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Cubs get win over WIC champs
Greencastle needed a boost on Tuesday night, coming off a two-game losing streak into a rescheduled home game with Western Indiana Conference and First Financial Wabash Valley Classic champion Edgewood.
Colin York had an off night on Saturday in a loss at Owen Valley, but took matters into his own hands with one of his best games ever in a 64-59 win over the Mustangs.
York hit his first four shots of the game, a two and three 3-pointers, to give his team an 11-10 lead early.
York, who has 1,381 career points and recently became the school’s third all-time leading scorer behind Mike Troyer (1,550) and Nick Hutcheson (1,457), added six points in the second period, 12 more in the third on 5 of 5 from the field and 2 of 2 from the line and added five more free throws in the final period to help his team secure a badly-needed victory.
“We weren’t going to lose on Senior Night,” said York, who was honored along with teammate Jack Hutcheson. “We took a tough loss on Saturday night that we weren’t pleased, so we got back to work. This was a good Edgewood team that we beat.”
York’s career in McAnally Center could be over, unless the Tiger Cubs win the Lebanon Sectional next week and return home for regional competition.
“It may have been my last game here, so I just had to make it count,” York said.
“It hasn’t hit me last year that I played my last regular-season game here. I came out feeling good, and my teammates were feeding me. It was a good win.”
Greencastle coach Bryce Rector, who has won both games against the three-time defending WIC champs in his Tiger Cub career, was thrilled to see his team make a huge turnaround in such a short time.
“We told our kids that our effort and our execution was pretty pathetic at Owen Valley,” he said. “They get credit for causing us some problems, but we just didn’t have the intensity. There’s a huge difference in how you play when you have intensity and energy, and we had that tonight.”
Rector actually thought York’s shot selection and availability were not that much different on Tuesday than against Owen Valley.
“He had a lot of the same shots that just didn’t fall for him,” Rector said. “Colin and I have had some one-on-one conversations about how he’s so good that he needs to do a better job of trying to take over a game. It’s hard for him sometimes to have that mentality, and tonight he had that mentality that he wasn’t going to lose.”
The Cubs led 18-12 late in the first quarter before Edgewood scored the final five points to cut the gap to one at the first stop.
The visitors got going from long range in the second period, getting three straight treys from Howard, freshman Coleman Sater and another from Howard to take a 30-22 lead with 1:30 left in the half. York had four points in the final 1:23 of the half to cut the deficit in half at 30-26 going to intermission.
Edgewood still led 32-31 when York started an 8-0 run with three straight baskets. Brody Whitaker concluded the run with a hoop to put the Cubs up 39-32 with 2:58 left in the period, and a late York basket put the Cubs up 45-39 at the final stop.
The Mustangs scored the first five points of the final period on two Trevor Taylor free throws and another Howard trey, coming within one at 45-44 with 7:05 left.
Edgewood then started putting more defensive attention toward York, and Whitaker took up the slack with nine of his 11 points in the final period.
Whitaker also drew a tough defensive assignment on Taylor, Edgewood’s freshman standout, but had enough energy left to come through down the stretch.
“We talk about how if teams are going to try to take Colin away that the others have to step up,” Rector said. “Brody did a great job of that in a tough game against an excellent team.”
Edgewood took it s final lead at 54-52 with 2:24 left as Taylor hit a putback and added a free throw.
Whitaker buried a clutch trey with 2:05 left to start a 7-0 run and put his team up for good.
Not that the game was over, though.
The Tiger Cubs missed eight free throws in the final period, and had a crucial turnover in the final minute that helped keep Edgewood close.
Taylor hit a basket with 41.3 seconds left and Howard followed with two free throws eight seconds later, and the gap was cut to 60-59.
York was fouled twice in the final 27 seconds, though, hitting all four free throws to finish with 34 on the night.
Gavin Bollman added eight points and 10 rebounds, plus several crowd-pleasing blocked shots..
“When he’s active defensively, we’re really good on defense,” he said. “Any time you can keep a team from getting off a shot it helps your defense. Our fans are really buying into defense as well.
“I think they cheer as loudly for great defensive plays as they do,” Rector said. “The fans were a big part of the game, and our kids feed off that. That was a big difference between tonight and playing at Owen Valley.”
The Tiger Cubs will definitely be taking a more positive mindset into Friday night’ season finale at North Montgomery than it appeared they might over the weekend.
“We talked about how we had lost two games in a row where we didn’t play to our capabilities,” he said. “For us to bounce back and play this well against a top 20 team such as Edgewood is a big step as we put all our attention on North Montgomery. They are solid team with some good players. We need to make sure we get that one, or put ourselves into position to get it.”
The Cubs will open play on Wednesday in the Lebanon Sectional against Western Boone, team which they beat in January but only after surviving a 33-point output in the fourth period.
EDGEWOOD (59) — Howard 6-11 3-4 18, Taylor 4-13 5-6 14, Kido 1-5 4-6 6, Norris 3-5 0-2 6, Harrington 3-4 0-0 9, Collier 1-1 0-0 2, Sater 1-1 0-0 3, Cowden 0-0 0-0 0, Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Rogers 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 19-40 FG, 13-20 FT, 59 TP
GREENCASTLE (64) — C.York 11-18 9-10 34, Bollman 3-5 2-2 8, Whitaker 4-8 3-6 11, Parmley 2-4 0-0 6, Hutcheson 2-3 1-2 5, Wood 0-0 0-0 0, A.York 0-0 0-0 0, Sutherlin 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 22-38 FG, 14-22 FT, 64 TP
Edgewood 17 13 9 20 — 59
Greencastle 18 8 19 19 — 64
3-point shooting — Edgewood 8-17 (Howard 3-5, Taylor 1-6, Norris 0-1, Harrington 3-4, Sater 1-1), Greencastle 6-13 (C.York 3-6, Whitaker 1-3, Parmley 2-4).