Greencastle wins third straight JV tournament

The Greencastle junior varsity basketball team poses with its Putnam County Championship trophy. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

ROACHDALE -- The Greencastle boys' junior varsity basketball team won the 2013 Putnam County Championship on Saturday, defeating host North Putnam in the finals 27-21.

It was the third-straight win in the tournament for the Tiger Cubs, who were led by Luke Brotherton.

The junior had a complete game, scoring seven points, assisting on three of his teammates' six field goals, hauling in 10 rebounds, getting three steals and a block.

"I lean on him pretty hard," GHS coach Doug Hudson said. "He's a junior that -- most people don't know -- hasn't played basketball since eighth grade. We told him his minutes this year were going to be at the JV level ... but he can be a dominant player because of his quickness and his length."

The Tiger Cubs are now 11-5 for the season with four games remaining.

"We've got some scorers here, but we have hung our hat on defense," Hudson said. "I've been at this now for about 25 years all together ... They have the chance right now to have the best record of any team that I've ever coached."

Freshman Ryan Coble led the Tiger Cubs with nine points, though the team had an uncharacteristically poor shooting game, thanks in large part to the Cougars' tough, man-to-man defense.

"The kids gave 100 percent effort and did exactly what we asked them to do defensively," NPHS coach Bob Bowman said. "That's a 50-55 point team we just played. To hold them to 27, that's a pretty good effort. Of course it's hard to win when you only score 21."

Greencastle advan-ced to the finals with a win over South Putnam.

"I love coaching against (SPHS coach Chris Jones)," Hudson said. "He always has his team ready, we were just a little bit better than his team was this morning."

For North Putnam it was a victory over Cloverdale that got the team in the mindset to play a competitive game with the highly-favored Tiger Cubs.

"We're streaky," Bowman said. "With our kids, the ball goes through the hoop a couple times and everybody gets hot and we can throw in seven or eight in a row real quick. And then when we go cold we go cold ... They've been like that all year, but they're a scrappy bunch and they really go at it. It's a heck of a bunch."

Sophomore Brandon Hall had five points and a team-high nine rebounds in the loss, including five on the offensive end, all in the second half. Greencastle held North Putnam to just one offensive rebound in the first half.

Sophomore Jake Riggen had six points to lead the Cougars, and also picked up three steals.

North Putnam rallied and kept the game tight throughout, preventing the normally high-scoring Tiger Cubs from getting into the paint and creating scoring chances.

"That's a pretty good offensive basketball team we just played there and to hold them to 27 they did exactly what we asked them to do," Bowman said. "I think defensively we had a lot better plan (than last time we played). The kids executed perfectly."

Greencastle has now won the last three Putnam County JV boys' tournaments. The girls' JV team also won its tournament this season.

"I give thanks to the middle school coaches -- coach Girard, coach Foxx, coach Greenlee -- who I coach with at the varsity level, and also coach York, because those are the guys that really get them where they are and we just fine-tune them when they get to the high school level," Hudson said.

The Tigers Cubs host Northview on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

North Putnam will look to bounce back on Tuesday when travels to Covington at 6 p.m.

Greencastle junior Luke Brotherton (42) connects on a pull-up jumper in the finals of the 2013 Putnam County boys' JV basketball tournament against North Putnam on Saturday as Johnathan Newgent (24) and Jake Riggen (21) look on. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

2013 Putnam County
JV Tournament
Boys' Final at North Putnam
North Putnam.......6 6 4 5 -- 21
Greencastle..........7 9 4 7 -- 27