EDINBURGH
Crothersville coach Greg Kilgore had a message for his basketball team.
“I told the boys that I have enough runner-up balls in the trophy case. I got three as a player and one as a coach. I want the trophy. I’m tired of the runner-up balls,” said Kilgore, a 1985 Crothersville graduate who has been coaching at his alma mater for eight years.
Junior Cable Spall scored 22 points to lead the Tigers to a 58-49 victory over host Edinburgh Friday night in Class A sectional semifinal play.
Crothersville (13-10) will meet West Washington (17-7) in today’s championship game. West Washington advanced with a 59-17 romp over Medora in the other semifinal.
The Tigers, seeking their first sectional title in school history, lost to West Washington 53-41 in the 2019 sectional championship. The Senators edged Crothersville 55-51 on Feb. 14.
Spall, a junior guard, sank 11 of his 12 free throws against the Lancers, all in the fourth quarter.
“I think he’s shooting 89 percent from the line, a pretty good night when you are shooting 89 percent and it goes up,” Kilgore said.
Spall said the Tigers picked up their play in the third quarter.
“We got good momentum. My teammates were pushing the ball and taking care of the ball,” he said. “They gave me the ball when I needed it when they started fouling. That helped us win the game.”
Spall had three 3-pointers in the first half.
“We came up short last year and this year we are really looking forward to winning it,” Spall said. “We’ve been pushing ourselves in practice and we think this is our year to win it.”
After the game was tied at 15-all after the first quarter, the Tigers led 31-27 at halftime. The Lancers closed the gap to 31-29 midway through the third quarter. However, Crothersville held a 9-4 edge the rest of the third quarter.
“I think our defense opened it up,” Kilgore said. “(Edinburgh) handled the pressure in the full court and half court for two and a half quarters. Then I think they got fatigued from seeing the constant pressure and it took its toll a little bit. We struggled attacking their zone a little bit in the first half and settled for 3s, and luckily we hit a few. We got it in the middle in the second half and that’s where you really attack a zone.”
Junior Quinten Keasler added 14 points for Crothersville.
As a team, the Tigers made 18 of 23 free throws while Edinburgh made just 3 of 7.
Sophomore Travis Jones led three Lancers (6-18) in double figures with 13 points. Freshman Caleb Dewey contributed 12 points and junior Isaac Roberts 11 points.
“We missed a bunch of easy buckets in the third quarter and it took some confidence out of our guys,” Edinburgh coach Keith Witty said. “They were down the other end and missed some tough shots. We kept battling all the way through by came up short at the end.”
The Lancers have no seniors on the team.
“I think our guys showed late that they can play at a good level,” Witty said. “We just have to get consistent. I told them in the locker room afterwards that the positive is they are all coming back. I think we got better from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, that’s always a goal. Next season we pick up where we are now.”