Pirates overcome early deficit, rally past Greenwood
When these two teams met back on Dec. 5 in the Pierce City Tournament championship game, the game was essentially over before it even started.
Nearly three months after the 29-point drubbing put on by Crane, things were awfully more interesting this time around as the top-seeded Pirates (20-7) erased an eight-point deficit in the third quarter to come away with a 54-48 victory over a Greenwood (14-11) squad that simply came ready to play.
Thanks to a fairly methodical attack that was led by a 14-point first half performance from 6-foot-4 Greenwood junior Julius Walker, the Blue Jays jumped out to a 29-23 lead at halftime – preventing Crane from getting into an offensive rhythm.
“The biggest struggle early on was just the fact that we started playing their game,” Crane coach Craig Campbell said. “They wanted to slow the ballgame down and we wanted to push the tempo.”
Greenwood would see its success continue into the opening two minutes of the third quarter as Walker, one of the toughest matchups all year for Campbell's team, converted a driving layup to stretch the Blue Jay lead to eight at the frame's 6:34 mark.
“He's strong inside, he makes good moves and he can handle the ball with either hand,” Greenwood coach Darren Taylor said of Walker. “He's had a heck of a first three years.”
With Crane struggling over the next several minutes to make any headway on the scoreboard, the Pirates finally broke through in the latter half of the period – posting an 11-0 run capped by a big 3-pointer from senior guard Ramsay Cook to give Crane a 40-37 lead with 1:42 remaining.
“After we made that run and Cook hit that three to take the lead, I knew that was the turning point,” said junior Dalton Hayes, who scored 17 points in the win. “I knew we were going to come out on top. We had the crowd going, we had the intensity up and that's just what got us going.”
The Blue Jays managed to grab a brief 43-42 advantage early in the fourth, but Crane, protecting its home floor, outscored its Springfield-based adversaries 12-5 the rest of the way to secure the semifinal victory.
Senior Tanner Gold, playing while under the weather, bagged a team-high 22 points to complement Hayes' 17. Both players combined for 20 points over the final 16 minutes.
“They hit some shots when we needed them and they took care of the basketball,” Campbell added in reference to Gold and Hayes. “They kind of make us go. When they play well, the whole team plays well.”
Walker finished with 23 points to lead all scorers in the loss.
Box Score
Greenwood – 12 17 12 7 – 48
Crane – 12 11 17 14 – 54
Greenwood – Julius Walker 23, Gavin Litherland 16, Carson Turner 3, Joseph Brock 2, Garrett Nau 2, Matt Rowe 2
Crane – Tanner Gold 22, Dalton Hayes 17, Colton Elder 6, Deven White 4, Ramsay Cook 3, Robby Williams 2
Huge third quarter propels Comets to win over gritty Morrisville
It's amazing just how much can happen in one period of basketball – just ask Marion C. Early.
Weathering an ominous start in the form of a 10-2 deficit on Wednesday, the third-seeded Panthers (19-9) found themselves right in the thick of things at halftime, trailing by just six at 25-19.
Then, Marionville (18-10) finally showed what it could do – outscoring Morrisville 21-3 in the third quarter to completely steal momentum and cruise to a 62-42 victory in the C2 D11 semifinal round.
Seeing its turnovers mount over the first two periods of play, Marionville was able to take care of the basketball in its breakthrough quarter and converted its much cleaner play into a plethora of points.
“When you take care of the ball, you're going to get shots and we started hitting some shots,” Marionville head coach Paden Grubbs said about the third quarter. “Any time you make shots, it's going to make you look a lot better.”
Senior Jacob LaSalle led the eight-minute Comet charge, tallying a pair of 3-balls in a nine-point segment for him.
LaSalle would go on to collect a game-high 23 points in the contest.
“[LaSalle] is playing really well here lately,” said Grubbs. “We need him to and he expects it from himself. He's playing with a lot of confidence and he's making a lot of good decisions. If we have a go-to guy right now, I think he would be that go-to guy.”
Another bright spot for the Comets in the big third quarter was 5-foot-11 senior Mason Clevenger who, by his standards, put on a scoring clinic.
Not considered a bona fide scoring threat, Clevenger knocked down two 3-pointers of his own to help contribute off the bench.
“He's one of those players that's averaging about one point a game,” Campbell said of Clevenger. “Any time you can get a couple threes out of a bench player like that, it's great.”
Morrisville would manage to trim the deficit to 17 on three separate occasions after trailing by as much as 26 points in the fourth quarter, but the abrupt onslaught by Marionville was too much for the Panthers to ultimately handle.
“It happened fast, but that's what they're capable of doing with all of the talent they have,” Marion C. Early head coach Brett Rippee said. “That was something that we were obviously worried about. Give credit to Marionville, they got it done and we just couldn't get them to slow down.”
Box Score
Marion C. Early – 8 11 3 20 – 42
Marionville – 14 11 21 16 – 62
Marion C. Early – Jordan Criss 11, Brandon Bell 11, Josh Turner 10, Hunter Wilkins 4, Nick Beavers 4, Trenton Taylor 2
Marionville – Jake LaSalle 23, Rane Bateman 11, Tanner Wright 6, Mason Clevenger 6, Lathan Kerans 5, Brandon Horn 4, Levi Doyle 3, Aaron Head 2, Cole Brown 2
