Edgewood sidles past Greencastle

Greencastle junior Holden King gets two Edgewood defenders to bite on his pump-fake under the basket before putting in an easy layup on Saturday. King finished wtih 15 points. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

ELLETTSVILLE -- Every game can't be a classic, or none of them would be.

Such is conundrum the Greencastle boys' varsity basketball team found itself in on Saturday night, a 59-51 loss at Edgewood.

The young Tiger Cubs wrapped up the most intense game of the year less than 24 hours earlier against South Putnam, their county adversary.

"One of the things I told them before the game was, I was curious how we would respond after a big win last night," GHS coach Troy Greenlee said.

The Mustangs came out with a physical presence, a swagger, that Greencastle attempted to match.

The result in the first quarter was 10 Tiger Cub turnovers , nine Tiger Cub fouls and at 13-9 deficit.

"Initially (Edgewood's) physical play on the ball hurt us," Greenlee said. "We were a little bit caught off guard, even though we tried to tell them it's going to be physical.

"Once we understood, (Edgewood) is going to be physical, we're not going to get a lot of calls, we played through it."

The Cubs got their turnovers, and fouls, under control, then got junior guard Holden King going.

"For a while there in the first half, we weren't even getting shots," Greenlee said. "When you dig yourself a hole like that, it's tough to come back."

King had 13 points in the first half, sinking three-of-five treys and making up for the loss of five players (Nate Christy, Colyn Foxx, Brody Bollman, Nick Gilliam and Adam Gerard; two each) to foul trouble.

GHS is inexperienced, and inconsistent, but they're also deep. As King became an afterthought in the second half, Bollman took over the offense.

He scored 10 of his 12 points after the break, reeling the Mustangs in.

GHS took a one-point lead on a Bollman free throw with 6:53 left in the fourth, but Edgewood's 9-2 run that followed put the game away.

"We were right there until the fourth quarter," Greenlee said. "It could have gone either way. A couple plays here and there and we're right where we want to be."

Greencastle (2-9, 2-0) plays at West Central Conference opponent Cascade on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

At Greencastle
Greencastle 9 12 14 16 -- 51
Edgewood 13 16 8 22 -- 59