CAMPBELLSBURG
Coach Ryan Crase says his Trinity Lutheran boys basketball team will have to play at a higher level Friday night against Edinburgh than it did during Tuesday’s 66-40 win over Crothersville in the Class A West Washington Sectional.
“We’ve got to play the same defense, but we’ve got to step it up on the offensive end, move the ball better and play probably a little faster and just do our best and show what we’re made of,” Crase said. “That’s the goal. They’re a really good team.”
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The Cougars and Lancers didn’t play during the regular season because of COVID-19. Edinburgh (18-5) was ranked No. 7 in The Associated Press Class A poll this week.
West Washington defeated Shawe Memorial 77-29 in the first game Tuesday night and will play Medora at 6 p.m. Friday with Trinity facing Edinburgh in the second game.
On Tuesday night, the Cougars held a 31-24 lead at the half, then outscored the Tigers 35-16 in the second half.
“We sped the tempo up, played really solid defense,” Crase said. “We had a hard time hitting shots all night long, but once we sped it up and kept playing that same defense, we finally got to a point where we could build a little cushion.”
Crase said he was happy to see his team advance and is glad it didn’t come down to a last-second shot.
“You know, it’s first game of the sectional where everybody has got a little jitters, and you’re just trying to grind it out and pull away, and finally, we wore them down a little bit,” Crase said.
Jack Marksberry drove for a layup at the start of the third quarter to extend Trinity’s lead to 33-24, and he and Hudson Norton both had two field goals in the period to help the Cougars to a 43-30 lead going into the fourth.
The Cougars were holding a 49-36 lead with 5:45 remaining when Norton converted a 3-point play to start Trinity on a 10-0 run that put the game out of reach. Marksberry had eight points in the period.
Norton topped the Cougars (10-13) with 22 points, Marksberry scored 18 and guard Tyler Goecker 12.
“We definitely played more team basketball (in the second half),” Goecker said. “We were very stagnant in the first half. Our shots were not falling. We had to come up with a second plan. We had to drive. Jack had a big mismatch. He had had him one-on-one several times, and that is exactly what we needed. We’ve got to find our mismatches and execute. They have one really good player that we had to keep our eyes on.”
In looking forward to playing Edinburgh, Goecker said, “We haven’t played them. We’re going in there blindfolded. We’ll watch a lot of film on them. We’re expecting them to play a 2-3 (zone), and we’re going to move the ball around like crazy and see what happens.”
Marksberry was pleased with the Crothersville victory.
“I thought it was a good win,” he said. “We struggled shooting the ball (25-for-55), but we finally made some shots.”
He said the Cougars will definitely have to be at the top of their game Friday night.
Crothersville ended its season 4-19.
“It was a physical game,” Tigers coach Bobby Riley said. “We had two or three guys get hurt. Quinten (Keasler), one of my seniors, is one of my guys that kind of gets our offense going with Cable (Spall), and once he got hurt, I couldn’t really play him the fourth quarter, and that set us back a little bit more. We already had a hill to climb, and when you take one of your top two or three offensive players off the floor, it’s hard to recover from that.”
Spall topped the Tigers with 23 points, and he tied the school record for points in a season with 515 with Logan Brewer. Spall finished as Crothersville’s No. 2 scorer all time with 1,101 points, one ahead of Kelly Spicer. And Spall’s 100 career 3-pointers is second all time.
“We’re proud of that,” Riley said. “He had certain goals he wanted to get to, and I think he’s reached all those. As a player, he has done about everything you can do in a high school career. He helped us win our first sectional last year, and now, he’s right there at the top of the points leaders. He has had a great career. He was really upset (losing), and I told the guys even if we win the state championship, there comes a time when there is a last game for everybody.”
Riley believes the 5-foot-11 guard can play college ball.
“Sometimes, it’s time to move on,” Riley said. “I think if he (Spall) wants to play somewhere, I think we’ll be able to. That’s a decision he’ll have to make. We have all been at that point. We have passion for a sport, and sooner or later, we have to let it go. We competed, and that’s what I asked them to do. We didn’t have enough to get over the hump.”
West Washington Sectional
Trinity Lutheran;15;16;12;23;—;66
Crothersville;12;12;6;10;—;40
Trinity Lutheran (10-13): Tyler Goecker 4 4-5 12, Jack Marksberry 8 1-1 18, Jacob Sabotin 1 0-0 2, Mitchell Hackman 4 0-0 8, Hudson Norton 7 7-9 22, Sage Broughton 0 2-2 2, Kaden Hill 1 0-0 2, Caleb Williams 0 0-0 0, Evan Hunt 0 0-0 0, Charlie Hackman 0 0-0 0, Peyton Pollert 0 0-0 0, Kowan Gross 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 14-17 66.
Crothersville (4-19): Cable Spall 7 6-8 23, Quinten Keasler 2 0-0 5, Zach Helt 1 1-2 3, Damian Bowman 1 2-2, Domanic Stevens 0 0-0 0, Elijah Plasse 0 0-0 0, Devin Morgan 1 0-0 2, Matt Clouse 1 0-0 3, Jacob Moeller 0 0-0 0, Lucas Hilton 0 0-0 0, Logen O’Sullivan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 9-12 40.
3 point goals: TL (Marksberry, Norton), C (Spall 3, Keasler, Clouse)
Rebounds: TL 26 (Sabotin 6, Broughton 6), C 15 (Spall 5, Morgan 4)
Turnovers: TL 8, C 13
Fouls: TL 8, C 16