Tribune sports editor

FRANKLIN FURNACE -- Ben Dyer knew he had one final chance.

Playing in his final game, Green's lone senior took charge as he led the Bobcats to an 80-49 win over the Symmes Valley Vikings Friday night to throw the Southern Ohio Conference into a three-way championship.

Dyer's performance showed 22 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals as Green finished the SOC at 11-3 and 13-8 overall.

"I knew this was going to be my last game. It was a big game and I went out and gave all my effort," Dyer said. "I talked to the team and said give it all you have. They wanted it as bad as I did.

"We're a young team. Encouraging them is the best thing to do, so that's how I approached it. I wanted this so bad."

Green joined the Vikings and Sciotoville East as SOC tri-champions. It marks the Bobcats sixth league title in seven seasons.

"Going into the season we didn't know what to expect," Green coach Kevin Lewis said. "Going 13-8 and winning part of the SOC championship was nice for Ben and our kids. They worked hard and they deserved it.

"I can't put into words what Ben Dyer meant to us. He's a four-year starter and it's nice to see him go out with an SOC championship."

Symmes Valley, 14-7 and 11-3, had clinched a share of the SOC title on Tuesday. It marked the first league basketball title in school history.

But the Vikings could not find their shooting touch against the Bobcats, making just 20 of 63 field goal attempts. They were outscored at the foul line as they made 5 of 11 while Green went 28 of 43.

Green's Aaron Patten led all scorers with 28 points. Timmy Yarnell had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Terry Elswick scored 13 points and has four assists for the Vikings. Kevin Miller added 8 points and 11 rebounds and J. D. Miller grabbed seven rebounds.

Driving to the basket time after time, seven of Green's eight field goals in the first quarter were layups as they built a 23-12 lead.

"We talked about not settling for 3s. Teams realize we can shoot, so we wanted to attack the basket," Lewis said. "We wanted to beat people off the dribble or post up."

Symmes Valley began to inch back into the game in the second quarter as Green made just 4 of 14 field goal attempts. Back-to-back layups by Chad Higgins and Justin Holland over the final 1:26 got the Vikings within 35-28 at the break.

"They started driving to the basket the first quarter, but we adjusted the second quarter," Vikings coach Alvin Carpenter said. "But then the third quarter it started all over again. Then we couldn't make a shot and everything just snowballed after that."

The Vikings made just 3 of 18 field goal attempts in the third quarter.

After Kevin Miller followed up a missed shot to begin the quarter, Dyer hit an 8-footer and then a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 40-30.

J.D. Miller hit a 15-footer and it was 40-32, but Yarnell tipped in a missed shot and Patten had two straight layups to make it 46-32. Dyer's steal and layup at the close of the quarter pushed the lead to 52-34.

Green spent most of the fourth quarter at the foul line. The Bobcats converted 17 of 21 attempts with Patten making 8 of 9 and Dyer 5 of 5.

Lewis was pleased with his team's effort including several players off the bench.

"Ryan Bloomfield and Kenny Elrod played as well as they have all season. And the intensity of the other starters set the tone," Lewis said.

Carpenter was disappointed with the outcome but not with his team's effort.

"You hate to lose when you have a chance to win the league outright, but we had a great season. Our kids have nothing to be ashamed of. Green has a good team and they are always tough to beat," Carpenter said.

Sym. Valley1216615--49

Green23121728--80

SYMMES VALLEY (14-7, 11-3): Terry Elswick 4-18 (1-6) 4-7 13, Kyle Gilmore 1-6 (1-5) 1-2 4, T. J. Grubbs 1-4 (0-3) 0-0 2, Kevin Miller 4-8 (0-1) 0-0 8, J. D. Miller 3-14 (0-0) 0-0 6, Seth Colegrove 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2, Justin Holland 2-3 (0-0) 0-0 4, Cory Burcham 0-2 (0-2) 0-0 0, Chad Higgins 2-2 (1-1) 0-2 5, Matt Owens 2-4 (1-2) 0-0 5. Totals: 20-63

(4-20)

5-11

49. Fouls: 32. Fouled out: Grubbs, Gilmore, Holland. Rebounds: 15-22=37 (Kevin Miller 11, J. D. Miller 7). Team/deadball rebounds: 6. Assists: 8 (Elswick 4). Steals: 5 (Elswick 2). Turnovers: 18.

GREEN (13-8, 11-3):

Timmy Yarnell 6-10 (0-0) 1-2 13, Ben Dyer 4-11 (2-6) 10-17 22, Derek Lewis 1-5 (1-5) 2-4 5, Aaron Patton 8-21 (1-7) 11-13

28, Adam Sparks 2-3 (0-1) 2-2 6, Ryan Bloomfield 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Kenny Elrod 2-2 (0-0) 2-5 6, Ryan Klaiber 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, C. J. Blevins 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Adam Bradley 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Matt Bester 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Jason Bester 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Brian Ramey 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 24-54

(4-19)

28-43

80. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 9-23=32 (Yarnell 12, Patten 6, Sparks 5, Dyer 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 6. Assists: 11 (Dyer 7, Yarnell 3). Steals: 8 (Dyer 4, Yarnell 2, Patten 2). Turnovers: 8.