Linkous leads CCC in All State Selections

The Division III and IV All State selections were released today and Kayla Linkous, 5'11" sophomore from Tri-Village was name Division IV Third Team. Linkous helped the Patriots to a tie for second in the Cross County Conference and a Regional Runner Up trophy in the Division IV tournament.

In Division III, CCC Player of the Year, Morgan Miller of Miami East was an Honorable Mention selection. Miller led the league in scoring with 17.6 PPG as the Lady Vikings completed their 4th CCC Championship in a row.

In Division IV, Emily Ellerbrock of Bethel and Ashlyn Hemmelgarn of Ansonia were Honorable Mention selections.

Lady Patriots Advance to the Regionals

Well it took a District Final to get me away from my kids rec. basketball games to watch the Lady Patriots. What an exciting game as the Patriots won in OT to win their first District Championship in the long tradition of basketball at Tri-Village. You can read more about the game at tvpatriots.com

What a great crowd and atmosphere at that game. The folks from TV area and alumni throughout the area came into Tipp City to support the Patriots. The great TV Pep Band was there too and that was a great touch to add to the excitement.

The Lady Patriots will play at Springfield High School this Thursday against the Southeastern Trojans from South Charleston. It will be in the Trojans back yard since they are located in Clark County. I think they will meet their match since you know everybody from Patriot land will be there to support their team.

I'll be there to help Dale from tvpatriots to cover the game. Between one of the websites we'll give you all the details, so be sure to check back with us.

Good Luck to the Lady Patriots and to the Bethel Bees and Franklin Monroe Jets on the boys side as they play in the District Finals. Go Pats! Go CCC!

Score around the Tournament for CCC Teams

Girls Games

TV girls win a close one over Ansonia. Linkous fouls out early in the fourth and Shaye Thomas scored 11 for her 19 points in the 4th quarter for the Pats. They will play the 3 PM game on Saturday March 6th against the winner of the Cincinnati Country Day / Miami Valley winner. District games will be played at Tippecanoe High School.

Covington built up a 17 point lead on Franklin Monroe and held on to a 4 point win. They will play the winner of the Ft. Loramie / Russia game on Saturday March 6th at 1 PM

Miami East bows out of the tournament against a strong Anna team.

Boys

Newton gets a tournament win by beating Cedarville today. Congrats to the Indians. They play Jefferson on Thursday, March 4th at 6 PM.

TV beat National trail by 14, but it felt closer than that... TV will play Arcanum on March 4th at 7:45.

Covington doubled up on Bradford and advances to round two. They will play the winner of the Lehman / Mississinawa game on March 3rd at 7:30

On Friday night both Miami East and Bethel advanced with wins over Stivers and West Liberty Salem. Miami East will play the winner of the Greenview/Versaille winner at 5 PM at the University of Dayton Arena, while Bethel will play the 6:30 game against Northridge.

Linkous Nets 61 Points Against Jefferson.

Tri-Village Sophomore, Kayla Linkous scored 61 points in the Patriots first round game at the Division IV sectionals at Brookville. A review of OHSAA record book showed that once submitted, Linkous will enter the Record Book tied for 8th in points scored in a game. The record is 76 points by Lisa Cline of Millersburg West Holmes in 1985.

http://ohsaa.org/sports/records/gbkrecrd.htm#PG

Link to Jefferson game on TVPatriots.com

Scores for February 19th

Bethel waxes Arcanum 73 - 42

Tri-Village won in a close one versus FM and earns a share of the CCC title. Final score 60-54.

Covington over TVS 50 - 45.

Miami East 84 - TCN 39

Ansonia 60 - Bradford 44

Newton 67 - Mississinawa Valley 56

Jets Crash to Spoiler Role After Going South at Twin Valley

Man... who changed the start time to 7 PM. I had a feeling after Twin Valley South beat Miami East at home earler this week that this was going to be a big game for the Franklin Monroe Jets. I rushed home from my kid's practice; checked the time on the DDN... 7 PM... Drat!

