Final Day highlights from the Greene County Invitational, plus a look at this weekend's slate
Congratulations to the Linton-Stockton Miners, 2016 Greene County Invitational champions.
The second-seeded Miners edged top seed Bloomfield 28-27 on Jacob Clothier's game-winning 3-pointer from the right corner with 1.8 seconds left.
The GCI championship was Linton-Stockton's second straight and third of the last four.
Chris Gilmore was spectacular for Bloomfield Saturday. Gilmore took it aggressively to the Miners early on scoring 10 first half-points en route to a game-high 12 in the low-scoring affair.
His nifty spin move in the lane with 4:41 to play gave Bloomfield a 25-23 lead.
Gilmore hit all five of his field goal attempts including two from distance.
Linton-Stockton's Tyler Meurer was equally impressive.
Meurer must have a short memory. After enduring a 3-for-16 shooting performance against West Vigo in the Wabash Valley Classic finale, he stepped up to the 3-point line fearlessly.
Meurer nailed three from beyond the arc on his way to 10 points in the first half.
Clothier's dagger wouldn't have been possible without Pierce Jackson's hustle plays down the stretch.
Jackson grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. He knocked down two clutch free throws to cut Bloomfield's lead to 27-25 with 1:08 on the clock.
Soon after he chased down another critical offensive board.
Miner coach Joey Hart borrowed a page from former Bloomfield mentor Ron McBride's playbook.
Hart employed a slow-down strategy in the first half. The Miners held the ball the last three minutes of the second quarter waiting for the last shot.
I had to laugh when I heard the Bloomfield faithful chanting, "Boring! Boring!"
Have they forgotten that 12-11 thriller against Eastern Greene in 2001?
Who knows what will happen when these teams meet again Friday at Guy Glover Gymnasium?
Bloomfield is off to a 10-2 start. Saturday the Cardinals host another 10-2 squad, South Knox.
Linton plays at White River Valley Saturday.
At Saturday's LHS-WRV game there will be a White Out for WRV fans and Red Out for Linton fans and a dance marathon for WRV student Wyatt Stone and other Riley Children's Hospital patients.
The tournament played out exactly according to seeding through Friday's games.
That changed Saturday. Three of the four lower-seeded teams won.
Eighth-seeded White River Valley claimed seventh place with a convincing 59-43 win over No. 7 seed North Central.
The Wolverines overcame an 11-point halftime deficit, closing out the third quarter on a 15-1 run on five 3-pointers from the Cornelius brothers Hunter and Brayton. The brothers hit all five of their attempts beyond the arc in the stretch including four from Hunter.
WRV scored the first seven points of the final stanza and outscored the reeling Thunderbirds 41-14 over the final 16 minutes.
"It's good to get a win against a team we knew we could come out and compete with," Hunter said afterward.
Even though it was just the second win this season for the Wolverines, I wouldn't call this one an upset. Not the way North Central has been playing of late.
In the fifth-place game, sixth-seeded Shakamak outlasted No. 5 seed Clay City prevailing 75-71 in an overtime thriller.
Tanner Yeryar was on fire. Yeryar scored 23 of his 35 points - the high for the tournament - in the first half on 7 of 10 3-point shooting.
Even though Shakamak was the lower seed the Lakers entered the tournament with a better record. Shakamak came in 4-6, the Eels 2-7.
Shakamak has clearly improved since a 35-point loss to Bloomfield December 5.
Coach J.B. Neill said playing in the Wabash Valley Classic and the Greene County Invitational has made his Lakers a better team.
Shakamak has a Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference contest Friday at North Daviess in what should be a good ball game.
The next night the Lakers cross the Wabash River for a rematch with Marshall. The Marshall Lions won the first meeting 64-50 in the Wabash Valley.
Eastern Greene finished the GCI 2-1 winning the third-place game 56-54 over Vincennes Rivet.
But Eastern Greene coach Jon Neill said, "It's not the kind of 2-1 record you want."
Both Thunderbird wins were closer than Neill would have liked.
In Tuesday's Shakamak twice got within four points twice in the fourth quarter.
Both times Eastern Greene had an answer in the form of Jeff Graham.
Graham delivered a 3-pointer, a driving layup and a dish to Trevor Yoho to push the lead back to eight.
Against Rivet the Thunderbirds led 18-9 after the first eight minutes. The Patriots had a chance to tie with 7.7 seconds left. With Eastern Greene leading by three, Lance Lane was fouled behind the arc and was awarded three free throws. He hit the first two but missed the third. Trevor Yoho corralled the rebound and was fouled. The T-Bird post player converted 1 of 2 for the final margin.
The next two weeks Eastern Greene heads into the meat of its schedule.
After hosting SWIAC foe Clay City Friday the Thunderbirds face four straight tough opponents, all on the road.
Saturday afternoon Eastern Greene plays Borden - 11-2 and ranked eighth in Class A. The game is part of the first annual D-One Norman Dale Classic played at the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown.
The next weekend it's Bloomfield and South Knox on the road with a trip to Linton-Stockton the following Friday.
It doesn't get any easier for the Thunderbirds with home games against Edgewood and Bedford North Lawrence the second weekend in February.
Linton-Stockton's GCI championship brings a shakeup to the weekly rankings. The Miners wrest the top spot from the Cardinals. Eastern Greene drops to third after its loss to Linton-Stockton.
Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.
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