Crothersville’s Zach Helt puts up a shot as teammate Beau Napier and Medora’s Jayden Brown (5), Eli Sturgill (21) and Shepard Earl look on.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Medora’s Dawson Cornette tries to keep the ball away from Crothersville’s Devin Morgan during the second period of Monday’s game on the Hornets’ floor.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Medora’s Braxton McCory passes to a teammate as Crothersville’s Zach Helt watches the ball during their battle Monday at Medora.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Crothersville’s Adam Turner had inside position for this rebound as Medora’s Shepard Earl and Eli Sturgill (21) reach for the ball during Monday’s game on the Medora floor.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
There was certainly a buzz in the Hornets Nest on Monday night when Crothersville visited Medora for the second matchup between the two teams this season.
It came down to the wire, and while Medora dominated the boards for most of the night, the Hornets couldn’t get the two biggest rebounds of the game in the final 30 seconds.
On back-to-back occasions, Crothersville’s Preston West missed some free throws, but both times, West was able to get his own rebound. The junior guard knocked in just enough of his free throws to secure the 48-42 victory for the Tigers on Valentine’s Day.
It was a matchup that was close from the start, much like it was earlier this season when the two teams played at The Jungle in Crothersville.
Shepard Earl established his dominance in the paint early on for Medora. The forward sealed great position for himself down low and his teammates did a great job of getting him the ball for easy baskets.
It also seemed like any shot the Hornets missed on the offensive end, Earl was there to grab the offensive board.
He spearheaded the Hornets to an 11-8 lead after the first quarter, and Zachary Helt kept Crothersville in the game with a couple nice driving layups in the first period.
In the second quarter, Earl’s teammates started to get in on the mix. Eli Sturgill drilled two 3-pointers, and his second three put Medora up 23-12, its largest lead of the first half, and forced Crothersville head coach Bryant Layman to call timeout.
Braxton McCory and Dawson Cornette each hit a 3-pointer in the first half as well, but Crothersville was able to reel the game back into single digits.
Adam Turner hit two big 3-pointers in the second quarter for the Tigers, and Helt converted an and-one as Medora led 28-20 at halftime.
Earl had 14 points to lead all scorers in the first half, and Helt had eight points to lead Crothersville. Turner and Sturgill, thanks to their deep shooting, both had six points.
McCory started the third quarter with a driving layup for the Hornets to put them back up 10, but West quickly answered with his first 3-pointer of the game to cut it back to seven.
Earl had some more offensive put-backs, but then Crothersville went on a run led by Helt and West. Helt continued to find the weak spot in the zone and get easy buckets inside, and then West drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 36.
McCory came down right after the West three and hit a 3-pointer of his own to beat the buzzer and give Medora a 39-36 lead heading into the fourth.
Matthew Clouse and Beau Napier picked good times to get their first baskets of the night, as back-to-back buckets from them gave Crothersville its first lead of the game early in the fourth. Earl followed that up by converting an and-one to put Medora up two, then Napier came down and drilled a 3-pointer to put Crothersville back up one.
The Tigers remained up one as the clock ticked under one minute to play, and then Medora fouled West, who stepped to the line and made two free throws to put Crothersville up three with 48.1 seconds to play.
The Hornets turned it over on their ensuing possession, and that’s when West was able to make three of his final six free-throw attempts to secure the win.
West scored 15 points on the night while Helt added 16 to lead the Tigers. Turner had six, Napier five, Devin Morgan four and Clouse two.
Earl led the Hornets with 21 points while McCory scored 12, Sturgill six and Cornette three.
As good as the varsity game was, there was a thriller of a junior varsity game that took place before it.
The Tigers and Hornets needed not one, but two overtimes to decide a winner. Crothersville trailed a majority of the game but had a big comeback to take a lead at the end of regulation and the first OT, but Medora hit clutch shots in the final seconds of both periods to extend the game.
It was Crothersville that finally pulled away in the second OT, winning the game 63-57.
Both these teams will play Friday and Saturday this week. Crothersville (3-16) will have two home games against Lanesville and Henryville while Medora (3-17) will be at Cannelton on Friday and home for Washington Catholic on Saturday.