GHS stays perfect on the season with overtime win over Athenians

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

By CAINE GARDNER, Sports Writer

It may not have been pretty but the Greencastle boys' basketball team disposed of the Athenians of Crawfordsville, 71-60 Tuesday night.

Greencastle's Brennen Burks connects on two of his game-high 27 points during the first half of Tuesday's game with Crawfordsville. The Tiger Cubs were victorious in overtime 71-60.

With the teams battling back and forth, the Tiger Cubs trailed by six entering the fourth quarter and looked to be headed for their first loss of the season.

Greencastle (4-0) began to roar to life at the start of the fourth quarter as Kendall Faust and Brennan Burks connected on three free throws to pull the Tiger Cubs within five. On their next possession, Faust sliced the ball through the lane and put up a left-handed lay-up, closing the gap to three. Burks brought the Tiger Cubs within one when he hit a jumper in the lane with 3:33 on the clock.

When the Tiger Cubs next touched the ball, Drew Evens brought the GHS crowd to its feet as he drove to the basketball, connected and was fouled. After the free throw the Tiger Cubs had seized the lead.

Both teams trade shots and ended the quarter tied at 55-all

In the extra period, it was nothing but purple and grey.

Burks and Evens combined for 13 points as the Tiger Cubs outscored the Athenians 16-5 to seal the deal of their fourth win of the season.

"What I told them in the locker room is at times we didn't execute well offensively, but when things got a little bit tough in the fourth quarter and we got down by six,' GHS head coach Troy Greenlee said. "They didn't quit. Anytime you have a game you have positives and negatives and I'll take that positive anytime because that is such a big part of this game is persevering. I was really proud of the kids didn't hang their heads when they got down. They got it to overtime and then really played well in the overtime."

Although though the first half was a struggled the Tiger Cubs managed a 31-27 lead at the half thanks in part to two big three-pointers from Wade Huber and an 11 point first have for Burks.

Talking after the game, Greenlee was all smiles but had a serious undercurrent as he spoke about his team's execution. But a win is a win and with those victories comes confidence, a crucial element to any successful team.

"It's (confidence) big in this respect that we are winning and we're still not playing as well as we can and I think that's big," Greenlee responded. "Sometimes we have to just gut it out and that's what we did tonight. It wasn't pretty at times but it does show us what we need to get better at and I think these guys are the type of guys that would be willing to do that to get better. It's a big win for us."

Greencastle (4-0) will host Rockville at 7:30 p.m. Friday

At Greencastle

Crawfordsville 14 13 20 8 5 -- 60

Greencastle 12 19 10 14 16 -- 71

Crawfordsville -- Anderson 17, Harris 16, Swart 16, Boykin 7, Nordenbrock 2, Ward 2. Totals: FG 23-48 FT 6-12 TP 60.

Greencastle -- Burks 27, Evens 20, Huber 6, Miller 6, Marshall 5, Faust 4, Bartrum 3. Totals: FG 24-48 FT 16-24 TP 71.