GREENCASTLE — Saturday night at McAnally Center belonged to Greencastle sophomore Cody Evans, The night after playing a physical Sagamore Conference match against the Danville Warriors, Southmont made the short trip to take on the Tiger Cubs and it turned into a night South will quickly remove from the memory bank. The Mounties had no answer for Evans who poured in 30 points and Greencastle rolled to a 64-48 win.
Not only did Evans score 30, its how efficient he and his Tiger Cub teammates were on the offensive end. Evans shot 11-13 from the floor and that paced Greencastle’s offense who shot a staggering 22-31 (70.9%) from the floor.
Southmont coach Michael Byrum noted how tough it was to contain the 6’6 sophomore.
“We knew we were going to have our hands full guarding him because we don’t have anyone on our roster that looks like he does,” the first year Mountie coach said. “He’s very skilled and can attack the basket, shoot it from the outside. Against Danville we were able to handle their athleticism because we matched their level of physicality, and tonight I don’t think we did a good job of adjusting to the officiating.”
Along with Evans 30 points, Sam Gooch scored 15 and five other players scored between two and five points. GC shot 4-6 from three and 15-21 (71%) from the foul line. They grabbed 24 rebounds and the only area they struggled in the win was hanging onto the ball as they turned it over 19 times.
While the Tiger Cubs couldn’t seem to miss, the Mounties struggled to build any consistent rhythm on offense. Evan Watson led South with 11 points in the loss. The trio of Carter Hubble, Vince Reimondo, and Austin Foley all scored nine. Hayden Hess added four with Jacob Fox, Lucas Oppy, and Aaron McMasters scoring two. From the floor Southmont (2-2) shot 16-44 (36%) and just 2-13 (15%) from three point range. South did shoot a very efficient 14-16 (87.5%) from the foul line. They grabbed 20 rebounds and turned the ball over 14 times.
Last Saturday South, struggled against Cloverdale but were able to hang on for a very narrow win after a physical season-opening win over North Montgomery. Again on Saturday after another physical game against Danville, South struggled to play well in back-to-backs. Byrum said that’s going to have to change moving forward.
“In order to win championships and cut down nets, we’re going to have to play at least two and maybe three games in a week,” he said. “The reality of the situation is we have to get tougher mentality. Everyone is tired with that Friday-Saturday schedule. Saturday night’s are games where you really find out what you’re team is made of having to come back after a tough Friday night game and what kind of leadership you have. We’re kind of lacking in a lot of those areas right now. We’re not consistent enough right now because 2-2 is not the standard that we set for ourselves.”
Along with Evans’ career night, Greencastle head coach Bryce Rector reached a big milestone with the win with his 100th victory in his career with the win. In eight seasons with the Tiger Cubs he has an overall record of 100-79.
Southmont will be off until Friday when they travel for another Sagamore Conference double-header as they make the short trip to take on the Western Boone Stars.
Greencastle 64, Southmont 48
Score By Quarter
SM 7 14 8 19 — 46
GC 16 15 17 16 — 64
Southmont (2-2) FG-FGA FT-FTA PTS: Evan Watson 5-11 0-0 11, Vince Reimondo 3-10 2-2 9, Austin Foley 1-4 7 9, , Jacob Fox 1-1 0-0 2, Kyler McCandless 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Oppy 1-3 0-0 2, Hayden Hess 2-6 0-0 4, Cale Chadd 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron McMasters 0-3 2-2 2, Dawson Mason 0-1 0-0 0, Carter Hubble 3-6 3-4 9; Totals 16-44 14-16 48
Greencastle (3-3): Taygen McRoberts 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Gooch 6-7 2-2 15, Anthony Adams 2-4 0-0 5, Connor Sullivan 0-0 2-2 2, Nathan Sutherlin 1-3 1-2 3, Cody Evans 11-13 6-9 30, Judah Amis 1-3 1-2 3, Ian Williamson 1-2 2-2 4, Griffin Beasley 0-0 2-2 2; Totals 22-31 15-21 64
3-Point Shooting: Southmont 2-13 (Watson 1-5, Reimondo 1-4); Greencastle 4-6 (Evans 2-2 Gooch 1-1, Adams 1-2, Amis 0-1)
Rebounds: Southmont 20 (Oppy 5, Hubble 4, Foley 4); Greencastle 24 (Evans 8, Gooch 5)
Turnovers: Southmont 14, Greencastle 19