Twin Valley South beat the Franklin Monroe Jets tonight 48 - 38 and put an end to FM's hope of earning their 5th CCC Championship. The win put TVS at 7 - 4 in conference play winning their 6th conference game in a row after very slow start; dropping 4 of their first 5. The win also put them above 500 with an overall record of 10 - 9. The South Panthers have to put on the claws again tomorrow night as they travel to Covington to face the Buccs.

The Jets after a disappointing loss now turn into the role that the Panthers were on this night... Spoilers. They just earned a bunch of Bethel Bee fans for their game tomorrow night on the road in the Battleground of Tri-Village. On Tuesday, the Patriot fans will be rooting for the Jets as they face the Bethel Bees.

The Bees however, must play their Friday night game at Arcanum. The Bees have the best defense in the conference holding opposing teams to 43 points per game. The Trojans have one of more potent offenses averaging over 60 points per game. The bad news for the Trojans is that their defense is giving up over 58 points per game. Regardless, it should be an interesting game. Last year the Trojans earned a share of the crown by beating Bethel on their home floor. Even though the Bees still have some unfinished business on Tuesday night... I'm sure the Bees would like to return the favor.

So the conference race will boil down over next 5 days and tomorrow night will tell us who will be rooting for whom on Tuesday night when Bethel visits FM. A TV win against FM; the Patriot fans become FM fans on Tuesday. TV takes one on the chin at home... BIG Bee fans on Tuesday. I'll be traveling to Arcanum to cover the Bethel game and will travel to FM on Tuesday to cover their game against FM. So stay tuned.

FM and Miami East can earn a tie for 3rd by finishing the season with two wins. Miami East will face Tri-County North at home on Friday and must be considered a favorite to win that game. They will have a make up game with Arcanum the first of next week at Arcanum. The Trojans could work their way to an 8 and 4 record with two big wins at home and conceivably work their way into the tie at 3rd with FM, Miami East. Also in the mix for 8 - 4 record is Twin Valley South if they pull off the upset against Covington on the road. Covington with 3 games remaining could play their way into 3rd all by their lonesome with wins over TVS, Bradford and TCN and one loss by FM and Miami East... Confused yet? We'll know more after tomorrow night. I'll update the blog after tomorrow night.

This is a fun time of the year for high school basketball fans throughout the state and the snow creating havoc with the schedules makes the regular season finish more like a Downhill ski race in the Olympics. Who will crash and burn on the last jump going into the finish line? Who's got the most gas left in the tank? Gold, Silver or Bronze? It could be a photo finish so check back tomorrow night for a summary of the night. I'm not as smooth as Bob Costas, but I'll give it my best shot!

Regular Season Ends, Second Season Begins

Snow and more on the way, but the regular season will end soon for both girls and boys basketball in the CCC.

Miami East Lady Vikings will likely win their 4th straight CCC league with Bradford left in regular season play. Tri-Village gave the Vikings their first conference loss this last Saturday after 46 straight conference wins. A great win at home for the Patriots and if there was a year to find kink in the East armor to get a victory; this may have been it. Both teams return a solid nucleus for next year's season and next year's battle at Miami East may be interesting, but Lady Vikings are going to be strong over the next 5 years with a solid 8th grade team moving up.

In looking at the Vikings non-conference schedule this season you have to be impressed with the teams they are playing. At one point earlier in the season only one team on their non- conf. schedule had more than one loss in their record. They still have a big game against Versailles before sectionals begin, but we all know that looking at the Tiger's record in relationship to the MAC doesn't mean anything. Regardless of the outcome of that game give the powers at be at East some props for meeting the challenge. Even with the loss to TV they have won their conference games by an average margin of 23 points this season while losing their non conference battles by a margin of 7 points. As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you will make you stronger and the young nucleus at Miami East will be that much better next year.

