Tiger Cub girls reach WIC title game

Saturday, January 14, 2017
Elliot Gross of North Putnam goes up for two of his team-high 21 points against Greencastle as Gavin Bollman and Jack Hutcheson (34) defend.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

Cougars top Tiger Cubs in boys’ game

Greencastle’s girls closed out Western Indiana Conference divisional play undefeated with a 62-15 win over North Putnam on Friday night in McAnally Center, while the Cougars won the boys’ game 58-50 despite a furious late comeback by the Tiger Cubs.

The Tiger Cub girls had defeated North Putnam 38-7 earlier in the season, and have been playing the best of any WIC team since Christmas break. Greencastle got off to a 17-3 lead after one quarter, and following a 3-pointer by North Putnam freshman Dana Tennis to open the second period the Tiger Cubs scored the final 17 points of the half for a 34-6 lead at intermission.

Nailah Ray had six points in the first quarter and four more in the second, as she led a balanced Tiger Cub attack with 14.

No other Greencastle player reached double figures, but Bailey Shuee added eight, Gracie Smith had seven, Layna Robinson and Jalyn Duff had six each and Claire Gillen and Rose White had five each.

With the win, the Tiger Cubs improved to 12-7 and will have a week of preparation before hosting East Division champion Cascade next Friday in the conference championship game.

“It’s definitely one of your goals,” Greencastle coach Bradley Key said of competing for the WIC title next week. “With this new crossover format, you don’t know how many times you’re going to get to play for the title and put your numbers up on the banner. That’s why you practice all summer and all fall. We have a chance to do that.”

Greencastle’s divisional title was magnified by the fact the team started the season 0-4, but has greatly improved since that opening stretch against difficult opponents in Cascade, Edgewood, Owen Valley and Beech Grove.

“We’re getting better,” Key said. “I see a lot of progress from when we played Cascade the first time, and I’m very happy with where we are.”

Greencastle has now guaranteed itself an eighth straight winning season by achieving its 12th victory.

“That’s something which is a credit to this group,” Key said. “Because it wasn’t looking good early. They came in and worked in every day and worked every day.”

Key had indicated early in the season that he wanted his team to be playing its best basketball of the season in January, and to be hot going into the sectional, and both of those goals have also been accomplished.

He credits seniors Nailah Ray and Gracie Smith with helping right the ship.

Nailah Ray

“They both turned it up a notch in practice, and they were a big part of our turnaround,” Key said. “That’s what senior leaders do. I’m really happy with both of them right now.”

The boys’ game figured to be a back and forth, tightly-contested game and lived up to that billing.

Elliot Gross scored the first six North Putnam points of the game to put his team up 6-2 early. Colin York hit a two-pointer and a trey to help bring his team within 10-7 at the first stop.

Nick Costin and York hit treys early in the second quarter as the Tiger Cubs took their first lead at 15-14, before the Cougars went on a 7-2 run to regain control.

Gross made one free throw and missed the second with 1:17 left in the half, but got the rebound and scored on a putback to give North Putnam a 21-17 lead. Baskets by York and North Putnam’s Treyton Smith kept the margin at four points for the Cougars going into halftime.

York had 10 of his team-high 17 points in the first half while being guarded by Smith, who scored eight of his own in the first two quarters. Cougar coach Collin McCartt switched tough senior defender Duke Duff onto York in the second half, and the combo limited the leading Tiger Cub scorer to just 6 of 19 shooting on the night.

“He’s such a threat from anywhere on the floor,” McCartt said of York. “Treyton picked up a couple of fouls in the first half, so Duke did a great job on him in the second half. He still hit some great shots, but overall we did a great job on him.

“We did everything we could to stop him,” McCartt added. “We did a good job on everyone else as well.”

Smith finished with 10 points on efficient 4 of 7 shooting and 2 of 2 at the free throw line in one of his better performances of the season.

“He got out of sorts with some stuff,” McCartt said. “He was trying to push too much, and he got back to just making simple plays. That just kind of freed his mind a little bit.”

McCartt said he tried to set high ball screens for Smith and give him freedom to make plays.

“He made the right decision time after time,” he said. “He was really dialed in, and when Preston [Porter] starts knocking shots down things went pretty well. We continued to make good defensive plays after that as well.”

The third period was played to a near standoff. Greencastle got the first six points of the half to regain the lead on hoops by J.T. Matthews and Devin Clar and a pair of Nick Costin free throws.

Tiger Cub guard Alex Costin brings the ball upcourt against North Putnam’s Duke Duff during first-half action. North Putnam won 58-50 to claim fifth place in the WIC.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

Porter hit a pair of treys in the final 3:53 of the third period to help give North Putnam the lead back at 38-32 going into the fourth quarter.

