Strong start paces Cubs to win over Brown County

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

When it comes to tournament basketball, and especially between teams that know each other well, adjustments are the difference.

Greencastle coach Bryce Rector got to see his Tiger Cubs adjust Saturday afternoon in a 50-27 victory over Brown County.

Greencastle jumped out to a 18-4 lead, only to find the Eagles still circling just seven points behind, 20-13 at halftime. Brown County (2-15) held Greencastle to two points the last four minutes of the first half.

All that changed in the third quarter. Greencastle outscored Brown County 30-14 the second half and pulled away to a 23-point victory.

“Our guys responded well to them doing some nice things (defensively) in the second quarter and that’s going to happen as we go down the stretch (of the season). It says a lot about our guys and how they respond to coaching and how they make adjustments, so I’m really happy about that. That’s going to be something we’re going to have to do if we want to win a county (title), we want to win a sectional,” Rector said.

The Tiger Cubs improved to 12-5 on the year with everyone playing their role. Colin York paced all scorers with 22 points, hitting 3-of-4 from three-point range, followed by Brody Whitaker and Benton Parmley with 10 points each. Greencastle outscored Brown County 30-14 the second half and pulled away to a 23-point victory.

“I thought (Brown County) did a nice job of taking away Colin in the second quarter (three points and two shots), so we had to make some adjustments at halftime. I thought our guys did a nice job of responding to that. Colin was very efficient tonight and when he’s that efficient it makes things easy for us. I thought our other guys did a decent job of getting us some buckets when we needed them,” Rector said.

Brown County never adjusted to Greencastle’s Gavin Bollman. The 6-foot-5 junior dominated the boards at both ends of the court while pulling down 21 rebounds. Bollman finished with just four points despite dominating the offensive glass. Bollman grabbed eight rebounds the first quarter.

“That’s (rebounding) what he does. He’s really good for us defensively, takes up a lot of space. Man, he’s one of the best rebounders I’ve had a chance to coach. If we can get that kind of production out of him, we’ll take it any day,” Rector said.

Greencastle’s defense was solid throughout the contest. The Tiger Cubs not only held the Eagles to 27 points, but also 28 percent shooting (9-32) from the floor. And Greencastle forced BC into five of its 11 turnovers in the third quarter while stretching the lead to 35-21.

Greencastle returns to action on Thursday night in the Putnam County Classic at McAnally Center.

BROWN COUNTY(27) — Keefauver 2-8 0-1 4, Carter 1-6 0-1 3, McPheeters 0-3 0-0 0, Smith-Hardin 0-2 0-0 0, Scully 4-8 2-2 12, Yager 2-3 0-0 6, Ely 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 9-32 FG, 4-6 FT, 27 TP.

GREENCASTLE (50) — Hutcheson 2-2 0-2 2, Parmley 3-7 1-2 10, Bollman 2-10 0-0 4, Whitaker 4-11 2-4 10, C. York 8-12 3-5 22, A. York 0-0 0-0 0, Wood 0-1 0-0 0, Alexander 1-1 0-0 2, Plew 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-43 FG, 6-12 FT, 50 TP.

Brown County 4 9 8 6 — 27

Greencastle 13 7 15 15 — 50

3Pt. FG: BC 5-17 (Yager 2-3, Scully 2-5, Carter 1-3, Keefauver 0-1, Ely 0-1, Smith-Hardin 0-2, McPheeters 0-2), GHS 6-11 (C. York 3-4, Parmley 3-5, Whitaker 0-2). Total fouls: BC 17, GHS 12. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None. Turnovers: BC 11, GHS 8. Rebounds: BC 20 (Keefauver 8), GHS 35 (Bollman 21, C. York 4). Steals: BC 2 (Keefauver 2), GHS 5 (Parmley 2, C. York, Whitaker, Plew). FG Pct.: BC .281 (9-32), GHS .442 (19-4). FT Pct.: BC .667 (4-6), GHS .500 (6-12).

JV game: Brown County won 48-37.

Next game: Putnam County Classic Thursday at Greencastle.

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