Tiger Cubs pick up eighth win of the season

Saturday, January 14, 2012
Greencastle's Nick Hutcheson goes strong to the basket against South Putnam's Alex Kelly Friday

Greencastle made it obvious Friday they were going down low and they were going to go often, as post players Nick Hutcheson and Jesse Tesmer combined for 35 points in the Tiger Cubs' 66-42 win over South Putnam. The win is Greencastle's eighth of the season.

The Tiger Cubs got out of the gate early and saw Hutcheson score 10 points in the opening quarter. As a team they outscored South Putnam 16-10 in the first and 17-10 in the second quarter to take a commanding 33-20 lead at the half.

"We knew coming in here, you can't take anything for granted because we knew they would be emotionally high and ready to play," GHS head coach Troy Greenlee said. "I was really concerned with the way we would start the game, which I thought we did an OK job with that.

"Then once we fell into more of a rhythm, we were able to get some things going on consecutive possessions on the offensive end and even on the defensive end. It was just a good overall win for us," he added.

Hutcheson scored 18 points in the half to led Greencastle, with Tesmer adding eight. On the flip side, South Putnam had balanced scoring across the scorebook, with Sawyer Arnold scoring five points, with Logan Pell and Alex Kelly adding four each.

Greencastle continued to grow its lead after halftime, with Tesmer scoring the bulk of the points in the third quarter. South Putnam struggled from the field, hitting just two shots from the field, but converting 6-of-7 from the free throw line.

The Tiger Cubs closed out the game in the fourth quarter, with Hayden Stuckwisch knocking down three three-pointers to lead the charge. For the game, Greencastle shot 54 percent from the field, including 78 percent in the fourth quarter.

South Putnam head coach Troy Burgess liked the grit he saw from his team Friday.

"I thought the kids played extremely hard. Our kids fought hard and they played hard. I thought our post players Bumgardner, Chestnut and Kelly -- that's the best I've seen those guys. They played extremely hard for us," he said.

He said that when his team executes, they're a good ball team and he saw some good things during Friday's game. He said what the Eagles need to do is focusing on getting a balanced effort for the entire game.

"I think the first thing we have to do is get healthy," he said. "We have to get healthy, get everybody on the same page and going. When we start making shots it's contagious. One guy starts shooting well and then the next guy does. When we get ball reversal and the ball into the post and kick it out -- we have some guys that can shoot the ball pretty well.

"We do that for spurts, but I think it's just a situation where we have to do it for 32 minutes. We can't do it for 20 or for 15 or even 30, we have to do it for 32 minutes. And when we do, we can be hard to defend, especially with our post guys coming on like they are," Burgess said.

Although his team won big on the night, Greenlee didn't like a few things he saw on the court.

"We talk a lot about ball reversal, getting the ball reversed and making the defense shift. I thought we did a good job of that tonight, but what I thought we struggled with a little bit was getting people movement. We got the ball moving, but we stood a lot on the offensive end," Greenlee said.

Greencastle hosts Edgewood tonight at 7:30 p.m. while South Putnam is back in action on the road against Monrovia next Friday.

At South Putnam

Greencastle 16 17 15 18 -- 66

South Putnam 10 10 11 11 -- 42

Individual Scoring

Greencaslte -- Hutcheson 20, Tesmer 15, Stuckwisch 13, Huber 6, Gilliam 4, Haussin 2, Muncie 2, Gardner 2, Bollman 3. Totals: 27-50 FG, 7-15 FT, 66 TP.

South Putnam -- Arnold 12, Bumgardner 8, Gibson 7, Kelly 5, Hammond 4, Pell 4, Chestnut 2. Totals: 14-51 FG, 11-16 FT, 42 TP.