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Hot shooting T-Birds continue to roll
CLAY CITY — Eastern Greene used an efficient offensive effort and a strong second half defensive performance to top Clay City for the second time in two weeks on Friday night. The Thunderbirds shot 58-percent from the field in the game on the way to a 74-52 victory over the Eels in a Southwestern Indiana Conference tilt.
Eastern cranked up their level of play after halftime and was able to pull away from a determined Eels’ squad that got a much better effort than in the first match-up, a 51-29 T-Birds win on Jan. 4 in the Greene County Invite. Eastern coach Jon Neill noted that his squad utilized a bit different game plan while taking on their Clay County neighbors a second time so quickly.
“Defensively we did some things differently tonight, trying to work on some things compared to the first night,” Neill said. “Vance (Edmondson) also had his kids playing a little differently from a week ago. First half I don’t think we did as good a job as I wanted them to. We did a much better job in the second half.”
The Eels’ changes were evident very early on as Clay City came out firing from all different angles.
Drew Steward knocked home a pair of 3-pointers in the opening period and Corbin Crosby poured in seven points as Clay City scored 19 points. However, Eastern trumped them by a point behind the hot shooting efforts of Jeff Graham and Caleb Hamilton.
The pair combined to hit 8-of-10 from the field over the opening eight minutes as Eastern claimed a 20-19 lead at the first stop.
Hamilton was able to bull his way to the bucket on several early drives on his way to 21 points for the T-Birds. He was a perfect 4-of-4 in the first quarter.
“We gave up a couple of easy buckets, just second chance opportunities. I don’t know how many second chance points they had, but we missed box outs and didn’t get those 50/50 balls,” Clay City coach Vance Edmondson said.
The game was tied as late as 27-all in the second quarter, but Eastern began to create some space heading into intermission.
Hamilton added his outside array of shots to the inside game as Clay City had trouble staying with the six-foot junior. He would drain a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter and Graham added five more points as Eastern scored eight of the final nine points of the half to lead 35-28 at break.
Eastern turned up the defense in the second half, working to deny the ball into the paint. Clay City’s early drives to the rim were much more difficult in the second half, but the Eels weren’t going quietly.
Both teams traded counter punches in the third period as Hamilton fired the opening volley with a bucket in the post. Tyler Yocom came back with a hoop for the Eels. Graham’s second 3-pointer of the game pushed the T-Birds’ lead to 40-30, but back-to-back leaners in the lane by the Eels’ Gavin Myers kept Clay City close.
“I thought we competed tonight, played hard and we actually put some points on the board,” Edmondson said. “I saw some really nice things. They have two really good ball players. I’m pleased with how we played and our effort tonight.”
Each Clay City mini-run was met quickly with a strike by Eastern.
Campbell scored on a drive to the rim as Crosby answered for Clay City. However, Hamilton followed with a 3-pointer. Eastern strung together a 10-1 run to push the lead for Eastern to 52-37.
“Our offense has been taking care of itself lately,” Neill said. “We still got that tonight. We just have to keep working to get better defensively.”
Clay City senior Nathan Farmer battled hard in the post for a bucket after rebounding his own miss to halt Eastern’s streak. Two free throws by Dilan Farris got Clay City within 54-41 heading into the final period.
Farris, who had 13 points for the Eels, drained a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to narrow the Eastern lead to 12 points. However, Eastern continued to pour on the offense while the Eels began to run out of gas.
Eastern hit 8-of-11 shots from the field in the fourth quarter while the Eels were 5-of-17 shooting. Graham capped a 26-point game by hitting all three of his attempts in the fourth quarter.
“We really just got re-focused,” Neill said in regards to the second half defensive effort. “I don’t feel like we came out with the energy and focus that we needed. Sometimes it is hard to play a team twice within a week and a half. Us winning the first time around is going to motivate their guys a little bit.”
Despite coming away with a loss, Edmondson was pleased to see the Eels get some more balanced scoring as Crosby had 12 points and Drew Steward provided a third player in double-figures with 10 points.
“We had two or three guys in double figures scoring tonight and that is what we need. We can’t rely on one guy to do everything,” Edmondson noted. “It’s still going to be basics for us because of our lack of size, our rebounding effort and getting stops on the defensive end.”
The Thunderbirds won the junior varsity contest 55-34.
Eastern improves to 10-5 overall, 2-0 SWIAC, while Clay City drops to 6-8 this season and is 0-3 SWIAC. The Eels travel to Terre Haute North on Jan. 20 while Eastern hosts Bloomfield the same evening.
At Clay City
Clay City (52)
Steward 4-11 0-0 10, Myers 3-5 1-2 7, Crosby 5-13 0-0 12, Yocom 1-4 1-3 3, Farmer 1-4 2-2 4, Rogers 1-1 1-1 3, Farris 4-7 4-5 13, Stagg 0-0 0-0 0, Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Owens 0-1 0-0 0, Lafary 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 19-48 9-16 52.
Eastern Greene (74)
Helton 3-6 1-1 9, French 0-3 0-0 0, Graham 10-18 3-3 26, C. Hamilton 9-12 0-0 21, Howard 0-0 0-0 0, C. Campbell 1-4 0-2 2, Skinner 3-4 2-3 8, Hamilton 3-3 0-3 6, B. Campbell 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 29-50 8-14 74.
Clay City 19 9 13 11 - 52
Eastern Greene 20 15 19 20 - 74
3-point field goals - CC 4-17 (Steward 2-7, Crosby 2-5, Farris 1-3, Yocom 0-1, Farmer 0-1), EG 8-20 (Helton 2-3, Graham 3-9, French 0-1, C. Campbell 0-2). Total Rebounds - CC 20 (Yocom 5, Farmer 5), EG 31 (C. Hamilton 9, Skinner 9). Total Fouls - CC 15, EG 20. Turnovers - CC 11, EG 11.