It was Tigers Night at Crawfordsville as Lebanon took a pair of basketball wins from the Athenians.
Turnovers were the story in the girls game, a 46-16 Tigers win.
In the boys game, the 196th meeting in a rivalry that goes back to the first days of Indiana high school hoops, a big second quarter for the visitors was the difference in a 61-48 Lebanon win.
The good news for both teams and fans coming away, however, is that the rivalry will not stop being played with the dissolution of the Sagamore Conference.
A series that goes back to its first game in the 1908-09 season will continue, and it looks to stay in the same first Friday of December slot.
GIRLS FACE TURNOVER WOES
The Athenians had 19 more turnovers than shots as they drop to 1-10 with the loss to the Tigers. They are 0-3 in the Sagamore Conference, while Lebanon moves to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the league.
A close first quarter was followed by the Tigers scoring 13 of their 14 second quarter points after Athenians turnovers.
An 8-6 game became 22-9 at the half, and the problems continued into the second.
“Defensively we played well for a lot of the game,” Crawfordsville coach Joe Ferguson said, “but you can’t win turning the ball over like we did. We got scared as things got worse. We tried to do too much, and then the pressure started building as each turnover happened. It gets in your head. All the turnovers got us so out of our offensive rhythm. It felt like we played defense the entire game. There was never a chance for us to get into the run/pass/shoot part of our game.”
The Tigers applied pressure from end to end, and that pressure worked to the tune of 43 turnovers.
Bad enough, but those miscues became 35 points.
“We are better than we showed,” Ferguson said “We’ve beaten that press before. WeBo ran it last week and we beat it with three passes. Not tonight.”
The Tigers spread their scoring around. They were led by Claire Boling and Jade Mount with 12 points each. Nine different players got in the scorebook. They were 18-of-59 from the field, and only hit two three pointers and half of their free throws, but the easy points after the turnovers were enough.
Crawfordsville was led by Molly Pierce with six points on two three-point FGs. The home team was 4-of-24 from the field. Olivia Hedrick led her squad with five rebounds.
“We just have to get back to work,” Ferguson said “We have to focus on us, on what we do well and need to do better.”
The Athenians have games on Dec. 10 and 14 coming up, home games against Riverton Parke and Cascade.
BOYS FALTER IN SECOND QUARTER
The Crawfordsville boys scored the first 10 points of the game and led 12-11 after the first quarter, but a 19-5 Tigers advantage in the second eight minutes was the difference as the Athenians fall to 0-4 on the young season, and 0-1 in the Sagamore.
The Tigers shot the ball well, took care of the ball and scored a lot of points off turnovers to move to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in the league.
“We came out of the gates really well,” Cville assistant coach Danny Pierce said. ”That second was just too much. This young team is still looking for those four quarters of consistency. It was the fourth quarter against Seeger, the second half against Greencastle and now tonight. We are getting better, and the experience we are getting will make us stronger. These young guys just get their hearts beating so fast they turn the ball over. We’ll get their hearts beating a little slower.”
The Tigers managed to turn the young Athenians over 18 times, which by itself isn’t a huge number.
But, when the visitors scored 26 points off those turnovers, it was a huge difference.
They also shot well from the floor. After missing six of their first seven, they were just under 60 percent the rest of the way, finishing 25-of-50 for the game. They also splashed eight treys.
The Athenians would get the margin to single digits and a couple of rainbows landed to extend the lead.
At the top of the scoring list for the Tigers was Kaden Lock. The senior finished with 24.
“He played well,” Pierce said. “He is quick, athletic and a good shooter.”
“(Mason) McCarty played well,” Pierce said of the junior. We also have our younger guys playing better.”
McCarty finished with 11 points and was 6-of-6 from the line to go with three assists.
The young guys, freshman Johnovan Smith and sophomore Jacob Lee, had 14 and 11 points, respectively. They were also the leading rebounders with six and five and combined for five assists.
For the game, the Athenians were 17-of-36 from the field, 6-of-12 from long range and 8-of-12 from the line.
“It’s about making fewer mistakes, staying in control, and getting those four quarters at once,” Pierce said. “It’s more experience tonight, and we build on that.”
The Tigers have a rivalry game with Western Boone next Friday, and will take on North Montgomery and Southmont in January.
Crawfordsville takes on West Lafayette next Friday and will play the Chargers on Dec. 20.
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