Greencastle then hit a dry spell, not scoring for the first 4:07 of the final period while the Cougars were scoring 11 straight. Duff and Porter had treys in the middle of that run, and Corbin Judy had the first and last baskets of that lethal stretch.

“It was hard for us to stop the bleeding,” Greencastle coach Bryce Rector said of that pivotal section of the game. “I think they had two baskets off of offensive rebounds and putbacks, and that just can’t happen. There are times when you need a stop that you have to find a way to do it, and we’re not at that point yet.”

North Putnam still led by 17 at 53-36 after a Porter free throw with 2:24 left, but the Tiger Cubs were not finished yet.

York hit a pair of free throws and a trey to start a 7-0 run, capped by a Matthews basket, and it was 53-43 with 1:14 left. Gross made four straight free throws, and Matthews sandwiched a pair of baskets around an Alex Costin trey but the Tiger Cubs couldn’t get closer than the final score.

Rector admired the defensive effort by North Putnam on his top scorer.

“They did a really, really good job on Colin,” he said. “We have to do a better of job of finding open people when teams do that. You have to give them credit — they executed their game plan very well.

“It was a hard night for him, but he competed well.”

Gross impressed the Tiger Cub coach with his effort and tenacity despite being outsized underneath.

“He’s that type of kid who makes your offense flow and gives you some easy baskets because he’s such a scrapper,” Rector said. “He’s very talented around the basket. There were a few times he went right through the contact and finished. He was good in this game, and he hurt us.”

McCartt is not surprised by the 6-foot-2 Gross and his production against much taller opponents.

“We don’t even talk about that now,” McCartt said. “Elliot just goes after it. He knows where to be, and he has just got great instincts. It’s kind of like he knows where the ball is coming off, and he’s everywhere going after it.”

Nick Costin and Matthews had 10 points to support York.

North Putnam claimed fifth place in the Western Indiana Conference West Division with the win, while Greencastle finished sixth.

Girls’ game

NORTH PUTNAM (15) — Duncan 1-8 0-0 3, Runnels 1-5 0-0 2, Henninger 1-5 0-2 2, Sims 0-5 1-3 1, Parent 0-1 0-0 0, Spencer 0-2 0-0 0, Young 0-1 0-0 0, Simmerman 0-1 0-0 0, Lyons 0-1 0-0 0, Tennis 1-2 0-0 3, Osburn 0-1 0-2 0, Day 1-1 0-0 2, Sawyer 1-2 0-0 2, Gibson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 6-32 FG, 1-7 FT, 15 TP

GREENCASTLE (62) — Gillen 21-7 1-3 5, Smith 3-4 1-2 7, White 2-5 1-2 5, Shuee 2-5 2-2 8, Duff 1-5 3-4 6, Ray 7-10 0-0 14, Stoffregen 2-3 0-0 4, Nally 2-6 0-0 4, Robinson 2-4 0-0 6, Stevens 1-2 0-0 2, Weliever 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 24-51 FG, 8-11 FT, 62 TP

North Putnam 3 3 5 4 — 15

Greencastle 17 17 16 12 — 62

3-point shooting — North Putnam 2-10 (Duncan 1-5, Runnels 0-3, Tennis 1-2), Greencastle 6-12 (Smith 0-1), Shuee 2-3, Duff 1-3, Nally 0-1, Robinson 2-2). Turnovers — NP 19, Greencastle 11.

Next game — Greencastle (12-7) will host Cascade on Friday for the Western Indiana Conference championship. North Putnam fell to 1-15. Today’s scheduled game with North Montgomery was postponed; the Cougars will next play at Southmont on Tuesday.

Boys’ game

NORTH PUTNAM (58) — Gross 7-13 7-9 21, Porter 4-7 1-2 13, Smith 4-7 2-2 10, Duff 2-5 0-0 5, Judy 3-7 0-2 6, Webster 1-2 1-2 3, Mitchel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-41 FG, 11-17 FT, 58 TP

GREENCASTLE (50) — York 6-19 2-2 17, N.Costin 3-6 2-2 10, Matthews 5-7 0-0 10, Bollman 2-8 0-0 4, Clar 1-2 0-0 2, A.Costin 2-3 0-0 5, Hutcheson 1-3 0-0 2, Lucas 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-50 FG, 4-4 FT, 50 TP

North Putnam 10 13 15 20 — 58

Greencastle 7 12 13 18 — 50

3-point shooting — North Putnam 5-11 (Gross 0-1, Porter 4-6, Smith 0-1, Duff 1-3), Greencastle 6-14 (York 3-7, N.Costin 2-5, A.Costin 1-2).

Next game — North Putnam (5-8) plays at Monrovia tonight. Greencastle (1-8) plays at Edgewood tonight.

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