“They got a couple breaks there and you have to give them credit, that’s a tough team,” said Vikings coach Jared Lee.
Jordan Robinette scored 12 points and Deanza Duncan added 11 as New Miami finished its season 15-5.
Tri-Village junior Layne Sarver, the D-IV Southwest District Player of the Year, scored a game-high 31 points as the Patriots improved to 26-0.
“Once you start to go on a little run, he’s going to get you a bucket,” Lee said. “He was district player of the year for a reason. Congrats to their coach (Josh Sagester). We’re going to be rooting for them the rest of the way. They earned it. They’re a heck of a ball team. There’s a reason why they’re undefeated.”
Tri-Village advanced to play the winner of Cedarville and Jackson Center in a D-IV regional semifinal game at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Vandalia Butler.
Credit: Michael Cooper
Credit: Michael Cooper
The Vikings, which entered the district final on a seven-game winning streak, led 7-6 early in the first quarter. Tri-Village got back-to-back baskets by Sarver and Wilson Suggs gave the Patriots a 10-7 lead after the first eight minutes.
In the second quarter, the Patriots held the Vikings to just three points. A 3-pointer by Sarver, two layups by Justin Finkbine and a putback by Josh Scantland to end the half gave the Patriots a 25-10 halftime lead.
New Miami struggled from behind the 3-point line, hitting just four 3-pointers in the game. The Vikings led the Miami Valley Conference with 144 made 3-pointers this season and entered the district finals making 7.5 3-pointers per game. Tri-Village also has five players taller than 6-foot-5, which made it difficult to get the ball inside.
“They backed us off the 3-point line a little bit and made us shoot over them,” Lee said. “A team like us, if you’ve watched us the last four years, we go through our streaks. We’re going to get hot, we’re going to miss some. We’ll go through quarters where we can’t throw the ball in the ocean and then we make the next eight of them. Unfortunately, by the time we were able to get hot there they had enough of a lead that they could hold on to it.”
New Miami’s Jordan Robinette hit a layup to start the second half, but Tri-Village opened up a 20-point lead on a 3-pointer by Sarver that made it 32-12 earlier in the third quarter.
The Vikings cut the lead to 12 points on a 3-pointer by Trey Robinette with about four minutes remaining in the third, but couldn’t pull any closer.
The Vikings will graduate seven seniors who helped put New Miami back on the basketball map. During their four seasons, the Vikings senior class won 58 games and advanced to the district finals three years in a row for the first time in school history. Duncan finished his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer and both Jordan and Trey Robinette finished their careers with more than 1,000 points.
“This is a bit of an emotional one for us,” Lee said. “We’ve been through a heck of a lot together. … There have been some really great players and teams to come through this school and for the last three years to be able to throw our names in that hat, it means the world to us.
Lee also thanked the fans for their support this season.
“This community supports these kids better than any school or district that I’ve ever been around,” Lee said. “We’re lucky to have been able to represent them and I’d like to think we represented them as good as we could.”
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