On the boys side there are still some big games to play and they all go through Franklin Monroe to determine the final outcome. The Jets still have Twin Valley South and Tri-Village on the road, but have a big game against Bethel this Tuesday (weather permitting). Currently the Jets have 2 conference losses, but they control their own destiny for a share of the conference crown if they win all three. A win against Bethel and TV will give the Bees and the Pats 2 conference losses, but they can't look too far past TVS since they beat a solid Allen Mack Miami East team at home this last Friday. So depending on the FM outcomes against TV and Bethel, we could have one conference champ with either Bethel or TV (which would give either team an overall lead with 7) or we could have a 2 or 3 co-champs.

An interesting side note with the Jets... they have the best conference record of any of the original members in the conference but they only have 4 conference titles in their CCC history. Their last CCC title was in 2003, which was the same team that won a District Championship in Div IV (which is also the last District Championship for the league in Division IV).

Speaking of District Championships... the sectional draw was today for the boys and the girls were drawn last Saturday. There some strong local team up against the CCC this year in the draw. Getting a team from boys or girls to the Regionals will be a challenge this year, but you know the teams from the CCC will be up for the challenge.

For girls Division IV at Brookville the CCC has all 4 seeds in that sectional so the odds of a District game are favorable. The teams waiting in the District game however will be formidable opponents as the MAC and Shelby County League will bring battle tested teams into the tournament. However, it won't be a surprise to see one or two of our teams in D. IV to play into the District Final as they match up well with teams coming out of Sidney and Monroe sectionals.

In Division III, Miami East, National Trail and Tri-County North will likely end up playing tough seeds in the sectional. Miami East will have to go through #1 seed Anna, while TCN will eventually see #2 seed Versailles and Trail has to face #3 seed Brookville in the first game of the tourney.

On the boys side in Division IV, it was a pick your poison type of a draw at Troy with #1 seed Jefferson or a very solid Southeastern team out of the Clark County as the #2 seed. TV drew the fourth seed at Troy and will have to go through CCC teams National Trail and Arcanum before ending up with Jefferson in the sectional title. For FM they took a first round bye, but will likely see the #2 seed in Southeastern in their first game of the second season. Newton still ended up in this sectional and has a favorable draw with Cedarville, but will end up seeing Jefferson in round two if they get by the Indians of Cedarville.

In Piqua, the scenery will be a different one for Ansonia and Mississinawa Valley. Fellow CCC teams Covington (4 seed) and Bradford will be in familiar territory, but will end up facing each other in the first round. MV will be in the lower bracket with Covington/Bradford and will face the winner of that game if they can sneak by the #3 seed Lehman Catholic in the first round. Waiting in the wings for the sectional title in the lower bracket will be the #2 seed with the Raiders of Russia. In the upper bracket at Piqua, the Ansonia Tigers drew favorable draw against Mechanicsburg and if they win that game they will face Houston. The winner of that bracket will likely face the #1 seed, Fort Loramie in the sectional final.

In Division III, the landscape looks a little better for Bethel (who drew the #3 seed), Miami East and TVS. Miami East could play their way to a sectional final with one win after taking a first round bye. They have to get by the winner of the Dixie/Stiver winner in their first game and would likely play the winner of the #3 seed in Greenview/Versailles winner. Bethel took a first round bye in the lower bracket in the same Dayton I sectonal and will play West Liberty Salem. With a little bit of luck, TVS could play their way out of that bracket and face the Bees for chance to play in the District game. For Tri-County North... they drew the last straw in the sectional and will play the #1 seed Anna Rockets in the Dayton II sectional in Division III.

Good Luck to all the CCC teams down the final season stretch and into the State Tournament. I'm going to get out of the house and cover some regular season games down the boys conference championship run and if OHSAA allows me in door; cover some sectional games. So stay tuned...

Patriots Attack Dixie and Roll to 4th Win in a Row

Bob Moore for TVPatriots.com

New Madison - After a 3 game skid that started at the FM Holiday Tournament the Patriots needed a formula to break out of the funk. They also needed a solution to breakdown the barrage of triangle and 2 defenses plotted against their two main guns, Drew Moore and Cody Gunckel. Solution: attack and get to the free throw line and spread the wealth to get other players involved in the offense. Outcome: 4^th win in a row with the latest victim being the Greyhounds of Dixie; 60 – 50.

