Tri-Village big man Dom Black scores inside during the second half. His 18 points were a big reason for the Patriots’ 17-point win. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Logan Howard)
Dom Black is better known as a football player, but his size and skill are helping the Patriots be as formidable as ever.
New Madison, OH – Troy Christian’s Ray Zawadzki, the opposing head coach, called junior Dom Black an immovable object. And a very good basketball player.
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Tri-Village’s Josh Sagester, Black’s head coach, called him a horse and a tree, standing stout in the lane.
You get the idea. Black is big and strong. He’s 6-foot-5 and weighs in the neighborhood of 290 pounds. Big football colleges want him to play offensive line for them. But he is nimble with good footwork as well. So for now, Black is the scoring, rebounding and screen-setting post presence Tri-Village needs in pursuit of its dream to play for the Division VI state basketball crown.
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Black dominated the space around the basket on both ends Saturday night, scored 18 points and helped power unbeaten Tri-Village to a big second half and a 60-43 victory over visiting Troy Christian, which suffered its third loss this week to teams with one loss between them.
“You can say what you want, but really, really good basketball teams, in my opinion, to have a really high ceiling, have to have offensive and defensive post presence,” Sagester said. “And my best teams I’ve had here at Tri-Village have had that.”
Black’s job outside of daring defenses to sag around him when he has a stable of efficient shooters around him, is to manage his football recruitment and not let it distract him from basketball.
Tri-Village senior Josh Sagester drives for two of his 24 points against Troy Christian’s Austin Stangel.
He made football game-day visits this past fall to places like Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue and Miami of Ohio. He has offers from Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Syracuse, Maryland, Marshall and some smaller schools. He’s taking unofficial visits soon to Virginia Tech and Kentucky. Official visits and more offers will follow.
But for now, he’s a kid who grew up in the basketball-crazy Tri-Village school district who loves playing on one of the best small-school teams in Ohio. In fact, he says, his football career might not be this far along if not for basketball.
“I credit my feet to basketball,” he said. “That’s where I think I got my football skills from because at Tri-Village you’re basketball 365 days of the year.”
Black’s presence on an otherwise guard-oriented team is the piece that creates game-planning difficulties for opposing coaches. The conundrum is trying to limit the touches and points of senior Trey Sagester, who leads the Western Ohio Athletic Conference with 25.3 points per game, shooting 40% from 3-point range, 52% overall and 84.9% from the free-throw line.
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“There’s two challenges,” Zawadzki said. “They can beat you on the perimeter. But then they have an immovable object in the middle that makes it very difficult. If you’re shooting point-blank shots at the basket in high school, that’s a high-quality shot, and you’re going to win a lot of ball games. Well, they’re going to get those high-quality shots because he does a great job of getting position. He has good footwork, and their offense is good at finding him.”
The Patriots are also good at playing in transition and attacking the basket or passing out to open shooters like Sagester, point guard Griffin Richards and emerging sophomore Brecken Gray who made four 3-pointers and scored 12 points. And Black has to keep up.
Tri-Village’s Brecken Gray took some of the load off Trey Sagester and Dom Black with 12 points.
“I struggle sometimes, but I do my best to maintain my stamina throughout the game,” he said. “But I like to get up and down. It’s fun for a guy my size. Many of them are sitting on the couch eating chips.”
Zawadzki’s strategy was for Brennan Hochwalt and Gabe Wilkins to take turns face guarding Sagester. He knew what that might mean for Black, but Sagester is an all-state player who you can’t afford to let get hot.
But that allowed Black – whose ability to produce double-doubles in points and rebounds is a luxury in small-school ball – to score the game’s first basket on an assist from Sagester and finish the half with 12 points as the Patriots built a 30-22 lead. Sagester, meanwhile, scored nine points, but his time was coming.
“Well, we knew going in they were going to take away our guard play because that’s what they do every year,” Black said. “So it was going to be a big game for the post. I’m always excited when coach mentions that.”
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Troy Christian (8-3) is perimeter-oriented team and leads the Three Rivers Conference in three-point shooting. Tri-Village (12-0) opened with full-court pressure that double-teamed the ball at every opportunity. Unlike Tuesday’s loss at Northridge, the Eagles managed the press and got open three-point shots to keep the score close and trail 16-12 entering the second quarter.
Tri-Village stayed full court into the second quarter but called off the double teams. In the second half, the Patriots played only half-court defense.
Noah Fecher scored nine of his 14 points in the first half to keep the Eagles close.
“Early we created some offense for them in our press, but I thought what that was going to do was get us in the flow of the game,” Josh Sagester said. “And I knew this was their third game, in five days, so I kind of wanted to wear some legs a little bit.”
Trey Sagester found that flow with 11 of his 24 points in the third quarter as the Patriots opened a 51-31 lead against the weary Eagles, who lost by one point in overtime Friday to Lehman Catholic.
While the Eagles made nine 3-pointers, they front-rimmed a lot of shots, especially in the second half, and leading scorer Riston Taylor was held to 11 points. With Black in the middle, the driving lanes he likes weren’t there. Noah Fecher led the Eagles with 14 points
“I don’t want to give any excuses,” Zawadzki said. “We played three quality opponents bang, bang, bang, and so that is a big challenge in itself. Tri-Village is a big challenge if you have a whole week of rest to prepare for them.”
Despite the three losses, Zawadzki said the gauntlet his team just endured will pay off as his team finishes the season and prepares for tournament play.
Tri-Village teammates Dom Black (right) and Kasyn Hollinger fight for a loose ball against Troy Christian and win the battle.
“We pulled them out of press, but we didn’t do that versus Northridge, and we forced them to call a timeout,” Zawadzki said. “Our kids competed real well. I thought we matched their intensity. We gave 100% effort, which I’m very proud of. And if we continue to do that, things should be brighter for us.”
The bright lights of this season for Tri-Village, a team trying to better the run to the regional semifinals it made last year, rest on Black’s ability to dominate the paint, and for the guards, led by Sagester, to score from everywhere, handle the ball well and defend.
“We’re super mature, we’re experienced, we got everybody back from last year,” Black said. “We just play with each other well. We know everybody’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great time playing out there.”
Lest anyone think Black’s mind will start to drift from basketball to football visits once March arrives, think again. Most football players of his talent finish high school in December and early enroll in college in January so they can participate in spring practice.
Black will have that decision to make in 11 months. But it will be a decision others wouldn’t understand who haven’t grown up in a school like Tri-Village. He also envisions improving on his eighth-place finish at state last year in the shot put with two state championships.
“It’s a huge benefit to go early,” he said. “But to stick around and play with my guys one more season … I might have to do it.”
That would be an immovable object opponents don’t want to see again.
Troy Christian tried to get a hold on Trey Sagester, but he was as difficult to stop as ever with 24 points.
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