GREENCASTLE – A long, challenging 2022-23 boys’ basketball regular season came to an end Friday night for North Montgomery with a trip to Greencastle on the docket.
The Chargers led for a sizable portion of the contest but could not land the needed baskets to build on an eight-point lead in the third quarter nor could the visitors capitalize on the Tiger Cubs’ 0-of-5 time at the free throw line late, falling 44-42.
“Our kids did a great job of playing hard and following the gameplan for the most part,” North Montgomery head coach Chad Arnold said. “We just had some big mistakes numerous times in the game.
“At the end of the day, if we hit our open shots, we win by 10 or 12 points.”
North Montgomery (5-18) got off to the better start as Jarrod Kirsch nailed a pair of threes and Kelby Harwood hit a jumper for an early 8-3 lead.
Cody Evans hit a three for the first Greencastle (6-17) points of the game and added a second around a Cole Hutcheson basket to tie the game at 8-8.
The Tiger Cubs closed the quarter on a 7-0 run as Hutcheson scored at the rim while Sam Gooch added a three-point play and Anthony Adams added a layup, both off of blocks on the other end, for a 17-12 lead after eight minutes.
A methodical response from the Chargers saw the visitors start the second period with a 10-0 run, bookended by a three-point play and three from Drew Norman, flipping the five-point deficit into a 22-17 lead.
Evans finally broke the run but North Montgomery would only allow two points in the frame, taking a 23-19 lead into the intermission.
“Our defense got a little more stingy,” Arnold said about the 11-2 second quarter. “We started to follow the defensive plan and we did switch a couple of things as Drew did a great job on (Evans) while Kelby did a good job on Hutcheson and Ross Dyson did a great job on (Gooch).”
After a slower second quarter, both teams came out with a quicker tempo to start the second half, a choice that suited the Chargers as Kirsch hit a pair of threes while Hardwood added a layup and a dunk off a steal to stretch the lead to 33-25.
Evans kept Greencastle in it, scoring off a jumper, a drive and a three for seven of his game-high 18 points as the hosts stayed within arm’s reach at 35-30 after three quarters of play.
A trade of baskets between Gooch and Hopkins and threes between Evans and Kirsch left the Chargers still holding a five-point lead at 40-35 midway through the final quarter.
Gooch hit a jumper to cut the lead to three and Hutcheson would score the next seven points, starting with a three to tie the game at 40-40 before taking the lead off a steal and layup, later adding a basket after getting back his own turnover to make it 44-40.
Fouls had been mounting against North Montgomery and the Tiger Cubs were in the bonus with 4:51 to play.
However, the hosts managed to miss all three one-and-one’s, as well as another pair later on, handing the Chargers several chances to get back into the game.
Ross Dyson hit a floated just inside the final minute to halve the deficit but Greencastle managed to play the long game, using three fouls as resets and forced a final heave from Harwood with three seconds left that was offline.
North Montgomery will open sectional play at Frankfort Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. against Rensselaer Central.
Arnold was not disappointed with the effort Friday and said with a few more baskets, the team would be right in it against the Bombers.
“We’re really proud of the guys and we just need to hit some shots in the sectional,” Arnold said. “If we keep playing this hard and fix some of the mistakes, we’re going to be alright.”
