Shelbyville — The No. 7-rated Greensburg boys basketball team played its third game against a ranked opponen this season, but the outcome was not in the Pirates’ favor this time around.

Greensburg fell to No. 3 Mt. Vernon (Fortville) 45-30 in the opener of the Shelbyville Class 3A Regional tournament Saturday.

The Marauders feature a pair of Division I-bound players in P.J. Hubert (IUPUI) and Daniel Turner (Wisconsin-Green Bay), along with one considering D-I basketball, 6-foot-8 DeArmond Davis.

Greensburg’s defensive game plan going in was to contain Hubert, a 6-foot-5 guard who averaged 13.8 points per game. The Pirates limited him to six points.

However, Marauder senior Jake Stafford got Mt. Vernon on the board early. Averaging averaging 11 per game, he scored the first seven points less than two minutes into the game.

The Pirates, however, wearing their blue road jerseys, never got into an offensive rhythm against Mt. Vernon’s stout 2-3 zone defense.

Greensburg trailed 11-0 with four minutes left in the first quarter. It overcame a turnover when senior Ty Miller shot a basket getting fouled., making the score 11-2. Senior Greg Dougan followed on the next possession with a 3-pointer.

Mt. Vernon, though, answered Greensburg’s 5-0 run with four straight points. Miller scored again, and this time converted the three-point play to narrow the gap at 15-8 before the first period ended.

Defense dominated the second quarter. Senior Andrew Dougan took his turn getting fouled while scoring, but he missed the charity throw, keeping the score at 17-10.

The only second-quarter highlight for either team was a score by Davis off an inbounds pass, and the Marauders went into the half leading 19-10.

Davis, who scored six quiet first-half points, helped Mt. Vernon (22-2) pull away in the second half.

Despite consecutive scores by Miller and senior Shawn Burcham, a Turner basket and another Stafford trey widened the gap to 26-14.

Unfazed by a missed slam dunk moments earlier, Davis gave his team its biggest lead with a layup at the 2:10 mark. Greg Dougan’s triple pulled Greensburg to within nine, but Davis made a three-point play to return the edge to double digits. Turner ended the quarter with a layup and a 33-19 lead.

Greensburg senior Adam Wilson sandwiched a Miller putback with a pair of treys to cut the score to 36-27. However, Hubert’s score and foul shot at the 5:28 mark pushed the Pirates back by 12.

Greg Dougan scored Greensburg’s final points on a rebound basket, but 39-30 was the closest the Pirates got. Mt. Vernon ended the game with six foul shots.

Meyer replaced his first unit with Bobby Beeler, David Dougan, Jordan Ice, Danny Glaser and David Lawrence with 17 seconds left.

Miller scored seven points in the second half for 12 total points. Greg Dougan scored five more after the break for eight points, while Wilson scored all six in the second half. Burcham added four points to round out Greensburg’s offense.

Meyer said the Pirates did a better job blocking out in the second half.

“We gave it our best shot,” he said, crediting his defense for limiting Hubert to six points.

“We wanted to take Hubert out of the game,” he explained. “We did a pretty good job of that. That’s what kept us in the basketball game. They had players step up and make shots.”

Davis led all scorers with 13 points, while Turner scored 11.

Mt. Vernon’s zone defense kept the Pirate offense out of sync the entire game. Greensburg’s perimeter shooting merely kept the game competitive, instead of enabling the Pirates to push further ahead as they had done all season.

Greensburg (20-3) made just seven two-point shots, but doubled its scoring output in the second half.

“The second half we blocked out a little bit better,” said Meyer.

The seventh-year head coach described after the game what his team meant to the people of Tree City.

“Our community is very proud of these kids,” he said. “They represent them on and off the court. I’m very proud of these kids, of the way they represented the community. That’s what we teach these young men. They worked extremely hard to put themselves in position for the past two years.”

Greensburg won its second straight sectional title this year after winning a regional championship last spring. The Pirates won their first 15 games and beat Batesville a third time for a sectional title on its home court.

No. 1 Danville won the Shelbyville Regional semifinal’s second game over unranked Brebeuf, 47-46, on a pair of Jordan Weidner free throws with five seconds left.

Check back with the Web site Sunday at www.greensburgdailynews.com/sports for the score of the Danville vs. Mt. Vernon matchup.



BOX SCORE

Scoring By Quarters:

GB - 8 2 9 11 - 30

MV - 15 4 14 12 - 45

GREENSBURG (30) - Ty Miller 4 0 4-6 12, Greg Dougan 1 2 0-2 8, Wilson 0 2 0-1 6, Burcham 2 0 0-1 4.

MT. VERNON (45) - Davis 13, Turner 11, Stafford 10, Hubert 6, Sanders 3, Williams 2.

3-pointers: Greensburg 4 (Wilson 2, Greg Dougan 2).

FT’s: Greensburg 4-for-10; Mt. Vernon 15-for-27.