Coach Josh Sagester summed up the game in his first post game comment; “I thought handling the triangle and 2 as a team was the key tonight. We’ve seen so many boxes (and ones) and triangles (and two) that the key was having (Evan) Catron, (Matt) Miller and (Tyler) Garland stepping up offensively at the beginning"

After being down 4 – 2, Catron busted a trey to that gave TV a lead that they never relinquished. After Catron drained his second 3 to give TV a 20 – 13 lead, the combo of Catron, Miller and Garland netted 13 of the Pats first 20 points and forced Dixie to respect the ‘triangle’ in their triangle and 2 defense.

The result of the balanced scoring gave Gunckel some daylight to expose an opening in the Greyhound defense. Gunckel scored 9 points of his 17 points in the second quarter that gave TV some breathing room at the break. Gunckel crashed the boards, busted a 3 and ended the half with a heads up tip in at the buzzer that gave TV a 31-19 advantage at the half.

The second half started in the same fashion with Miller cashing in with a short range jumper from a nice kick out pass from Catron. After Miller connected with another deuce, Tyler Garland received a nice pass from Gunckel to end his perfect 2 for 2 from the field with a jumper in the paint. After Miller connected with a free throw to complete the first 7 points of the second half, that opened up Drew Moore. Moore drained a trey and ended the half with another 2 as TV ended the 3^rd quarter with 43 – 32 lead.

The Pats balanced scoring at the beginning of the half softened up the Dixie defense that put Moore and Gunckel into the attack mode in the 4^th quarter. TV only connected on 2 of 7 from the field in the final stanza, but Moore and Gunckel were able to create opportunities at the charity stripe and between the two they went 11 for 13 down the stretch that kept the game at a comfortable 10 point margin.

On defense the Pats played a 2 – 3 zone for the entire game. The Greyhounds were without their leading scorer, TVS transfer Ryan Innis, due to an ankle injury, but Coach Josh Sagester used the zone for several reasons. “They were bigger, stronger and I knew we’d have trouble on the glass (rebounding) and that is one reason why we played the zone. I thought if we over exposed ourselves we were going to have some problems with their athleticism, but I thought we had a pretty good hold on the zone most of the evening.”

“I thought Drew and Cody handled themselves well tonight” noted Sagester on his 20 PPG scorers. “I thought they made good decisions with the basketball as it has to get frustrating seeing the triangles and boxes night after night. I can only think of a couple of times where I thought we forced the ball and they still ended up with 21 and 17 on the night.”

“Attacking the defense and getting 29 attempts at the free throw line was a key in our success tonight. During that losing streak we were not getting to the foul line as much as the other team and during these last 4 games it has been completely the opposite.”

“I’m proud of our guys” concluded Sagester. If anybody would have told me at the beginning of the season that we would be 12 and 5 at this point of the season and couple of games away from winning a league title; I would have taken it. We got two of the next 3 league games at home and we control our own destiny. I keep telling the guys keep working hard and good things will happen.”

Scoring by quarters

Dixie….11…19…32…50

TV…….15…31…43…60

Dixie

Hauser – 2

Moore – 14

Prater – 2

Isaacs – 6

Falldorf – 2

Worley – 10

Hayes – 10

Smiley – 2

Petitt – 2

FG % 39.5 (17/43) FT% 72 (13/18)

3 PT Goals – 3: Moore 2, Worley (3/16 – 18.7%)

Tri-Village

Moore – 21

Gunckel – 17

Miller – 9

Catron – 8

Garland – 4

Morris – 1

Barger - 0

Pipenger – 0

Dill – 0

FG % 48.6 (18/37) FT% 65.5 (19/29)

3 PT Goals – 5: Moore 2, Catron 2, Gunckel (5/12 – 41.6%)