Playing tough only makes you tougher…“We knew coming in it was going to be a physical game, and I think we rose the occasion with physicality.” – Trey Sagester (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Josh Sagester’s Tri-Village Patriots are playing a schedule that might result in some losses, but they are counting on it to make them as tough as they need to be by tournament time.
Columbus, OH – Josh Sagester purposefully crafted a diverse, difficult and uneasy non-conference schedule for his Tri-Village boys basketball team.
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A team with its mind on a March trip to Dayton for the Division VI state tournament, wants to be challenged now to be tournament-ready then.
That’s why the Patriots played Division IV Jonathan Alder on Monday at the Holiday Hoopla at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. It’s why Sagester invited Division I Fairmont to New Madison on Saturday. It’s why the schedule also includes unbeaten Division VI Troy Christian, Division IV Cincinnati Indian Hill, unbeaten Division III Butler, Division II Troy and Division IV Bishop Fenwick.
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“We try to put us in positions to be uncomfortable and play different philosophical beliefs, so that when we get into tournament, whatever we see, we can go back to and you say, ‘Hey, we’ve done this before,’” Sagester said.
Alder, a regional finalist last year, provided the first discomfort this season for the 6-0 Patriots with a quick point guard and a physical lineup with more overall height. The Patriots led by one at halftime, but, more used to the style of play, parlayed two big runs in the second half into a 68-44 victory.
“We knew coming in it was going to be a physical game, and I think we rose the occasion with physicality, and we played well in second half,” senior guard Trey Sagester said.
Jonathan Alder’s Danny Bently attacks the rim during the first half of Monday’s game with Tri-Village.
The Pioneers were strong on the offensive glass early. Sophomore point guard Danny Bentley made things happen against the Patriots’ man-to-man defense. But the second half was different. The Patriots didn’t back down. They turned aggressor.
“It’s really important to show that we’re able to play through it,” Josh Sagester said of the physical nature of the game. “As the game wore on, we got better with it. You can’t simulate that in practice. You can’t simulate those bodies, that athleticism. As the game wore on, our kids got more comfortable with the athleticism, the physicality of the game.”
And it doesn’t hurt to have 6-foot-5, 290-pound Dom Black – the Patriots’ block of granite – posting up in the paint and using his agile feet to score and set solid screens for Trey Sagester, who found enough openings against Alder’s determined defense to score a game-high 25 points on three 3-pointers and 8 of 8 at the free-throw line.
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“He’s one man in the paint, so he takes up the whole paint for us,” Trey Sagester said of Black. “We rely on him a lot in all our plays and screens.”
In a moment Bentley won’t forget, Black set a high ball screen for point guard Griffin Richards. Bentley going full speed didn’t see Black and none of his teammates warned him. Bentley bounced off Black and fell hard to the floor as if Black had just pancaked a defensive end. Black, who plays left tackle for the Patriots, has several Division I football offers.
The Patriots’ Dominic Black scores in the post during Monday’s win in the Holiday Hoopla showcase.
“He can do so many things, and we play through him a lot with his passing, and obviously his screening, and he’s got a great IQ, and he’s a horse,” Josh Sagester said.
After Richards came off Black’s pancake screen, he drove to the basket, scored, was fouled, and complete a three-point play with 2:54 left. The moment was bigger than Black because Alder had just cut the Patriots’ lead to seven.
Sagester scored the next six points, and a 19-2 closing run left the Pioneers breathless. Not breathless just from Tri-Village’s run but from turning up and expanding their defensive pressure from one end of the court to the other. It worked as the Pioneers’ deficit shrunk from 12 to seven. Then it didn’t.
“They opened the floor up for us, and then Griffin’s extremely athletic, and we got guys that can pass,” Josh Sagester said. “Then we were able to get a couple easy layups, and it kind of went south for them from there.”
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And the Pioneers went cold, unable to keep up as the Patriots scored quickly.
“Eventually you got to make shots,” Alder coach Derek Dickey said. “And we’re not making shots right now, so it’s back to the back to the gym and shooting.”
Patriots guard Griffin Richards scores in transition during Monday’s 68-44 win over Jonathan Alder.
The best shotmaker for Alder was junior guard Brady Sweet with three 3-pointers and 17 points. Chase Muetzel, a 6-5 senior, added 10 points.
The first half was body blow for body blow, plus two strategic moves that ended up working in Tri-Village’s long-term favor.
Early the Pioneers were switching screens, and that put them at a disadvantage guarding Black in the low post. He scored three of the Patriots’ first four baskets.
“The plan was to throw it in the paint as many times as we could early,” Josh Sagester said.
Once the Pioneers stopped switching because of the damage Black was inflicting, Trey Sagester began to find some open shots off ball screens in a pick-your-poison turn of events. Sagester put the Patriots up 16-13 with 17 seconds left in the first quarter to begin a personal run of scoring his team’s final 13 points of the half.
Alder’s Brady Sweet eyes the basket during Monday’s matchup with Tri-Village in downtown Columbus.
Midway through the second quarter the Patriots changed to a zone defense for the rest of the game. It worked, keeping Bentley out of the lane more and helping them rebound better.
“The zone slowed them down a lot, and it made them move the ball more,” Trey Sagester said. “And we were able to rebound better out of it than in man.”
Dicke didn’t like the way his team ran its zone offense, not using the 35-second shot clock used in the event to their advantage by making the Patriots guard them for 30 seconds more often.
“We didn’t go through our progressions like we should have, and that’s what you get with inexperience,” he said. “We have so many young guys that don’t have the experience that you need for games like this. We panicked a little bit and settled for threes.”
Meanwhile, Tri-Village pushed the pace when possible, moved the ball well from good shots to better shots and got well-rounded production. Richards and Noah Finkbine each scored 11 points and Black added 10.
“Everybody’s got to score for us to be good,” said Trey Sagester, who entered the game averaging 29.3. “Everybody’s got to do what they need to do to affect winning and to get more guys in double figures. Then that’ll help us get better in the long run and helped us get a good win tonight.”
With many more to come.
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