Tiger Cubs battle to win in consolation final

Sunday, December 8, 2013
Greencastle junior Brody Bollman lines up for a shot from the baseline as South Putnam sophomore Trevor Long defends. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

The brutal rescheduling forced South Putnam to play two county tournament games with just four hours between them and the exhausting toll, combined with the defensive depth and pressure of Greencastle, helped the Tiger Cubs to a win in the consolation game of the 2013 Boys' Basketball Putnam County Classic on Satuday, 38-29.

It was a sloppy, slow game where both teams showed the exhaustion of the day but Greencastle coach Troy Greenlee said he was pleased his team was able to gut it out.

"I think we were emotionally tired, I think we were physically tired and obviously mentally tired," he said. "It was a tough game, but I'll take it."

The Tiger Cubs (2-1, 0-0 West Central Conference) trailed 8-7 after the first quarter but their greater depth started to come through in the second quarter. Greencastle subbed in a full platoon midway through the first quarter and worked 11 players in and out of its lineup throughout the game.

"We really wanted to come out with energy this game, and I didn't think we did that," Greenlee said. "We tried to give us a spark by getting some different guys in there."

The rest, and a few 3s from sophomore Ryan Coble and senior Seth Brown, helped the Tiger Cubs pull away.

Twenty of Greencastle's 30 first-half field goal attempts were from beyond the arc, a sign that the players lacked the energy to drive.

That fatigue was more present for South Putnam (1-3, 0-0 WCC), which had 12 turnovers and allowed eight offensive rebounds in the first half.

"You're going to have nights like this, but you've got to still be able to defend and rebound," SPHS coach Troy Burgess said. "We could make 100 excuses, but we're not. We just didn't play very well today."

Senior Trey Moore, who scored eight of the Eagles' 13 first-half points, was slowed after the break by the volume of defenders the Tiger Cubs had to throw at him, though he still finished with a game-high 15.

Trey Moore attempts a shot while being defended by Brody Bollman and Seth Brown. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

South Putnam was down by 13 after three quarters, but they scored to the first eight of the fourth to show renewed life.

The Eagles missed a few free throws and Greencastle junior Brody Bollman put his team on his back to close out the game. Bollman had nine points, six rebounds and five steals in the game.

As a team, Greencastle had just six rebounds in the second half but it was enough.

"We had the want-to, but it was just hard," Greenlee said. "Any time you're in a game like that, you have to have gut-check plays and I thought there toward the end we had a couple of those to kind of pull us away."

Senior Sawyer Arnold had five points and a team-high six rebounds for South Putnam.

The Eagles will attempt to regroup Friday at Cascade at 7:30 p.m.

"We've got a lot of work to do," Burgess said. "We've got great kids, they work hard. ... We've got a lot to work on, and we will. We'll be OK."

Greencastle next faces Cloverdale, a rematch of the county tournament opening-round game the Clovers won by two points. That game is Friday at Cloverdale at 7:30 p.m.

South Putnam (28): Moore 6-7 3-4 15, Arnold 2-9 0-0 5, Chestnut 0-3 2-4 2, Mitchell 0-2 0-0 0, Long 0-2 0-0 0, Vittetow 2-3 0-3 4, Masters 0-1 1-2 1, Rutter 0-0 1-2 1, Carmichael 0-1 0-0 0. Total 10-29 7-19 28.

Greencastle (39): Brown 5-10 1-2 14, Bollman 4-7 1-2 9, Coble 3-9 0-0 8, Gerard 0-3 0-0 0, Brotherton 0-2 0-0 0, Mitchell 1-3 1-2 4, King 1-5 0-0 2, Foxx 1-3 0-0 2, Nicholson 0-2 0-0 0, Hughes 0-1 0-0 0, Newgent 0-0 0-0 0. Total 16-45 3-8 39.

South Putnam8569 -- 28
Greencastle721117 -- 39
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