Brown County hands Tiger Cubs second loss of the season, 80-64

Behind an 11-of-14 team shooting performance from beyond the arc and a game-high 27 points from Kane Crabtree, the Brown County Eagles handed Greencastle its second loss of the season, 80-64.

The first quarter saw the Eagles jump out to a 6-0 lead behind two threes from Bailey Howard. The Tiger Cubs tied the score, 6-6, on an Austin Miller bucket with just under five minutes to go in the opening period, but that would be the last time in the ballgame the Cubs would possess at least a share of the lead. The quarter ended with Brown County up by seven, 19-12.

Two quick buckets by Greencastle to open the second quarter narrowed the margin to two, 19-17, but then Crabtee began to get the hot hand. The Brown County junior scored 11 of his total in the second stanza. Tiger Cubs' coach Troy Greenlee was forced to call a time out at the 3:16 mark, when a 12-4 Eagle run upped the Brown County lead to 34-21

The Cubs went on a mini-run of their own to close the half, and were able to make it a five point ballgame at the intermission, 40-35, thanks to Brennan Burks desperation half court trey as time expired.

Greencastle hung tough with the Eagles in the third quarter, primarily thanks to Burks' aggressive play in the post, The Tiger Cubs cut the Brown County lead to one, 52-51, with under a minute to play, but a Crabtree three on the Eagles' last possession of the quarter upped Brown County's lead to four going into the final quarter.

The final eight minutes belonged solely to the Eagles, as they went 7-9 from the field and 7-8 from the charity stripe to account for a 25-13 fourth quarter margin. Greencastle, conversely, was only able to connect on four of their fourteen field goal attempts.

Burks led the Cubs in scoring with 17 points. Drew Evans added 9.

A visibly disappointed Greenlee acknowledged that Brown County''s shooting performance was a major factor in the outcome, but was more concerned with his team's overall effort: "We just didn't contest well tonight. You gotta give them (Brown County) credit. I think our guys were shocked with the way they came out tonight."

When asked what he thought his squad needed to work on, Greenlee suggested that "We gotta get back to the basics of fundamental basketball...remembering to block out and closing out drivers."

The loss drops the Greencastle to 5-2 on the 2007-08 campaign.

At Greencastle

Brown County 19 21 15 25 -- 80

Greencastle 12 23 16 13 -- 64