Area hoops teams poised for Week 4

Three weeks into the season two area teams are still undefeated. Bloomfield and Eastern Greene are both off to 6-0 starts.

Bloomfield won Friday, 50-29 at rebuilding Clay City, as expected. Saturday the Cardinals passed their toughest test so far in a come-from-behind, 57-47 victory over 3A Edgewood. Edgewood's only other loss was to 4A Bloomington South.

Trailing by 15 in the second quarter and still trailing by 7 entering the fourth quarter, the Cardinals outscored the Mustangs 20-3 over the final stanza including a 10-0 run to close out the game.

"I'm really proud of our kids. It was a gutsy effort and that is a good team in Edgewood," Bloomfield coach Matt Britton said.

"I challenged our kids at halftime and we made some adjustments to what we were doing offensively and defensively and they responded like good teams do. And for us to come from 15 down and respond the way we did and play the type of second half they did that shows a lot of courage."

Britton credited his seniors stepping up and responding.

"We had good leadership from our seniors. Brandon (Van Sant) and Eli (Combs) really stepped up for us in a big way."

Van Sant led the Cardinals with 23 points and 9 boards. Combs had 8 big second-half points and finished with 10.

"Drake Frederick had a great ballgame for us on both ends of the floor and Zack Skinner's defense was really instrumental as well."

Bloomfield should pick up its seventh win Saturday at White River Valley. Can the Cardinals' winning streak continue when they travel to Bloomington South Tuesday?

Eastern Greene kept its unbeaten string alive with a pair of weekend wins at home.

The Thunderbirds picked up a quality win Friday over the 3A Washington Hatchets. And in what coach Jon Neill termed an "ugly win" the T-Birds dispatched visiting North Knox 43-31.

When teams sag in on Trevor Yoho in the post as the Warriors did, shooters Nathan Eckerle, Matt Sanders, Jeff Graham and Caleb Hamilton make them pay.

Eckerle exploded for 11 of Eastern Greene's 13 fourth quarter points to put away North Knox. Equally impressive was Hamilton's 13 boards against the Warriors.

The T-Birds won both games without the services of Graham. The junior guard was held out of action after suffering a concussion in practice last week.

Eastern Greene must still solve the turnover problem.

Turnovers led to 20 empty possessions Saturday.

"Twenty turnovers - we can't have that number," the Thunderbird coach said.

The week before at Mitchell turnovers allowed the Bluejackets to erase a 20-8 first-quarter deficit before Eastern Greene escaped with a two-point win.

Possibly the toughest weekend of the season lies ahead for the Thunderbirds.

Friday Eastern Greene travels to 2A second-ranked Barr-Reeve. Saturday they'll host 4A 5-0 Martinsville.

Linton-Stockton experienced the challenge of playing at Barr-Reeve Friday.

In a battle of highly-ranked Class 2A teams, the road underdog lost and convincingly so, 57-40.

I wouldn't read too much into an early regular season loss.

Barr-Reeve coach Bryan Hughes agreed.

"We didn't play our best and I know they (Linton) feel they didn't play their best. It's one of these early season games. We know they're a very good team."

The foul situation prevented Linton from employing its strangling defense. Both Dieball brothers picked up two fouls less than four minutes into the contest. Barr-Reeve was already in the double bonus with a minute to go in the third quarter.

The Miners have had a recent history of reversing regular-season losses once the postseason begins. Look no further than North Knox and Evansville Mater Dei last year and Sullivan and South Knox the year before.

"I'm hoping we get to play them again in March," Hughes said.

Joey Hart probably hopes so too.

Linton-Stockton will have a pair of home games this weekend. The Miners host Shakamak Friday and Sullivan Saturday.

Saturday's game will give us a sneak preview of the Wabash Valley Classic. The Miners and Arrows square off in the first round of the Classic the day after Christmas.

Shakamak earned a weekend split at home. The Lakers fell 82-73 to North Knox, missing 20 of 37 free throws in the process. They recovered Saturday connecting on 16 of 23 from the stripe beating Washington Catholic 68-55.

Shakamak has gotten consistently good play from holdovers Tanner Yeryar and Parker Greene and newcomers Braden Scott and foreign exchange student Mathias Caucheteur.

I'll get my first look at the improved Lakers Friday at Linton.

Saturday Shakamak travels to Eminence.

Speaking of Eminence, White River Valley's best chance for a win so far fell by the wayside in a 47-25 loss at Eminence Friday. Saturday the Wolverines lost 60-22 at Wood Memorial.

It doesn't get any easier for the Wolverines this weekend. Bloomfield comes to town Saturday.

The loss of starting forward Tyler York has made it even harder. York is likely out for the remainder of his senior season when he suffered a broken wrist December 5 against North Knox.

WRV's next-best chance for a win comes December 29 when they host Washington Catholic.

Next week we'll take a look ahead at the Wabash Valley Classic. Linton and Shakamak are the only two teams playing in the Wabash Valley at Terre Haute North.

After that is the tournament everyone's been waiting for - the Greene County Invitational at Switz City.

Terry's Weekly Rankings

1. Bloomfield (6-0)

2. Eastern Greene (6-0)

3. Linton-Stockton (3-1)

4. Shakamak (2-3)

5. White River Valley (0-5)

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.