Tiger Cubs lose heartbreaker to Southmont, 54-53

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Dropping two consecutive games isn't how Greencastle wanted to enter its conference-deciding matchup with Monrovia on Saturday. But as coach Greenlee observed after Friday's contest with Southmont, now we'll see what the Tiger Cubs are made of.

Greencastle watched as Southmont went on an 18-5 run to win the game 54-53 after head coach Dan Chadd picked up a technical with 3:34 remaining in the game.

Turnovers took their toll on the Tiger Cubs as they committed 18 for the game, including 11 in the fourth quarter.

"So many of them were unforced," Greenlee pointed out. "I thought they (Southmont) played hard and I thought the officials let it get pretty rough and I thought they took advantage of it. Then our kids started losing their poise, which is something that is a little bit uncharacteristic of us. "You have to give Southmont credit for putting pressure on us; we just didn't respond to it very well," he said.

Greencastle had the game in hand taking a 27-14 advantage into the half even without the services of Brennan Burks who went to the bench early with foul trouble. Burk's replacement Kyle Nobles came in a scored eight points and picked up five rebounds for the Tiger Cubs.

"I thought Kyle Nobles came in and played real well for us in the post. We just were never really able to get Brennan on track and it was just one of those games where, I just can't put my finger on it. We just didn't play very well," Greenlee acknowledged.

The issue that bothered Greenlee after the game was Greencastle's failure to handle Southmont's pressure. Especially in the fourth quarter, the Tiger Cubs were unable to position themselves to break the press and more disturbing for Greenlee was the team's lack of fight.

"We got to have guys who want the ball. Sometimes when teams press us, we have guys shy away from getting the ball. We just didn't have guys step up and really take charge and that's something that's a little disappointing," Greenlee commented.

Greencastle faces Monrovia tonight in a matchup that will determine the outright WCC champion, a feat Greencastle hasn't accomplished since its 1988 semi-state team did it. Greenlee hopes that his team will rise to the occasion and walk away Saturday with the championship.

"We were hoping tonight would be something to get us going for that, so now we're going to see how we respond when a little adversity comes. We'll see what happens,'" he said.

Greencastle (11-6, 5-0 WCC) will host Monrovia at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

At Greencastle

Southmont 7 7 13 27 -- 54

Greencastle 14 13 10 16 -- 53

Southmont -- Price 6 4-5 21, Burkett 4 3-4 11, Actis 2 4-4 9, Truncone 3 0-0 6, Paris 2 1-2 5, Nichols 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16-45 FG 12-15 FT 54 TP.

Greencastle -- Burks 4 5-6 14, Marshall 4 5-7 13, Miller 4 3-5 11, Nobles 4 0-0 8, Faust 0 4-4 4, Bartrum 1 1-2 3. Totals: 16-41 FG 18-27 FT 53 TP.

3pt. FG -- Southmont 4 (Price 4), Greencastle 1 (Burks). Rebounds -- Southmont 25 (Paris 12), Greencastle 33 (Marshall 8, Nobles 8. Total fouls -- Southmont 24, Greencastle 19. Fouled out -- Vanscoyoc (Southmont). Turnovers -- Southmont 12, Greencastle 18.

Next game -- Greencastle (11-6, 5-0 WCC) will host Monrovia at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

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