Tiger Cub boys lose on road to Monrovia Bulldogs 62-49

Greencastle sophomore Lane Winslow goes in for a layup at Monrovia on Friday. (Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT)

MONROVIA -- The Greencastle Tiger Cubs boys' basketball team was on the road Friday night at Monrovia. They went home with a loss 62-49.

The Tiger Cubs started out playing very good basketball in the first quarter. They forced four turnovers and only gave three possessions away.

Greencastle was also better on the boards, outrebounding Monrovia seven to six.

With time running down in the opening quarter freshman Ryan Coble threw up a half court shot that went in as the buzzer sounded to end the first. The shot pulled the Tiger Cubs to within four, 22-18.

"We gave up 22 points in the first quarter, that's 88 points in a game, You can't win any games giving up 88 points in a game," Greencastle head coach Troy Greenlee stated.

The second quarter was much of the same. Greencastle grabbed one more rebound than the Bulldogs and forced two more turnovers than it gave away.

But the Tiger Cubs still gave up more points than they scored.

The end of the half was the closest the game would be for the rest of the night and GHS trailed 34-27.

"We didn't defend well in the first half and I thought offensively we were OK," Greenlee said.

The second half was the momentum changer in a big way.

The Tiger Cubs scored only four points in the third quarter as the Bulldogs scored 19.

Greencastle turned the ball over seven times while only forcing two. The Bulldogs out rebounded the Tiger Cubs nine to seven in the frame.

The game was starting to get out of hand as the Bulldogs extended their lead to 22, 53-31, at the end of the third.

The Tiger Cubs made a late run at a comeback by scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter. Once again the Tiger Cubs out rebounded and forced more turnovers than the Bulldogs.

The game was over before the Tiger Cubs could build up enough momentum to make a last run at the lead and the game was lost.

"We dug ourselves a hole going into halftime then coming out the second half and allowing them to get the momentum that they got, that's really hard to come back from," Greenlee said.

Senior Nick Gilliam was the Tiger Cubs' leading scorer, putting in 19.

GHS wrapped up its West Central Conference schedule with a 2-3 record in the league.

Greenlee said the team had a lot of work to do before sectionals begin in a few weeks.

"We have many things to get better at, but I think we have had improvement throughout this year," he said. "We just have to work on at getting better in every area of the game. We need to make sure we are more alert defensively."

GHS plays again tonight at Brown County at 7:30 p.m.

At Monrovia
Greencastle 18 9 4 18 -- 49
Monrovia 22 12 19 9 -- 62