Coble's 32 carries hot-shooting Tiger Cubs past Crawfordsville

Greencastle sophomore Ryan Coble drives in for a layup in the third quarter against Crawfordsville on Wednesday. Coble had 32 points in the win. (Banner Graphic/SHANNON HALL)

The Greencastle boys' basketball coaches had high expectations for Ryan Coble when his high school career began last season, and he showed why on Wednesday night.

Coble finished with a career-best 32 points, including 6-of-9 from 3s, and led the Tiger Cubs to a win against visiting Crawfordsville in the season-opener 62-57.

"It's a good win for us," GHS coach Troy Greenlee said. "In the first game of the year you never know how you're going to come out and I thought our kids really responded well."

Coble's incredible night wasn't a solo effort, but it seemed that way in stretches. He scored six-straight points in the first quarter to help the Tiger Cubs build a lead, 10 straight in the second after the Athenians had pulled ahead and sank a pair of threes to start the third quarter.

Any time Greencastle needed a bucket to regain momentum or retake a lead, it went to Coble and he delivered.

When the Athenians opened the fourth quarter with five straight points to take a 46-45 advantage, Coble tore off 10 straight for the Tiger Cubs, including back-to-back 3s, one a step-back shot from the wing the erupted the crowd.

"He is doing a lot better at moving without the ball and our guys are doing a lot better at finding him," Greenlee said. "When he's got open looks, he's got a chance to knock shots in."

The Tiger Cubs withstood a late push from Crawfordsville, led by senior Hank Horner who had nine points in the fourth quarter and made 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch.

Horner finished with 16 points to lead the Athenians but was just 3-for-13 from the field.

He hit a pair of free throws with 59 seconds remaining to cut the Tiger Cubs' lead to two but senior forward Seth Brown expanded it to four on the next trip down with a layup for the Tiger Cubs.

On the inbounds pass Crawfordsville senior P.J. Schafer was called for a reaching foul on Greencastle junior Colyn Foxx, which he followed up by wrapping Foxx up and lifting him off the ground. Foxx responded by lowering his shoulder toward Schafer and the pair was called for a double-technical.

It was Foxx's fifth personal foul. The Tiger Cubs missed both of the free throws from the personal with now just 30 seconds remaining, but three missed 3-point tries from the Athenians left the visitors short.

Coble added one final free throw to ice the game with six seconds left.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for the Tiger Cubs as the team struggled at times with the Athenians' half-court traps and ball pressure.

Senior Luke Brotherton started the game at point guard and played well, dishing out eight assists and blocking three shots, but when he was away from the ball Greencastle scrambled, turning the ball over 25 times as a team.

Those turnovers, along with the rebounding of senior Shad Conrad, were what kept the Athenians in the game. Conrad had 12 points and 12 rebounds, including a perfect 5-for-5 first half.

Greencastle made an astonishing 61.8 percent of its shots (21-34) from the field and kept Crawfordsville to 38 percent, but the Athenians had 16 more field goal attempts, largely due to turnovers.

As a whole the Tiger Cubs looked more comfortable on the court than last season, moving with confidence and playing with more assurance than the team that won just three games a year ago.

"A year of maturity and a year of experience really does a lot for you," Greenlee said. "We have a lot of guys that have experience so going against each other in practice really helps out."

While they had to withstand a few runs from Crawfordsville, the Tiger Cubs maintained a lead of around five points for much of the game.

Not wanting to leave anything to change, Greenlee began subbing defensive and offensive players into the game for each possession with nearly three minutes remaining.

Foxx and senior forward Seth Brown helped in the offensive charge, Foxx with his quickness and Brown with outside shooting, and juniors Adam Gerard and Anthony Mitchell were in for defense.

"We would have liked to get a couple more stops toward the end to ice it away, but that's the way basketball is," Greenlee said. "They've got a couple really nice players over there and that Horner kid is really tough."

Junior Brody Bollman, who started the game at small forward in a tall lineup for the Tiger Cubs, led the team with eight rebounds and three steals in the game. He also had seven points.

Brown finished with eight points, including a pair of 3s in the first half. As a team GHS was 10-for-16 from deep.

The Tiger Cubs are off until Friday, Dec. 6 when they host Cloverdale (1-0, 0-0 WCC) in the Putnam County Classic at 6:30 p.m.

At Greencastle