Greencastle picks up first win at expense of Cloverdale

Greencastle's Cole Hutcheson picks the pocket of Cloverdale's Levi Hilton on his way to two of his co-game high 19 points as the Tiger Cubs picked up their first win of the season 54-38 over the Clovers.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

Tough losses to open the boys’ basketball season Tuesday meant Saturday night was a chance for a refresh for Greencastle and Cloverdale.

Both teams shot well early but a 9-0 run from the end of the first quarter into the second helped the hosts to a 10-point halftime lead and a solitary point for the Clovers in the third quarter was too much to overcome as the Tiger Cubs got their first win of the year 54-38.

“We executed really well offensively in the first half,” Greencastle head coach Bryce Rector said. “We got a lot of really good looks at the basket.

“We struggled to get into a flow offensively in the second half and it’s hard to learn how to play with a lead. Sometimes, you tend to slow down too much but defensively we were much improved from the previous outing.

“We’ll continue to get better as these guys learn how to play together and learn how to win games.”

“Things slowed down offensively in the first quarter when we couldn’t get a defensive stop,” Cloverdale head coach Karl Turk said. “That bleeds over to your offense.

“(Greencastle) was making tough shots and that touched a bit of our confidence. In the second quarter, they packed it in tight and our guys weren’t used to seeing such a packed-line defense that our guys stopped moving.”

Sam Gooch started the game off by notching the first eight Greencastle points, hitting a selection of jump shots to answer Cloverdale after each made basket on the other end.

Tayt Jackson was keeping the pace, answering a Cody Evans three with one of his own while Mcguire Lee kept the score tied at 13-13 with a whirling layup, adding a free throw to make it 15-14.

Evans hit a second three in the quarter to give the hosts a 18-14 lead after eight minutes of play before Gooch scored twice to open the second quarter and Cole Hutcheson capped the 9-0 run with a steal and layup.

The Clovers were trying to play catchup but threes from Hutcheson and Gooch pushed the lead to 12 at 32-20.

“(Sam) is playing really well,” Rector said about the freshman. “The unique thing about Sam is he is finding ways that are getting buckets that are also high-quality shots.

“He’s getting layups, paint touches, a lot of high percentage shots and that can be very difficult for a freshman to do. We’ll look for him to continue his growth as it will get harder once teams start to scout him.”

Evans added a basket to make it a 14-point game before Lee hit a free throw, Noah Betz canned a three and Jackson scored the final basket off a block to make it 36-26 at halftime.

Neither team got off to a hot offensive start coming out of the break with Greencastle finally showing some life after a Jacob Simmerman free throw miss was rebounded and put back in by Hutcheson.

Simmerman added a layup while Anthony Adams and Evans scored off steals to make it 47-27 with Lee providing the only point, hitting a free throw with 1:22 left in the period.

“(Cloverdale) runs some good stuff and has a couple of really good basketball players that are hard to defend,” Rector said about the Clover offense. “We were set up at the start in a way that made ball screens difficult, so we started to switch things up in the second half, which took away a lot of the easy looks they were getting early in the game.

“They also missed some shots and we were much better on the glass than we were Tuesday night.”

“We talked in the locker room after the game was that a significant part of this loss happened in the summer,” Turk noted. “These communities are small and tightknit and we know who is in the gym and who isn’t.

“It was apparent that Gooch and Evans were in the gym and we didn’t have those same kind of guys working. Those guys, in the freshman class, were making tough shots while on the other end, we didn’t finish our shots.”

Cloverdale briefly cut the lead to 13 after layups from Lee and Jackson, along with a Scottie Mcguire three, but Greencastle was able to ride off any potential momentum to pick up the win.

Gooch and Hutcheson led all scorers with 19 points while Evans added 11 for the Tiger Cubs. Jackson scored 15 points for the Clovers with Lee chipping in nine.

Greencastle returns to action with a pair of road trips at the weekend, facing West Vigo Friday and Indian Creek Saturday, while Cloverdale hosts Edgewood Friday before traveling to Southmont Saturday.

“The next five games before the (Wabash Valley Classic) are really tough,” Rector said. “You have to go away on two very long bus trips, the first against a West Vigo team that brings everybody back from last year and is very experienced.

“Then you face an Indian Creek, which is always good, on the longest bus ride of the year. We then face a really good Southmont team, a county rival in South Putnam and a Sullivan team that had a chance to make it to the state finals last year.

“It’s a difficult five-game stretch that we’re going to find out a lot about this team,” Rector added. “We’re going to see how long they can play at a high level over these next five games.”

“We felt like we were in boot camp mode with a lot of guys playing football, so we were trying to get things in and be ready to compete the first couple of games,” Turk said. “We have a more traditional week with practice early and games at the end of the week.

“It gives us a chance to unpack some things. We’ll look at what we need to address but also coach the whole player as we’ve been working on coaching the whole team.”

Scoring

Cloverdale (10 2FG; 3 3FG; 9-15 FT) — Jackson 15, Lee 9, Betz 5, Mcguire 3, Hilton 2, Monnett 2, Johnson 2

Greencastle (18 2FG; 4 3FG; 6-8 FT) — Gooch 19, Hutcheson 19, Evans 11, Simmerman 3, Adams 2