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Whitaker, Sutherlin pace Tiger Cubs by No. 2 Miners
TERRE HAUTE – Greencastle celebrated a triumphant return to the Wabash Valley Classic on Saturday, picking up its fifth straight win of the season with a 53-50 victory over Class 2A No. 2-ranked Linton-Stockton.
The Tiger Cubs now advance to Monday’s quarterfinal round, meeting Parke Heritage (ranked No. 8 in 2A) at 7:30 p.m. at Terre Haute North. Linton-Stockton now falls into the consolation bracket, and will be in a three-team pool with Terre Haute North and North Central. The Miners play at Terre Haute North at 1:30 p.m. on Monday in a rematch of the last two championship games, and then against North Central at Terre Haute North at the same time on Tuesday.
The Miners had finished as tournament runnerup the past two years, and were considered by many coaches in the field to be the favorite going into the event.
The Tiger Cubs came out of the gate the fastest, however, getting three straight treys from Brody Whitaker, Nick Sutherlin and Benton Parmley to open the game and take a 9-0 lead. Linton-Stockton responded with a pair of baskets, but Evan Alexander and Whitaker added treys in the final minute of the period the Tiger Cubs led 15-4 at the first stop.
No one thought the undefeated Miners would just go away, and they didn’t. Indiana State signee Lincoln Hale had a putback basket and a 3-pointer for the Miners, and Logan Webb had a pair of hoops as Linton cut its deficit to 18-13 late in the second period.
Whitaker added four points, and the Miners got baskets from Drew Smith and Hale to trail 22-17 at intermission.
“They didn’t make a two-pointer in the first half, and they led us by five,” Linton-Stockton coach Joey Hart pointed out. “The bottom line is that they shot a lot better than us. We got behind and we had to chase.”
The Miners started the game in a box-and-one on Whitaker, Greencastle’s Marian-bound standout who ranks in the top 20 in the state in scoring at over 25 points per game.
Linton-Stockton switched to a 1-3-1 trapping zone in the second quarter, and played straight man-to-man for most of the second half.
None of it seemed to faze Whitaker much, according to Greencastle coach Bryce Rector.
“I thought our kids came out and really played hard, and it helps when you hit some shots,” he said. “I was happy with our ball movement. Linton tried to do several different things defensively, and we were able to execute against all of it – especially in the first half.
“That really helps you against one of the better teams in the state.”
The teams traded baskets for the first half of the third quarter, with Greencastle still clinging to its five-point lead at 29-24 after a Braden Walters basket with 4:57 left in the quarter.
Greencastle’s Sutherlin hit a free throw and Cade Plew scored his only basket of the game to put the Tiger Cubs up 32-24 with 2:52 remaining. The reset of the quarter belonged to the Miners, though, as Webb hit three free throws and Hale added another trey to bring Linton within 32-30 at the final stop.
Whitaker scored 15 points through the first three quarters, but stepped up his game even more in the final period. A pair of driving layups, followed by a Sutherlin basket on a nice assist from Plew, put Greencastle up 38-32 with 6:30 left.
As was the case for most of the night, the Miners then put together six straight points of their own to tie the game for the first time at 38-38. Walters hit a free throw and missed the second, but the Miners got the offensive rebound and Webb eventually scored on a putback. Hale then hit an “and one” 3-point play, and the game was deadlocked.
Whitaker and Walters traded baskets to keep the score tied before Whitaker ran off five straight points of his own to break it back open again, for a little while. Whitaker hit a free throw, followed by a short jumper and then converted a steal into a breakaway layup for a 45-40 lead with 2:11 left.
The Miners could never regain the lead, despite getting treys from Hart and Hale in the final two minutes and another putback basket by Hale.
Sutherlin had a putback basket and a layup in the final 1:40 to keep the Tiger Cubs on top, although Hale’s trey with 53 seconds again cut the Miner deficit to just 49-48.
Parmley hit a short runner in the lane with 31.8 seconds left and Whitaker added a pair of free throws soon after for a 53-48 lead.
Hale hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds, but a late shot attempt that could have tied the game missed the mark.
Whitaker led all scorers with 28 points, while Sutherlin added 13 for Greencastle. Hale had 22 points and Webb chipped in with 11 for the Miners.
“They spread out our defense,” Hart said of the patient Greencastle attack. “They have an awfully good player, and their role players did a good job. It was just a tough day.”
Hart admitted that Sutherlin’s double-figure output was unexpected.
“[No.] 30 shot it better than he has,” he said. “He was averaging seven a game and had his season high.”
Rector agreed, and thought Sutherlin may have had an even better aspect to his game.
“He hit a couple of threes and went strong to the basket, but I thought he was tremendous defensively on Lincoln Hale, who’s one of the best players on our schedule,” he said. “You see those things offensively, but you don’t realize what a strain that is chasing around one of the best players in the state defensively."
Whitaker has added a lot of upper body strength with his off-season conditioning, and put that muscle to good use throughout the game – putting his head down and driving hard to the basket for layups and/or free throws which previously would not have been achievable.
“Brody has made tremendous gains in the weight room, and we saw that tonight on some finishes around the basket,” Rector said. “He was pretty good for the night, and it was good for him to be able to keep that going throughout the game.”
The Tiger Cubs were in the Classic field until dropping out after the 2006-07 season, Rector has been trying to get his team back into the tourney since taking the Greencastle job five years ago.
He loves the tournament-style format that the schedule offers, having the chance to play four games in five days with less and less preparation time as the event unfolds.
“We talked [Saturday] about breaking this whole tournament down into one day at a time, breaking those games down into quarters and breaking those quarters down into three-minute segments,” Rector said. “I thought we won a ton of three-minute segments. As much as it was a great win for our team and our program, our kids would tell you they expected to come over here and win. That’s fun to coach that.
“Linton went on some tremendous runs, and our kids showed tremendous poise in responding,” he added. “We are looking forward to Monday night.”
Sutherlin added four assists for the Tiger Cubs, while Whitaker had four steals and a team-high seven rebounds.
GREENCASTLE (53) – Whitaker 10-18 4-7 28, Sutherlin 5-13 1-2 13, Parmley 3-6 0-0 7, Alexander 1-3 0-0 3, Plew 1-4 0-0 2, Hutcheson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-42 FG, 5-9 FT, 53 TP
LINTON-STOCKTON (50) – Hale 8-20 3-4 22, Hart 3-7 0-0 8, Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Pyne 1-4 0-0 2, Walters 2-4 1-2 5, Webb 4-11 3-4 11. Totals 19-46 FG, 7-10 FT, 50 TP
| Greencastle | 15 | 7 | 10 | 21 | – | 53 |
| Linton-Stockton | 4 | 13 | 13 | 20 | – | 50 |
3-point shooting – Greencastle 8-19 (Whitaker 4-7, Parmley 1-3, Alexander 1-4, Sutherlin 2-5), Linton 5-15 (Hale 3-9, Hart 2-5, Webb 0-1).
Next game – Greencastle (6-2) plays Parke Heritage at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Terre Haute North in the quarterfinals. Linton-Stockton (7-1) plays at Terre Haute North in consolation bracket pool play at 1:30 p.m. on Monday.