CROTHERSVILLE — The Crothersville boys outscored Medora 14-2 in the second quarter and 21-8 in the fourth to post a 59-43 homecoming win in the Tigers Den Saturday night.

The Hornets held a 17-14 lead at the end of the first period before the Tigers opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run to lead 21-17.

Eli Sturgill finally broke Medora’s scoreless spell with a basket at 1:45, but the Tigers closed the half on another 7-0 run for a 28-19 lead at the half.

Medora, sparked by four baskets by Shepard Earl, outscored the Tigers 16-10 in the third period to trail 38-35 going into the fourth quarter.

A 9-0 run over the first 3:10 of the fourth quarter sealed the deal for the Tigers.

Coach Bryant Layman, who has seen his Tigers win four of their last five games, likes the way his team is performing.

“We knew the second half of the season we could start getting tough,” he said. “I think tonight and (Friday, 78-56 win over Martinsville Tabernacle), people are starting to see what Crothersville can really do when we start playing within ourselves. We’re hot right now, and we know it. I thought we played really great tonight.”

Preston West topped all players in scoring with 22 points. He made four field goals and 13-of-15 free throws as the Tigers hit 23-of-34 for the game, including 15-of-23 in the fourth quarter.

Both teams made 15 field goals. Medora was 10-for-16 in free throws.

Medora coach Mark Morin said, “We got it down to 38-35 and they outscored us 21-8. We took some bad shots. If we would just be patient — we hit a streak where had a bad turnover and they hit and and-one (by Curtis Thompson with 6:51 remaining).”

“We got caught up on calls that were being made and weren’t being made, and we should have been caught up on how we were playing, not how it was being officiated,” Morin said. “They shot 23 free throws in the fourth quarter, and we deserved that the way we were reaching and hacking.”

Morin said he felt like his team was coming off of a good effort at Trinity Lutheran on Friday night.

“It’s disappointing with the effort we put in (Friday) night,” he said. “I don’t know if our decision-making is fixable or not. We get a two-on-one and instead of getting a layup, we pull up and shoot a 15-footer. I know how we can play. That’s what is frustrating. We have good practices, and then something happens between practice and the games.”

Thompson added 12 and Beau Napier 11 points for the Tigers.

“The ball movement was great tonight. A lot of extra passes around the rim helped us. We hit a lot of big shots from the outside,” Layman said. “We needed the big shots from the outside, and just a lot of pushing the ball. We’re tough when we’re in transition, and that’s where we want to score. We don’t care who gets them. We just want the ball to go through the net.”

Layman was pleased with the Tigers’ man-to-man defense.

“We went man about 97% of the time, and if you were to have told me that we could have beat somebody man-to-man, I would have called you nuts,” he said. “We’re not that type of basketball team. We’ve got to continue to get better defensively. We need to start trusting our other guys. Tonight, we trusted some other guys that we normally don’t, and that was the result.

Earl topped the Hornets with 16 points and led all players with 14 rebounds as Medora held a 35-27 advantage in that department.

“The big guy tonight was Elijah (Plasse),” Layman said. “He really did a good job on Shepard Earl, really shut him down, and of course, Beau did a phenomenal job on (Braxton) McCory. The matchups went well for us in that game”

The Tigers (5-7) will face two more possible sectional teams this weekend when they host Trinity Lutheran on Friday night and travel to Rising Sun on Saturday night.

“We feel confident going into Trinity now,” Layman said.

Medora (4-9) will host Vincennes Rivet on Saturday night.

Box score

At Crothersville

Tigers 59, Hornets 43

Medora;17;2;16;8;—;43

Crothersville;14;14;10;21;—;59

Medora (4-9): Shepard Earl 7 2-3 16, Braxton McCory 2 0-0 6, Eli Sturgill 2 2-2 6, Hudson Johnson 2 2-5 6, Jaxon Nugen 2 2-2 7, Eli Lane 0 1-2 1, Kade Wright 0 1-2 1, Totals 15 10-16 43.

Crothersville (5-7): Preston West 4 13-15 22, Curtis Thompson 5 2-3 12, Elijah Plasse 0 4-8 4, Lucas Hilton 1 0-0 2, Beau Napier 3 4-6 11, Dirk Crater 2 2-2 7, Totals 15 23-34 59.

3-point goals: C 3 (West, Napier, Crater), M 3 (McCory 2, Nugen).

Rebounds: C 27 (West 10, Thompson 7), M 35 (Earl 14, Johnson 7).

Turnovers: M 13, C 8.

Junior varsity

Medora 53, Crothersville 31

Medora: Wright 16, Lane 15, Dawson Cornett 8, Brandon Albertson 6, Wesley Goen 4, Kacie Inscoe 4.

Crothersville: Corey Kelshaw 17, Crater 6, Corey Reynolds 4, Brent Clouse 4.