Greencastle forces overtime but drops season opener at Crawfordsville

Judah Amis made a major impact in his debut for Greencastle Tuesday night, scoring 10 points in the first half and 15 total against Crawfordsville as the Tiger Cubs were able to force overtime but fell 51-45 to the Athenians.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

CRAWFORDSVILLE – An opening night defeat for Greencastle looked certain as Crawfordsville was 6-for-6 at the free throw line down the stretch Tuesday night.

At least, it looked certain until the Tiger Cubs scored five points in the last six seconds to drag the Athenians to overtime.

In the end, the hosts would claim a 51-45 victory in the extra frame but not without several positives to take away for the visitors to start the 2023-24 boys’ basketball season.

“We got off to a slow start offensively,” Greencastle head coach Bryce Rector said. “Offensively, we didn’t hit a three in the first half and that translated into 16 points at halftime.

“We started to hit some shots in the second half and the offense opened up. Crawfordsville is really athletic, probably one of the more athletic groups we’ll play this year, they’re well coached and really hard to play against when they have a lead.

“With all those things taken into account, I was really pleased we were able to force overtime down five with 17 second to play,” Rector added.

A methodical opening to the game saw Crawfordsville strike first as Alex Saidian scored the opening basket of the season and Tyson Fuller added a basket to make it 4-0 for the hosts.

Newcomer Judah Amis showed off some nifty post moves to level the score at 4-4 for the visitors though the offense was cool otherwise as Crawfordsville got additional baskets from Saidian and Fuller to take a 9-4 lead into the second quarter.

Nathan Sutherlin and Sam Gooch both scored to close the gap to 9-8 though the Athenians would keep the Tiger Cubs at arms’ length the rest of the half.

Fuller was the main reason why, hitting two more threes in the period, the second stretching the lead to 19-12.

Amis added two free throws and a basket to bring the gap down to 20-16 at halftime.

“Judah was fantastic in the first half,” Rector said about the senior addition to the roster. “He gave us a nice boost and carried us through the opening periods.

“This team doesn’t know how to play around Judah yet and what you’re going to see, as the season progresses on, is this team learning how to play around him and letting the offense take shape from that.”

Another Amis basket to start the second half prompted a defensive shuffle from Crawfordsville to cut the 6’6” big man out of the offense.

Gooch was able to hit a three to cut the gap to one again but Saidian and Drake Burris hit back-to-back threes to make it a seven-point game at 28-21 midway through the third quarter.

Cody Evans scored his first points of the game before a Gooch three and free throw cut the lead to one again at 28-27.

Amis added a three-point play to tie the game at 30-30 and Sutherlin hit a three at the horn to hand Greencastle its first lead of the night at 33-32 entering the final period of play.

Saidian and Fuller scored to take the lead back early in the fourth quarter before Gooch converted a three-point play to tie the game again at 36-36.

Fuller answered back with a three and the Athenians began to create space as Burris and Fuller combined to go 6-for-6 at the line, giving the hosts a 45-40 lead with 17 seconds to play.

Evans, who struggled from the field most of the night, finally landed a three with six seconds remaining and, out of the ensuing timeout, Crawfordsville threw its inbounds pass out of bounds to give the visitors a chance to tie.

Gooch missed his first look but grabbed the rebound and his putback landed, sending the game to overtime.

Crawfordsville opted for a deliberate pace in the extra session, a decision that nearly backfired when Evans stole the ball but slid several feet out of bounds.

Saidian eventually gave the Athenians a lead with a free throw and Burris scored on a drive to make it 48-45.

Greencastle couldn’t convert from the field or the line in the extra session and Fuller eventually was able to seal the win at the line by converting 3-of-4 foul shots.

“Everyone did a nice job tonight,” Rector said despite the loss. “We only had 10 turnovers and anytime you have 10 or less in a game, especially with overtime, is pretty solid.

“The biggest thing was we had some poor shot selection in the overtime period and we just didn’t shoot well. Coming in, we felt we needed to hit six-to-eight threes tonight and we only hit four.

“We knew it would be a dogfight if we didn’t get around that number,” Rector added. “Even then, I’m proud of the effort tonight and our kids played really hard.”

Amis scored 15 points in his Tiger Cub debut while Gooch led the visitors with 18 points. Fuller led all scorers with 25 points while Saidian added 14 points for the hosts.

Scoring

Greencastle (14-31 2FG; 4-22 3FG; 5-8 FT) — Gooch 18, Amis 15, Sutherlin 7, Evans 5

Crawfordsville (11-30 2FG: 6-19 3FG; 11-17 FT) — Fuller 25, Saidian 14, Burris 9. McLemore 2, McCarty 1

Statistics