CROTHERSVILLE
After three days of being grounded with no school and no practice because of bad winter weather, Crothersville coach Bobby Riley worried about how his team might respond in a game that counted Friday night.
His fears were warranted. The Tigers fell behind early and didn’t seem sharp until the fourth quarter in a 56-44 boys basketball loss to visiting West Washington.
“I was disappointed,” Riley said. “I was afraid we would be flat. It took us three quarters to work the rust off.”
One quarter for each sidelined day of practice. With a schedule disrupted regularly by the coronavirus, the Tigers did not want to give in to weather, too, and were concerned a missed game now could not be made up before the conclusion of the regular season at the end of February.
Despite Riley’s misgivings, the Tigers (3-13) stuck with the schedule against West Washington (7-8), at least partially because it was Senior Night for Crothersville. It was supposed to be the last home game of the season, as well, but in the constantly revolving-door schedule, the Tigers added another home game for today at 1 p.m. versus Springs Valley.
The Senators were highly efficient on offense, burning the Tigers on lay-ups, but also mixing in three-point jumpers. Crothersville fell behind quickly, made a brief run to end the first quarter down just 13-9, but could not get any closer.
West Washington went on an 11-0 second-period run keyed by 6-foot-1 senior Parker Green, who scored all 19 of hits points in the first half.
“We let him get going early,” Riley said.
Lane Hoefler added 15 points and his three way-out-there 3 pointers gave the Senators some offensive balance.
The lead ballooned to 31-11 at the intermission and although the Tigers revved up their scoring a bit, the Senators maintained a wide margin. The score was 46-22 after three periods before the Tigers began a mini-rally.
On the bench, before the fourth period, Riley told his players, “I need some intensity from you guys.” They were the magic words and Crothersville won the quarter 22-10.
“Then everything kicked in,” Riley said.
But it was too late.
Crothersville guard Cable Spall, who led his team with 21 points, was one of the four seniors in uniform, joined Dominic Stevens, Jacob Moeller and Quinten Keasler.
Spall was unsparing in his critique of what Crothersville could have done better.
“We needed to rebound, move the ball better and play better defense,” he said.
As an ongoing sub-plot to the season, Spall is seeking to top 1,000 points in his career. Going into this contest he needed 71 points to reach that mark, so he is just 50 points shy with today’s game, five straight road games, and then at least one sectional game to pull off the feat,
It felt a bit odd to be one of the seniors being recognized on Senior Night, he said, with high school seeming to be zipping along.
“It flew by,” he said.
Guard Zach Helt contributed 9 points and 6 rebounds for the Tigers. Other scorers included Moeller and Matthew Clouse with 3 points each and Stevens with 2 points.
Keasler, who scored 6 points and collected 6 rebounds, seemed more reflective about where all the time had gone.
“The other guys were the older guys,” Keasler said. “It’s kind of hard to realize.”
This was one of the only times this season Crothersville has been permitted to have a crowd at a home game. The volleyball team went through the entire fall without home fans. This is the second game the boys basketball team has had home fans.
“It feels weird when people are not here,” Keasler said of the empty gym. “When they are here, it means people are watching you. You can’t quit.”
The Tigers did not quit. Riley even wondered if there was another period, a fifth quarter to play, if they would have gotten even better.
“Seriously, yeah,” he said.
At Crothersville