TROY – Tri-Village moved on to the second round of the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division IV boys basketball sectional tournament with a 72-43 win over Emmanuel Christian.
It was a sluggish start for most of the Patriots, who in fact trailed 8-7 midway through the first quarter … but Gavin Richards knocked down two triples and scored 8 points and Jared Buckley added a couple of fielders to give TV an 18-10 first quarter lead.
The defense was going through the motions in the second frame, and Emmanuel Christian hung around, scoring 14 points. But a strong performance in the paint was turned in by Buckley, scoring 8 in the period, and Richards added 7 more to propel the Patriots to a 36-24 lead at the break.
“Jared Buckley was big for us today,” Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester said. “Talk about a motor, his was turned on, and we fed off his energy in the first half. He is an undersized big kid that’s really strong and finished well around the rim.”
Buckley would finish with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The third quarter separated the men from the boys as Tri-Village clamped down defensively, holding the Lions to just 9 points while erupting for 21 of their own to jump on top 57-33.
Johnny Wilson provided the outside fireworks with a triple to start the period and one to end it at the buzzer in the deep corner. Dillon McCullough got in on the act with some acrobatic drives finishing at the rim for 6 points in the quarter.
In the final stanza, McCullough added two more buckets while a couple other Patriots players got in the scoring column; Trey Frech connected from behind the arch and Christian Ricker added a bucket inside as well to close out the game as 72-43 winners.
“We don’t take tournament wins for granted,” Sagester said. “Anytime you get one you take it and move, obviously. There are some things we need to improve on … but the real positive today was having multiple kids scoring the basketball, which last weekend we struggled with getting other guys involved, and I think this is only going to make us better down the road.”
Nearly all five starters scored in double digits with Richards leading the way with 21 points, Buckley 15, Trace Couch 13, McCullough 10 and Wilson added 8.
The Patriots will play at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Troy High School against Tri-County North.
Box score:
Score by quarters:
TV….18…18…21…15 – 72
EC….10…14…09…10 – 43
Individual scores:
Tri-Village
McCullough 10, Wilson 8, Richards 21, Frech 3, Buckley 15, Ricker 2, Couch 13
Totals 7-21-9/13 – 72
Emmanuel Christian
Miesse 2, Shropshire 9, Swank 8, Kttles 6, Moore 4, Davis 14
Totals 5-10-8/16 – 43
3-pointers:
TV – 7 (Richards 4, Wilson 2, Frech)
EC – 5¬¬ (Swank 2, Kittles 2, Davis)
