Tiger Cubs advance to championship

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Greencastle overcame a battle with turnovers to top Cloverdale in game two of the Putnam County Classic Friday. The Tiger Cubs defeated Cloverdale 51-44.

Greencastle head coach Troy Greenlee expressed how pleased he was with the way his team played on the night.

"Any win is a good win," Greenlee acknowledged. "Both teams struggled from the field, both field goal and free throw wise. What it came down to at the end was being able to make plays here and there to score points and I thought our kids did really well doing this. We made just enough plays to come out with a win. We knew that it was going to be a tough game because it is always tough between Cloverdale and us."

Greencastle won the tip. However, turnovers and missed scoring opportunities kept both the Tiger Cubs and Clovers in single digits in the first quarter.

Jordan Hayden helped Cloverdale close the lead of the Tiger Cubs to only two points by hitting a three-pointer as the last seconds ticked off of the clock. Greencastle led 9-7 after the first quarter.

Cloverdale tied the ball game at 16 and then took the lead with 1:33 left in the quarter 16-15 because of trips to the foul line that were successful. Both teams made their fair share of trips to that line.

In the final minute of the half, the Clovers came alive even though the Tiger Cubs were playing tight defense and a lot of breakaways happened, the Clovers led at halftime 20-19. That would be the last lead Cloverdale would see.

Greencastle had the first possession of the second half and Ashton Marshall took ball to the basket and scored two points. With 3:40, another tie came at 26-all. The Tiger Cubs were able to take the lead by using fast breaks and stealing the ball.

Brandon Moon hit a last second three-point shot that helped the Clovers close the gap before the end of the third to five points. The score was 38-33.

Hickman was able to take the ball full court and score two points to start the fourth quarter for Greencastle.

The Clovers made two trips down the court, but came up empty handed. A major part of the Tiger Cub defense was the ability to shut down the Clovers' attempts to go inside.

Fouls quickly became an issue for both teams.

With 4:59 to go, Cloverdale called a timeout to get his players regrouped and settled. The fact that they were missing their free throws wasn't helping the Clovers' effort. Jordan Hayden of the Clovers hit another big three-point shot with 2:45 to go that closed Greencastle's lead to six points. Both teams continued to utilize their benches.

With a minute to go, the Tiger Cubs led 49-41. Then Hayden hit another three-pointer to close the lead to 50-44. However, there wasn't enough time for the Clovers to overtake the Tiger Cubs. The final score was 51-44.

Even with their struggles, Cloverdale head coach Pat Rady expressed with pleasure with the effort his Clovers put forth on the night.

"I was proud of the boys' effort. They worked extremely hard, we just came up short," he said. "Greencastle is a fine veteran ball club. This is their house and they played with a lot desire as well. They're just a very good ball club. We just got beat by a good ball club. We know to we have to face another good ball club in North Putnam tomorrow night. We just have to keep working and we knew it was going to be a tough year but we have to stay positive.

"I believe in these guys and I believe that we will be a fine ball club by the end of the season," Rady concluded.

Greencastle will face South Putnam in the championship game at 8 p.m. tonight, while Cloverdale will battle North Putnam in the consolation game at 6:30 p.m.

At Greencastle

Putnam County Classic

Game two

Cloverdale 7 20 33 44

Greencastle 9 19 38 51

Individual statistics

Cloverdale -- Moon-12, Lovins-11, Hayden-10, Salter-4, Kukman-3, Clark-2, Moore-2

Greencastle -- Nobles-14, Marshall-12, Bartrum-11, Hickam-6, Huber-3, Shuee-3, Moore-3

Next game -- Greencastle will face South Putnam in the championship game at 8 p.m. tonight, while Cloverdale will battle North Putnam in the consolation game at 6:30 p.m.

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