Reprinted courtesy of:
Greencastle Banner graphic
two of the Putnam County Classic Friday. The Tiger Cubs defeated
Cloverdale 51-44.
Greencastle head coach Troy Greenlee expressed how pleased he was with the way his team played on the night.
“Any win is a good win,” Greenlee acknowledged. “Both teams
struggled from the field, both field goal and free throw wise. What it
came down to at the end was being able to make plays here and there to
score points and I thought our kids did really well doing this. We made
just enough plays to come out with a win. We knew that it was going to
be a tough game because it is always tough between Cloverdale and us.”
Greencastle won the tip. However, turnovers and missed scoring
opportunities kept both the Tiger Cubs and Clovers in single digits in
the first quarter.
Jordan Hayden helped Cloverdale close the lead of the Tiger Cubs to
only two points by hitting a three-pointer as the last seconds ticked
off of the clock. Greencastle led 9-7 after the first quarter.
Cloverdale tied the ball game at 16 and then took the lead with
1:33 left in the quarter 16-15 because of trips to the foul line that
were successful. Both teams made their fair share of trips to that
line.
In the final minute of the half, the Clovers came alive even though the
Tiger Cubs were playing tight defense and a lot of breakaways happened,
the Clovers led at halftime 20-19. That would be the last lead
Cloverdale would see.
Greencastle had the first possession of the second half and Ashton
Marshall took ball to the basket and scored two points. With 3:40,
another tie came at 26-all. The Tiger Cubs were able to take the lead
by using fast breaks and stealing the ball.
Brandon Moon hit a last second three-point shot that helped the Clovers
close the gap before the end of the third to five points. The score was
38-33.
Hickman was able to take the ball full court and score two points to start the fourth quarter for Greencastle.
The Clovers made two trips down the court, but came up empty handed. A
major part of the Tiger Cub defense was the ability to shut down the
Clovers’ attempts to go inside.
Fouls quickly became an issue for both teams.
With 4:59 to go, Cloverdale called a timeout to get his players
regrouped and settled. The fact that they were missing their free
throws wasn’t helping the Clovers’ effort. Jordan Hayden of the Clovers
hit another big three-point shot with 2:45 to go that closed
Greencastle’s lead to six points. Both teams continued to utilize their
benches.
With a minute to go, the Tiger Cubs led 49-41. Then Hayden hit another
three-pointer to close the lead to 50-44. However, there wasn’t enough
time for the Clovers to overtake the Tiger Cubs. The final score was
51-44.
Even with their struggles, Cloverdale head coach Pat Rady expressed
with pleasure with the effort his Clovers put forth on the night.
“I was proud of the boys’ effort. They worked extremely hard,
we just came up short,” he said. “Greencastle is a fine veteran ball
club. This is their house and they played with a lot desire as well.
They’re just a very good ball club. We just got beat by a good ball
club. We know to we have to face another good ball club in North Putnam
tomorrow night. We just have to keep working and we knew it was going
to be a tough year but we have to stay positive.
“I believe in these guys and I believe that we will be a fine ball club by the end of the season,” Rady concluded.
Greencastle will face South Putnam in the championship game at 8
p.m. tonight, while Cloverdale will battle North Putnam in the
consolation game at 6:30 p.m.
At Greencastle
Putnam County Classic
Game two
Cloverdale 7 20 33 44
Greencastle 9 19 38 51
Individual statistics
Cloverdale — Moon-12, Lovins-11, Hayden-10, Salter-4, Kukman-3, Clark-2, Moore-2
Greencastle — Nobles-14, Marshall-12, Bartrum-11, Hickam-6, Huber-3, Shuee-3, Moore-3
Next game — Greencastle will face South Putnam in the
championship game at 8 p.m. tonight, while Cloverdale will battle North
Putnam in the consolation game at 6:30 p.m.
Processing your request, Please wait....
