DOVER — It was an inside-outside game in a Crawfordsville 50-48 Sagamore Conference basketball loss to Western Boone.
The Athenians were on the outside, hitting 11 three-pointers.
The Stars lived inside, with 17 of their 18 field goals coming in the paint.
Add a 13-of-16 night from the line for WeBo, and they move to 5-12 for the season and 2-3 in the conference, while C’ville drops to 7-9 overall and 3-2 in the league.
“We have three guys who play hard all the time,” Crawfordsville coach David Pierce said after the game. “We have to find a way to have more than three at a time, and that means some lineup changes. We are two games under .500 and what we have been doing isn’t working, so some changes need to happen.”
The Athenians never led, falling behind 6-0 to start.
They tied the game at 17 in the second, and overcame a nine-point deficit late to tie the game at 45 and then again at 48, but the Stars came right back at the rim on the next, just like every, possession.
A field goal with 7.4 seconds left gave the Stars their last lead, and a shot by Crawfordsville was blocked at the buzzer.
“We finally got it done,” WeBo coach Dustin Oakley said. “We were aggressive defensively all night, and did a great job inside. Our guards did just a great job of starting the penetration and then dropping the ball off to our bigs close to the rim. We executed for 32 minutes.”
That part of the game was not lost on the Athenians.
“We let them get to the rim too much,” Pierce said. “We even tried packing the defense in, but give WeBo credit. They had five guys on the floor who played hard all the time. We didn’t.”
The Athenians were led in scoring by Tyson Fuller, as the junior hit six three-pointers for 18 points. Cale Coursey had a dozen, and Ethan McLemore added 11 points to go with a team-best seven rebounds. The junior also had four steals, two blocks and three assists.
Crawfordsville for the game was 16-of-44 from the field, 11-of-24 from deep and 5-of-8 from the line. They had 24 rebounds, with Fuller and Alec Saidian each grabbing six boards. They finished with eight turnovers.
The Stars, who earned their third win over a Montgomery County team this season (two over North) was led by Luke Barta, as the senior finished with 13 points. He completed his double-double with 11 rebounds.
Levi Legrange came off the WeBo bench to add 10 points, earning a shoutout from his coach.
The home team was 18-of-37 from the field and an impressive 13-of-16 from the line. They hit one three out of four tries. They finished with 29 rebounds and 11 turnovers.
“Tyson (Fuller) and Ethan (McLemore) both had great games,” Pierce said. “We missed some bunnies, but it comes down to offensive and defensive effort. It is all about execution, and it is time for some guys to get a chance to show what they can do.”
Both teams are back in action Saturday afternoon.
The Stars head to Clinton Central while the Athenians travel to Riverton Parke.
The junior varsity game went Crawfordsville’s way with a Sports Center ending.
With 2.1 seconds left in overtime, Athenians sophomore Jude Coursey threw a high-arching, length of the floor pass into double coverage.
Kadon Patton got just enough control of the ball to pass it from one side of the lane to the other, where Rowan Gambrel was waiting.
Gambrel got the ball and laid it off the glass at the buzzer to give Crawfordsville a 40-38 win.
