Tiger Cubs get sweep of middle school titles

Thursday, January 31, 2013
Greencastle's seventh grade boys' basketball team won the 2013 Putnam County tournament on Wednesday. Members of the team include Jacob Harris, Preston Headley, Abe Wade, Gus Manion, Colin York, Nate Beaman, Nate Hensley, Blayse Hasty, Jackson Kendall, Brody Watson, Ben Gellman, Matthew Workman, Lucas Nevins and Jack Hutcheson. The Tiger Cubs are joined by the cheerleaders, head coach Sam Hirt and assistant coach Ryan Gullett. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

CLOVERDALE -- Greencastle boys' varsity basketball coach Troy Greenlee must have considered driving home from the 2013 Putnam County Middle School boys' basketball tournament wearing a pair of aviators on Wednesday night.

The future looks bright for the Tiger Cubs.

Greencastle won both the seventh and eighth grade championships, outscoring South Putnam and North Putnam by a combined 54-point margin.

Greencastle's eighth grade boys' basketball team won the 2013 Putnam County tournament on Wednesday. Members of the team include Noah Cook, Nathan Gobert, Dylan Wood, Rylan Lucas, Elijah Williams, J.T. Matthews, Nick Costin, Tyler Edwards, Brandon Workman, Duke Duff, Trey Scanland, Devin Clar and Spencer Rhine. Head coach Dave Stevens and assistant coach Nolan Costin are not pictured. (Bannergraphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

In the seventh grade championship, GMS knocked off SPMS 69-43.

The eighth grade Tiger Cubs beat NPMS 45-7.

The seventh grade game kicked off the night and the Tiger Cubs, led by the two-man scoring punch of Colin York and Preston Headley.

"We had beaten them pretty good earlier in the season so we expected it, but we didn't want to get ahead of ourselves," GMS seventh grade coach Sam Hirt said.

York finished the game with 29 points, with Headley not far behind at 21.

"(York) is one of the most talented players I've seen the entire year," Hirt said. "He's put up numbers like that all year. That puts him over 300 points for the season ... He's a scorer and he knows how to deliver the ball to other people, like Preston.

"(Preston) can easily put up 15-20 points any night either from behind the arc or driving to the hole."

Looking for an extra burst of momentum to close out the first half, Gus Manion drilled a corner three to give the Tiger Cubs a 33-17 lead.

Manion finished with five points, also adding several steals and assists.

"He has the best anticipation on our team," Hirt said. "That's why on the press we keep him at half court so if they make skip-passes over our heads he is there to steal it. And it's all the time. He's a great defensive player."

South Putnam's leading scorer was Wes Lesko, who finished 17 points. He also controlled the paint on both offense and defense.

Blake Clearwater also reached double-digits for the Eagles with 11.

In the eighth grade game the much taller GMS team set up a dominant attack that started with its defense.

Devin Clar led the attack, jumping into passing lanes and forcing the Cougars into several turnovers.

When Clar and Nick Costin missed in their steal attempts the GMS zone defense kept NPMS out of the paint long enough to recover.

It's been a dominant season for the eighth grade Tiger Cubs. The squad moved to 19-1 with the win.

"They play great defense," eighth grade coach Dave Stevens said. "They believe in the team-first concept. They always play hard.

"I never have to worry about coaching the things that don't take any talent. The effort, the talking, that stuff is always there. And when you put that together with the talent, that's why we've been so successful this season."

Costin led the offensive assault for GMS. He finished with 17 points, including three three-pointers.

Duke Duff added 10 more.

Clar finished with four points.

"Devin is our leader as far as emotion," Stevens said. "He's the first guy up (to cut the net). He's going to be the loudest guy up there. He's the guy talking and communicating. He's the guy that we rally around.

"(Costin) has a lot of talent. A guy that's been our leader throughout this year has been our point guard, Duke Duff. He's been the guy that, when we've needed a big bucket, when we've been tied in close games ... he's been integral to our success. Without him we'd have four or five losses."

Dylan Webster was the Cougars leading scorer with three.

Greencastle seventh-grader Gus Manion is careful to avoid touching the ball before it goes out of bounds. (Bannergraphic/GRANT WIEMAN)



At Cloverdale

Middle School Boys' Putnam County Championship

Seventh-grader Preston Headley dribbles up the court against the pressure defense of South Putnam's Jared Seidler. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

Seventh Grade
South Putnam 10 7 14 10 -- 43
Greencastle 21 12 14 14 -- 69

Scoring
South Putnam: Lesko 17, Clearwater 11, Crum 6, Burton 3, Zeffel 2, Burgess 2, Hutchison 0, Seidler 0, Bottorff 0, Croan 0, Hernandez 0, Alleyn 0.
Greencastle: Harris, Headley, Wade, Manion, York, Beaman, Hensley, Hasty, Kendall, Watson, Gellman, Workman, Nevins, Hutcheson.

Eighth Grade
North Putnam 2 2 0 3 -- 7
Greencastle 19 12 9 5 -- 45

Eighth-grader Noah Cook slips through the lane for a layup against North Putnam. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

Scoring
North Putnam: Webster 3, Judy 2, Schultz 2, Porter 0, Malone 0, Kendall 0, Wright 0, Mitchel 0, Bean 0.
Greencastle: Cook, Gobert, Wood, Lucas, Williams, Matthews, Costin, Edwards, Workman, Duff, Scanland, Clar, Rhine.

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