Physical Lions Overpower No. 3 Pirates Monday

Aaron Kirchoff

Rushville — The bigger Lions used their physical presence to wear down the No. 3 Greensburg Pirates Monday in Memorial Gym, 67-53.

Greensburg (15-1) got off to the good start as the Lions could not buy a basket in the first quarter – making only one shot from the field in the first eight minutes.

The Pirates got a bucket from Ty Miller and 3-pointer from Shawn Burcham to lead 5-0. Two free throws from Jon Thompson got the Lions on the board, but the Pirates answered with six straight points – two each from Greg Dougan, Burcham and Miller.

The Lions closed the first quarter with a bucket from Thompson and free throw from Spencer Comer to cut the deficit to 11-5 after one quarter of play.

Joas Knepp scored to open the second quarter for the Lions, but the Pirates again mounted a 6-0 run. Four points from Greg Dougan and two from Adam Wilson had Greensburg up 17-7, forcing Rushville head coach Dan Carmony to call a time-out.

The Lions responded with four points from Comer and a 3-pointer from Matt Niehoff to cut the deficit to 17-14.

With the Pirates holding a 23-19 lead late in the half, Comer scored for the Lions to make the half-time score 23-21.

Comer's steal and break-away bucket knotted the game as the third quarter got underway, but the Pirates answered with a Wilson triple and bucket from Miller to extend the lead to five points.

Rushville (9-6) then leaned on its big men. Thompson, Comer and Brandon Herbert combined for 14 points as the Lions took a 37-35 lead.

After another inside bucket by Thompson, Nolan Laird hit from behind the arc to push the Rushville lead to 42-35.

Greensburg got a pair of free throws from Greg Dougan, but Knepp's bucket with :03 on the clock gave the Lions a 44-37 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

Another Laird bomb extended the lead to 10 points early in the fourth quarter and the Lions were in control from that point. The Pirates cut the deficit to seven at 47-40 on a Miller bucket, but the Lions scored four straight on the inside to push the lead back to double figures.

Greensburg cut the deficit to eight points with under three minutes to play, but that was as close as the Pirates could get the rest of the way. The Lions hit 10-of-11 from the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the win.

Comer led all scorers with 24 points. Thompson finished with 21. The Pirates had four players in double figures – Greg Dougan 15, Miller 13, Burcham 11 and Wilson 10.

Greensburg returns to Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference action when the Pirates host Franklin County Thursday night.

In the opening game of the night, Rushville's Will Sickbert hit two free throws with :05.4 to play in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 42-42 and send the game to overtime. Greensburg's Ethan Bailey hit two free throws with :05.7 in the overtime session to lift the Pirates to a 44-42 victory.

Bailey led the Pirates with 10 points followed by Matt Lee with eight. The Lions got 14 points from Tanner Hedrick and 10 from Monte Sitton.



Box score

Rushville 67, Greensburg 53

Scoring: Greensburg – Wilson 3 1 1-2 10, Burcham 2 1 4-4 11, A. Dougan 0 0 0-2 0, G. Dougan 5 1 2-2 15, Miller 5 0 3-4 13, D. Dougan 2 0 0-0 4. Totals 17 3 10-14 53. Rushville – Laird 0 2 0-0 6, Knepp 2 0 2-2 6, Herbert 2 0 3-4 7, Niehoff 0 1 0-0 3, Comer 7 2 4-7 24, Thompson 6 0 9-9 21. Totals 17 5 18-22 67.



JV game - overtime

Scoring: Greensburg (44) – Fayette 6, Tressler 6, Lee 8, Bailey 10, E. Meyer 7, Beeler 6, K. Meyer 1. Rushville (42) – Sitton 10, Hedrick 14, Schroeder 3, Cook 7, Sickbert 2, Columbe 6.

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