Trotwood, Ohio — The inaugural Flyght Academy Holiday classic tipped off at Trotwood-Madison high school on Sunday. It was an all day event which featured a middle school game, a girls varsity game, a boys varsity game, and the nightcap was Flyght Prep’s home game against Keystone Academy.
Tri-Village took home the win in the boys varsity game as they survived a scare from the previously undefeated Meadowdale Lions who went on a huge run in the third quarter. Layne Sarver continued his dominant senior year with a 24 point performance in the win.
Tri-Village senior Layne Sarver
Tri-Village entered this season with extremely high expectations as the Patriots looked to be one of the top teams in the entire state in division four. The Patriots returned their entire team from last season who went undefeated in the regular season and then fell in the regional semi-finals to Cedarville.
Meadowdale returns one of the best duos in the Dayton City League as juniors Kalerrio Reaves and Lee Benson look to lead the Lions this year. Despite graduating Will Hill who has been the featured scorer for Meadowdale the past couple of seasons, the Lions have started off this season hot. They entered Sunday’s contest with a perfect 4-0 record.
Meadowdale junior Kalerrio Reaves
Tri-Village junior Seth Cook got the start over Josh Scantland who was out with an illness. Cook scored the Patriots first four points of the night. Layne Sarver drilled a corner three and slammed home a two-handed off of the assist from Cook. Tri-Village took a 13-2 lead after a layup from both Sarver and Dalton Delong. The Patriots led 16-6 at the end of the quarter.
Tri-Village senior Layne Sarver
Meadowdale began to heat up in the second quarter but baskets from Suggs and Sarver kept Tri-Village in the lead. Kalerrio Reaves missed a pullup jumper right before the buzzer which would’ve cut the halftime deficit to six. But instead, the Patriots led 27-19 at the break.
After Sarver and Wilson Suggs extended Tri-Village lead back to ten to begin the second half, the Lions went on a run. Lee Benson knocked down a pullup jumper and then got a tough layup to fall. Benson then made arguably the play of the game as he pulled down the offensive rebound and dunked over Layne Sarver. Following the free-throw after the and-one, Meadowdale trailed 33-28.
Meadowdale junior Lee Benson
Meadowdale wasn’t done just yet though. Josiah Scates got the corner three to fall to cut the deficit to four. Then Reaves knocked down a floater and then stole the ball from the Patriots’ inbound pass and eventually dished it to Benson who dunked it home to tie the game. Both teams were knotted up at 35 a piece at the end of the third quarter.
Sarver scored three straight baskets for the Patriots to begin the fourth quarter. Then following layups from Tanner Printz and Dalton Delong, Tri-Village suddenly was back up by double digits. Lee Benson would end up picking up his third dunk of the game but some late free-throws from Wilson Suggs sealed the 52-42 win.
Tri-Village was led by Sarver who had a game high 24 points. Sarver also contributed 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. Wilson Suggs finished with 11 points. Five of those came from the charity stripe as the Patriots improve to 4-1 (2-0, WOAC) on the year and will face their rivals from Arcanum next Friday.
Tri-Village senior Layne Sarver
Despite both Kalerrio Reaves and Lee Benson both having 13 points, Meadowdale falls by ten and suffers their first loss of the season. They’ll look to bounce back next Tuesday as they travel to Dunbar to take on the Wolverines in a matchup that could very well decide the City League champion this year.