By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Lockwood, Mo. — One year after Lockwood took the eight-mile trip down US-160 and put a damper on Greenfield’s homecoming, the Wildcats returned the favor—and pushed its win streak to nine games in the process.
Greenfield (15-3) had four scorers finish with 11 or more points, helping the Wildcats outscore Lockwood (8-9) in each quarter of Friday night’s 64-40 win in front of a gym so packed for the two SRVC rivals that chairs had to be lined up courtside.
“We talked about grudge games,” Greenfield head coach Preston Hyde said. “We remember what people did to us last year, and we wanted to go out and ruin their night.
“But hats off to Lockwood. They’re well-coached and we knew it wouldn’t be easy. Our guys just showed up and were ready to play tonight.”
CLICK HERE FOR GREENFIELD VS. LOCKWOOD PHOTOS
MBCA Class 1 No. 8 Greenfield was led offensively by junior Marcus Wright. Wright finished with a team-high 16 points, scoring 13 of those in the first half.
The Wildcats led 5-0 early but Lockwood drew even at 7-7 midway through the first quarter. Greenfield closed the first quarter on a 12-4 run and grabbed its first double-digit lead early in the second quarter. That double-digit lead would stand for the majority of the final three quarters.
“They’re tough,” Lockwood head coach Aaron Shockley said. “You take away one kid and you got two others that can knock down tough shots, and they’ve got size that just seems to never end off the bench. It seems like when you get one 6’5” kid in foul trouble, here comes another one that’s just as talented and athletic.
“They’re playing really well right now. We knew that coming in, and we were trying to keep the game in our hands and at our pace.”
Colin White—who finished with eight points—is the only Wildcat listed at 6’5”, but Greenfield does list 12 players on its roster standing at least 6-feet tall. Lockwood has just six such players.
“It’s one of those deals where you can’t key on one kid,” Shockley said. “They’re too deep. For a Class 1 team, they’re going to be tough.”
Gage Dubs led Lockwood with 10 points. No other Tiger finished with more than seven as Lockwood was held to its lowest point total since Marionville and Walnut Grove held them to 31 points in back-to-back games in mid-December.
“Defense is keying our run,” Hyde said. “We had all Christmas break to work on our defense, we don’t have a holiday tournament. The kids bought in and they were in the gym every day. That’s something we’ve prided ourselves on and is something that’s pushed us through this stretch that we’ve had.”
Seven different Wildcats scored in Greenfield’s 14-point third quarter, with no one player scoring more than three points or making more than one field goal.
Dubs and Brady Oeltjen finished with six first-half points for Lockwood.
“I’m proud of these kids and how they battled,” Shockley said. “I told them that the first half might have been one of the most complete halves we’ve played.”
Greenfield will look to push its win streak to 10 games when it visits Pierce City (14-5) next Tuesday, Jan. 31.
Lockwood can get back to .500 with an SRVC win over Sarcoxie (9-9) next Tuesday.
“Expectations are high [for us] right now,” Shockley said. “We’re playing some different kids in different roles, so we’re still finding ourselves. I feel like we’re a lot better than 8-9.”
FINAL: Greenfield 64, Lockwood 40
Greenfield 19 14 14 17- 64
Lockwood 11 12 10 7- 40
Greenfield- Marcus Wright 16, Jalen Roby 14, Hayden Sims 13, Mason Jones 11, Colin White 8, Jerrett Esposito 2
Lockwood- Gage Dubs 10, Brady Oeltjen 7, Brady Waters 6, Logan Sparkman 4, Ethan Bates 4, Josh Osterdyk 4, Cade Holman 3, Will Beerly 2
