The Cougars and Tigers battled in a Jackson County clash on Friday evening.

It was senior night for the Cougars as they honored Levi Pottschmidt, Kowan Gross, Peyton Pollert, Charlie Hackman, manager Evan Christopher and cheerleader Allie Schocke between both games.

Both squads came into the matchup at 5-9 with Trinity winning its previous two matchups over Henryville in overtime and New Washington. Crothersville was riding a three-game losing streak, dropping matchups to South Central, White River Valley and Medora.

Trinity would get the better of Crothersville in a tough 75-60 win.

Head coach Mike Lang spoke on the outcome with Crothersville.

“It was a hard-fought win. We knew they would bring a lot of intensity into this game,” Lang said. “We were fortunate to be tied at halftime, and they did a good job taking Hudson and Reed out of the offense in the first half, and our seniors stepped up.”

The game started with the Tigers taking possession of the winning tip. The game would remain scoreless through a couple of minutes as each team struggled to hit a shot. It wasn’t until 5:27 when Logen O’Sullivan hit a tough shot to take the 2-0 lead.

The Cougars finally got on the board with 4:19 left as Pollert grabbed the offensive rebound and got the basket to go to tie it up at 2. O’Sullivan brought it right back for a basket to take a 4-2 lead in favor of Crothersville.

Pollert then scored the next two points on free throws. He then grabbed the steal and took it coast to coast for the layup on the other end to make it a 6-4 game.

Pollert added a free throw to make it 7-4 with 2 minutes remaining in the first quarter. O’Sullivan then scored the next basket. Either Pollert or O’Sullivan scored each basket for the first 6 and a half minutes. As both teams scraped back-and-forth, it was the Cougars who held a slight 9-6 lead after the first period.

The second quarter began with another O’Sullivan basket. The senior had all eight points for Crothersville at this point. Gross then got a foul call, hitting one shot to make it a 10-8 game, until Pottschmidt hit a three-pointer the next possession for Trinity.

Beau Napier would then score a bucket for the Tigers to make it 13-10 with 6:40 left in the first half. Reed Mellencamp then got on the board for the Cougars with an easy layup to extend the lead to five.

The Tigers responded with another bucket from O’Sullivan, who seemingly got any shot opportunity he wanted in the first half. Hudson Lang then broke down the Tigers’ defense for a close basket to make it 17-12. He then got into an offensive flow, hitting another shot to make it 19-13, before Dirk Crater hit a three for Crothersville to make it 19-16.

O’Sullivan scored another basket to make it 19-18 with 3 minutes left in the first half. Crater then hit another three to give the Tigers a 21-19 advantage.

O’Sullivan was lightning in a bottle, hitting crazy shots through contact to keep the lead. Crater then hit another three-pointer to make it 27-23 in favor of Crothersville. Gross would be fouled and sent to the line, where he hit both free throws to tie the game at 29 at halftime.

The second half began with two straight Crothersville baskets to seize the 33-29 lead. Gross then converted a three-point play for the Cougars to cut the lead to one. Lucas Hilton got on the board for the Tigers with a mid-range jumpshot.

The teams went back-and-forth, ending at 40-39 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter with Adam Turner hitting some baskets for Crothersville to keep the slight lead.

Lang was asked about some differences for the team in the second half compared to the first.

“There’s a lot of emotions on senior night,” he said. “I think those got the best of us to start the game, but we calmed down and focused on the task at hand.”

Pollert then hit a mid-range shot to make it tied at 41. Hilton was then fouled from three, hitting two-of-three to make it 43-41. The third ended with a huge 11-1 Trinity run to make it 54-44.

The final quarter began with a basket from each team. Trinity continued to build on its lead, but the Tigers rallied back to make it 62-53 with 5 minutes left in the game. Mellencamp had a nice up-and-under finish for the Cougars to make it an 11-point lead.

Cristopher was even able to get into the game with the Trinity student section and fans going crazy for the senior, who is usually the manager.

The rooftops exploded when Cristopher hit a three-pointer in the corner to make it a 14-point lead. Trinity then cruised to a comfortable advantage before taking a 15-point win.

Leading the way for the Cougars were Pollert and Gross, who both scored 20 points. Pottschmidt added 12 with Lang scoring eight. Hackman added seven for Trinity.

The lead man for the Tigers was O’Sullivan, scoring 20 points. Crater scored 16 with Hilton and Napier both adding eight for the team.

The Cougars seized control over the Tigers in the JV matchup, taking a commanding 44-10 lead after the third quarter. Trinity continued to put it on Crothersville in the fourth quarter, taking a 54-15 lead with 3:46 left in the game.

The Cougars easily took a 44-point win over the Tigers.

Crothersville will now focus on hosting Rising Sun tonight at 7:30 p.m. before hosting Edinburgh in their next game on Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Trinity will now face off with Jac-Cen-Del tonight, hosting the 8-8 Eagles at 7:30 p.m. The team will then travel to Shawe Memorial to compete on Feb. 3 at 1:30 p.m.

Lang was asked about the upcoming matchup with Jac-Cen-Del.

“It’s going to be a totally different type of game. We have to come out and match their physicality and play with their size,” Lang said. “We’re going to have to get ready to play another strong battle.”

Trinity Lutheran 75, Crothersville 60

Crothersville (5-10);6;23;15;16;—;60

Trinity Lutheran (6-9);9;20;25;21;—75

Trinity: Kowan Gross 7 6-8 20, Peyton Pollert 7 6-8 20, Levi Pottschmidt 5 2-3 12, Hudson Lang 3 2-2 8, Charlie Hackman 2 2-2 7, Reed Mellencamp 2 1-2 5, Evan Christopher 1 0-0 3, Kade Gillaspy 0 0-0 0, Braxton Sinclair 0 0-0 0, Luke Schepman 0 0-0 0, Isaac Darlage 0 0-0 0, Totals: 26 19-23 75.

Crothersville: Logen O’Sullivan 9 1-1 20, Dirk Crater, 6 0-0 16, Lucas Hilton 3 2-2 8, Beau Napier 2 4-6 8, Adam Turner 1 1-2 4, Tymir Cromwell 2 0-0 4, Baron Riley 0 0-0 0, Josh Riley 0 0-0 0, Elijah Plasse 0 0-0 0, Corey Reynoldsn0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 8-11 60.

3-point goals: Crothersville 6 (Crater 4, O’Sullivan, Turner), Trinity 4 (Pottschmidt 2, Hackman, Christopher)

Fouls: Crothersville 23, Trinity 14

JV

Trinity Lutheran 64, Crothersville 20