Tri-Village pair reminiscent of Bethel duo...

In 2014 Tri-Village made it to state on the shoulders of Tyler Cook, Colton Linkous 

and Damion Cook. This year Tyler is gone and the Patriots are playing even better

The Tri-Village boys are having another remarkable season and are currently sitting at 18-0. However, anytime I seem to mention the Patriots to basketball fans from the area it's not uncommon to get the response, "yea, but they don't play anybody." My reply to that has always been, "they're playing the same teams they did last year before beating Ft. Loramie, Troy Christian and Marion Local on their way to the state tournament." This year's team even beat my Russia Raiders back in mid-January, so you won't hear me saying anything about their strength of schedule.

Last year though, Tri-Village won a little differently. The Patriots utilized a 6'-6" 245 pound senior that scored over 1,000 points in his career by the name of Tyler Cook. This year the bulk of scoring is done by Tyler's cousin, Damion Cook, and teammate Colton Linkous. And when I say the bulk of scoring, I'm not exaggerating. In the Patriots latest win over Bethel this past Tuesday, Damion scored 27 points and Colton scored 25. The team finished with 59 on the scoreboard, meaning the dynamic duo accounted for 88% of the total.

You know what that victory over Bethel reminded me of? Another dynamic duo that starred at Bethel back in 2000-2001. The Bees were led that season by a couple guards named Matt Witt and Matt Plunkett. I recall how both boys could shoot like crazy and Matt Witt went on to eventually star at Eastern Kentucky and later play professionally overseas for about ten years. From what I remember, those two carried Bethel all year long. The Bees finished that season with a record of 23-4 and I was in the Schottenstein Center to watch them win a state semi game against Reedsville Eastern. The following day the Bees won it all with a 79-53 shellacking of Delphos St. John's.

Matt Witt was too much for Covington at 

the 2001 Regional Semi-final in Oxford

Consider this... Matt Witt averaged 25 points per game that season, Matt Plunkett 20. This year both Damion Cook and Colton Linkous average just over 20 points per game. Back in 2001 Bethel knocked off #1 state-ranked Marion Local in the regional finals. This year Tri-Village is the #1 team in Ohio and would it surprise you if they had to get by Marion Local on their way to Columbus again? Ironically though, the key to Bethel winning the state title game that year wasn't Matt Witt and Matt Plunkett. It was a little-known player that averaged 7 points per game named Shawn Zink. Shawn played the game of his life in the most important moment of the season and led all scorers with 24 points. Could Tri-Village win an eventual championship on just the shoulders of Damion Cook and Colton Linkous? Perhaps. But, having a player like Shawn Zink on your team never hurts either!

Matt Plunkett had some serious "hops" as seen in this picture from 

the 2001 sectional finals against Springfield Catholic Central