Boys’ sectionals tip off Tuesday

Sunday, February 26, 2017
Cloverdale's Jake Wilkes will be a key performer for his team in this week's sectional tournament.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

Greencastle and Cloverdale open boys’ basketball sectional play on Tuesday night against teams which they lost to in the regular season, while North Putnam and South Putnam have first-round byes and won’t open tourney play until Friday.

Greencastle is hosting Class 3A Sectional 25 and will play Crawfordsville in Tuesday’s only game.

The Tiger Cubs and Athenians met on Nov. 22 in the season opener for both teams.

Greencastle led 16-11 after one quarter in that game and 28-21 at halftime, before only scoring 10 points in the second half.

“We had a 3-point third quarter and that hurt us,” Greencastle coach Bryce Rector said. “As every team is by this point of the year, we’re a completely different team than we were then. It will be interesting, and it will be a great game.”

The Tiger Cubs are aware that playing in the spacious McAnally Center should help them as they try to win their first sectional since 2004.

“It’s at home, which is a big advantage,” Rector said. “I think our guys will be ready and come out and play hard. We are ready to get that rolling.”

Colin York had 14 points the first matchup with Crawfordsville, while J.T. Matthews added nine and Nick Costin had seven.

Devin Guard paced Crawfordsville with 13 points, while Cameron Harris added 12 and James Gineris had 11.

The Greencastle-Crawfordsville winner will meet pre-tourney favorite Tri-West (20-3) in Friday’s first semifinal game.

Cloverdale has won two straight sectional titles, and will have a tough road to extend that streak against a deep and balanced field in the Class 2A South Putnam Sectional.

“This may be as balanced a sectional as we have had in the last four or five years,” said second-year Cloverdale coach Patrick Rady. “You have a lot of teams playing really well right now.

“North Putnam has won three of its last four games, Monrovia has won 10 of 11 and Cascade has won seven of its last 10,” he added. “South Putnam is a team that plays well at home. It should provide for four competitive nights of basketball.”

Rady’s team wasn’t too shabby down the stretch, winning 13 of its last 14 regular-season games.

The Clovers have a lot of other positive factors entering tourney play, highlighted by having two of the state’s top six scoring leaders. Senior Cooper Neese has taken over the lead in scoring with a 28.0 average, and needs just 14 points to move into eighth on the state’s career scoring list.

Sidekick Jalen Moore is not far behind, averaging 26.8 points per game to stand sixth in the state.

One potential drawback for the Clovers is that their last regular-season game was on Feb. 18, 10 days prior to when they will tip off in the sectional.

“Our biggest concern with time off is that players lose their competitive edge,” Rady said. “We have tried to keep the practices competitive with various kinds of shooting drills, breakdown drills and five-on-five drills. We have tried to keep the competitive edge by making everything a win or loss.”

The first Cloverdale-Southmont game was memorable, since it was the game when Neese scored 53 points. The Mounties won the game 83-69, however, and fell off drastically in the second half of the season.

After posting a 6-1 mark before Christmas break, the Mounties were just 5-9 after that time — including a seven-game losing streak over the last half of January and first part of February.

Moore, who was battling illness, was just 1 of 15 from the field the first time.

The Mounties have a 1-2 duo of their own, as junior Cam Chadd and senior Kaleb Swick (as well as Moore) have also surpassed the 1,000-point career scoring mark.

Chadd is the state’s 55th leading scorer at 20 points per game, while Swick is 106th at 17.7.

“Chadd can score many different ways,” Rady noted. “He is very good off the dribble and shoot the three very well. Swick is very good in the post area and is averaging a double-double.

“We must defend the paint area and also keep him off the boards,” Rady added.

Two other Mounties were in double figures that night in juniors Cole Wemer and Ty Williams, while sophomore Justin Howard (7.2 points per game) is yet another threat.

“Howard is a player that can make you pay from the perimeter,” Rady said. “With so much focus on Chadd and Swick you can’t forget about him, and he is very deadly from 3-point range.”

Cloverdale averages 72.2 points per game and favors a higher-paced style of game, which Rady notes is also Southmont’s preference.

“Southmont is a team that loves to push the ball up the floor in transition,” he said. “They look to drive the ball and get you in foul trouble, and they are looking to get to the rim either by dribble or by post move.”

The Clovers improved their schedule for this year in order to prepare for the tournament, so Rady will find out how helpful those changes were. They won three games over teams from Illinois and one against a Kentucky team, and have also lost tough games to ranked teams such as Park Tudor, Danville and Linton-Stockton.

“All year long we have prepared to win three games in the sectional,” Rady said. “I think that is how you have to look at it. So when you think about conditioning and scheduling, you keep in mind that you will need to win three games in one week if you want to win a sectional.”

SECTIONAL PREVIEWS

Greencastle (8-14) vs. Crawfordsville (15-7)

Game time: 7 p.m. tipoff in Greencastle Sectional.

So far: Greencastle lost its first seven games, then won four of five before closing out the season by going 4-6. Crawfordsville lost three of its last four games before closing out the regular season with a 69-53 win at Covington.

History: Crawfordsville won 54-38 in November in the season opener for both teams.

Scouting report: Colin York paces Greencastle with 19.2 points per game, averaging 26.2 points over the last four regular-season games. Nick Costin adds 8.0 points per game. Crawfordsville has three double-figure scorers in junior Cameron Harris (14.6) and seniors James Gineris (12.9) and Devin Guard (12.6).

Cloverdale (18-6) vs. Southmont (11-10)

Game time: 7:30 p.m. tipoff in South Putnam Sectional.

Media coverage: WREB-FM 94.3 will broadcast all games involving Putnam County teams in the South Putnam Sectional.

So far: The Clovers started the season 2-4 but won 13 of their last 14 games. Southmont started the season 6-1 and went 5-9 after Christmas break.

History: Southmont won 83-69 at home on Dec. 3.

Scouting report: Junior Cam Chadd (20 points per game) and senior Kaleb Swick (17.7 points, 10.1 rebounds) lead a high-scoring Mountie attack. Cooper Neese (28.0 points) and Jalen Moore (26.8) provide a lot of scoring for the Clovers.

Sectional pairings

CLASS 3A SECTIONAL 25

At Greencastle

Tuesday

7 p.m. — Greencastle (8-14) vs. Crawfordsville (15-7)

Wednesday

6 p.m. — Western Boone (6-16) vs. Frankfort (6-17)

7:30 p.m. — Lebanon (12-12) vs. North Montgomery (8-14)

Friday

6 p.m. — Tri-West (20-3) vs. Greencastle-Crawfordsville winner

7:30 p.m. — Western Boone-Crawfordsville winner vs. Lebanon-North Montgomery winner

Saturday

7:30 p.m. – Friday’s winners in championship game

CLASS 2A SECTIONAL 44

At South Putnam

Tuesday

6 p.m. — Monrovia (14-9) vs. Cascade (14-8)

7:30 p.m. — Cloverdale (18-6) vs. Southmont (11-10)

Friday

6 p.m. – Monrovia-Cascade winner vs. South Putnam (6-16)

7:30 p.m. – Cloverdale-Southmont winner vs. North Putnam (10-13)

Saturday

7 p.m. – Friday’s winners in championship game

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