Greenfield boys hold back Peabody Tide
Greenfield boys hold back Peabody Tide Posted: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 12:02 am
The Greenfield girls made it a sweep, winning 54-36 thanks to hard work in the paint by Shameilla McMullen and Emily Randolph. As for the District 14-A boys race, Peabody was still basking in the glow of a holiday tournament win over the highly-touted Humboldt boys. Though it didn’t count in the district standings, it did prove the HHS Vikings are human. Greenfield came close to big wins earlier this season. The Jackets pushed Lake County to the brink and sent their match with Union City into overtime. Finally the Jackets came through with the win. After a close, back-and-forth first half found Peabody ahead by two, 24-22, the Tide got a 3-pointer each from Dylan Slayton and Tyler Gadlen to stretch its lead to five at 32-27 in the first two minutes of the third quarter. From there, the Jackets took control using excellent ball movement on offense and great work on the defensive end. The combination allowed Greenfield to put together a 15-5 run to carry a 42-37 lead into the fourth quarter. During the third, the Jackets got two big threes from Wes Clark and another trey from Heath Crouse. Graham Perkins and Tyler Jones each tallied four points in the frame. Often overlooked Dalton Potts came up with rebounds and assists to aid GHS. The Greenfield lead stretched to six, 43-37 on a Crouse free throw to open the final frame. Then Gadlen got hot again from the outside. He drilled his fourth trey of the game to cut the Jacket lead in half. The damage could have been greater. Fouled on the shot, he failed to make the free throw for the rare 4-point play. Galden’s charity-stripe miss set a trend that played a pivotal role in the game. The Tide hit only 6-of-12 free throws in the fourth, while the Jackets connected on 16-of-18 free-throw shots in the fourth. Jones was 6-of-6 at the line. Clark hit all four of his attempts, while Crouse connected on 6-of-8 tries. Via free-throw connections, the Jacket lead peaked at 11 points, 51-40, with 5:41 left to play. Peabody amped up the defensive pressure and forced four turnovers and blocked a shot on five GHS possessions in about 90 seconds of clock time. The Jackets’ lead was trimmed to six, 51-45, in that span. A technical assessed to Jacket mentor Pete Angelos with 3:29 to play and his team in possession of the ball and an eight-point lead could have been disastrous. However, the Tide hit only one free throw and turned the ball over on a Crouse steal. After a Clark miss, Peabody cut the gap to one possession, 53-50, with another Gadlen trey and an Adrian Buchanan free throw at the 2:10 mark. Four Jones free throws countered two free throws from Quenton Johnson and one from Gadlen. Gadlen refused to let the Tide fold, nailing a long 3-pointer from the top to slice the deficit to a point, 57-56, with 73 ticks remaining. The Jackets then broke the Peabody press and Clark passed to Jones for a layup. On defense, Clark snared a rebound with less than a minute to play. Fouled bringing the ball up the court, he hit his both free throws, as did Crouse and Jones in the waning seconds to ice the 65-58 win. The Jackets had four players score in double digits topped by Clark’s 18, followed by Crouse’s 16, Jones’ 14 and Graham Perkins 12 points. Peabody’s Gadlen topped all scorers with 19 points. In the Lady Jackets’ 54-36 victory, Shameilla McMullen was not to be denied. McMullen repeatedly scored off dribble drives and with post-up moves. She dominated the glass, and when she didn’t snare the rebound her teammate Emily Randolph grabbed the carom for GHS. McMullen scored eight of Greenfield’s 12 first-quarter points for a 12-6 lead. Lorna Hudson kept Peabody close with 11 of their 19 first-half points, but the Lady Jackets got a big trey from Rachel Roberts and four points from Randolph to lead 26-19 at halftime. In the third, GHS dominated the paint to lead 40-26 heading into the fourth. McMullen ended strong with 10 of her season-high 26 points in the final stanza to lead the Lady Jackets to the 54-36 win. Jan. 7 at Greenfield BOYS None
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