 10-9.

Eric Brenner missed six games with a broken left hand but taped it up and played at the Patriots. He is the Jets leading scorer at 16 ppg and led the FM with 13 on the night. (Dale Barger photo)
Patriots Brecken Gray hit a corner three-ball and FM senior Ty Riffle added a free throw to end the 1stquarter with TV leading 13-11.
The Jets’ Fall tied the game for the 3rd time starting the 2nd period on a drive to the hoop.
Gray hit a 12’ short corner jumper and back-to-back old-fashion three-point plays by Dom Black and Gavin Richard shot the PATS in front 21-13. Richards scored again on drive giving TV a 10-point lead 23-13 with four minutes to play in 2nd quarter.

Defensively Franklin Monroe made it difficult for leading scorer Trey Sagester to break free or get anything easy, he ended the 1st half with just two free throws, but the rest of the team contributed to the Patriots 25-18 lead at the break.
The Jets continued to ball hawk Sagester in the 3rd frame with EB Fall blocking his shot numerous time … but the junior guard continued to battle erupting for 15 points despite the incredible pressure put on him.

Sagester got help with two triples from Griffin Richards and five straight points from Kasyn Hollinger that blew the game open with TV holding a 51-31 advantage heading into the final stanza.
There would be no comeback for the Jets in the final frame with the Patriots closing it out at the free throw line shooting 24-for-30 in the game, 13-for-18 in the final frame to win the game 70-47.
After the game Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester talked about the keys to the game and defense was a big part of it.
“Our defensive effort was second to none tonight, defensively we worked really hard to try to take away some kids and sets they do very well. Kasyn Hollinger was outstanding defensively. Griffin Richards and Noah Finkbine were “Three Star Wars” defensively. Hayden hunt came in gave us some minutes defensively. Brecken came in with spy action, and all those guys did a great job,” Sagester praised.

Offensively Sagester was pleased with the contributions from guys stepping up in the first half with the Jets doing a good job on Trey defensively.
“Obviously the making of a good basketball team is when your main guy is struggling a little bit and other guys pick him up and that what they did in the first half,” Sagester said.
“I felt pretty good once he saw the ball go through he would start stringing a few together … but Griff hit some big shots in the first half, Brecken knock a couple shot down and Dom was a load. So those guys did a good job in the first half and of course we know how Trey did in the 2nd half,” Sagester added.

“We have a lot of youth out there, inexperienced guys, but they rose to the occasion tonight. I don’t know we didn’t do that last Sunday against Russia, and it was a good learning experience about how hard you got to play and compete for two halves, not just one,” Sagester concluded.
With the win the Patriots now control their own destiny in the WOAC with three league games remaining against Bradford, Twin Valley South and the final WOAC game at 6-1 Preble Shawnee.
Tri-Village had four guys in double figures led by Sagester with 25, Richards 13, Finkbine and Black 11 points each. The Patriots improved to 13-2 overall and 8-0 in WOAC play and they travel to Bradford on Friday January 31st.

FM Senior EB Fall gets this lay-up to go, he had 11 points and 6 blocks for the Jets. (Dale Barger photo)
Franklin Monroe was led by Eric Brenner with 13 points and EB Fall had 11 points and 6 blocks. The Jets fall to 14-3 overall, 7-1 in WOAC and will host cross town rival Arcanum next Friday January 31st
Score by Quarters
FM 11 … 07 … 13 … 16 – 47
TV 13 … 12 … 24 … 21 – 70
Team Scoring:
FM: Lucas Brenner 2-1-0/0 – 8, Ty Riffle 0-0-2/2 – 2, Eric Brenner 2-0-7/8 – 13,
Brandt Filbrun 1-0-0/0 – 3, Blake Riffle 1-0-0/0 – 3, Trey Wilson 0-1-0/0 – 2,
Ben Denlinger 1-0-2/2 – 5, EB Fall 1-2-4/8 – 11; Totals 8-6-15/20 – 47
TV: Dom Black 0-4-3/5 – 11, Trey Sagester 3-2-12/12 – 25, Griffin Richards 3-1-2/3 – 13, Noah Finkbine 0-3-5/8 – 11, Brecken Gray 1-1-0/0 – 5, Kasyn Hollinger 1-0-2/2 – 5;
Totals 8-11-24-30 – 70
Team Game Stats:
FM – FG% 12/35 – 34% FT% 15-20 – 75% O REB – 3, D REB 13 AST 08 STL 03 TO 14
TV – FG% 19/39 – 49% FT% 24-30 – 80% O REB – 5, D REB 17 AST 13 STL 10 TO 07
