GREENVILLE – Greenville dropped a Tuesday night MVL varsity boys basketball game to the visiting Xenia Buccaneers, 68-61, on a night the Green Wave struggled from beyond the arc while Xenia caught fire early from long range.
“They didn’t fall for us and they did for them,” said Greenville coach Matt Hamilton. “We tried a new wrinkle defensively to help with Xenia’s ability to penetrate in the lane, and they start 5-for-5 from the perimeter.”
The Buccaneers jumped out quickly before Greenville battled back to trail just 21-20 after one quarter of play. Five Green Wave players found the scoring column in the opening period, led by Ethan Flatter with six points, including a 3-pointer.
Xenia picked up the pace in the second quarter, outscoring Greenville 17-8 to take a double-digit 38-28 lead into the halftime break.
Greenville responded, coming out of the locker room, taking the third period 13-11 behind six points from Johnny Barr, but still trailed 47-41 heading into the final quarter.
“We fought back multiple times,” Hamilton noted. “There were times when we needed buckets and didn’t get them, but there were times when we needed buckets and did get them. We just couldn’t put it all together.”
Xenia pushed its lead to 12 points early in the fourth, going up 53-41 at the 7:04 mark and extending it to 55-43 with 5:29 remaining.
The Wave made one final push. David Conway’s reverse layup at 2:24 cut the deficit to 62-52. Isaac Kerg followed by going 2-for-2 at the free-throw line with 2:14 left, then added a six-foot baseline jumper at 2:07 to make it 63-56. Moments later, Kerg stole the inbound pass and finished at the rim to pull Greenville within eight, 64-56, with 1:55 remaining.
That would be as close as Greenville would get, as Xenia closed out the conference win from the free-throw line.
“We probably had the best balance in the scoring column we’ve had in a while,” Hamilton said. “We’ve been talking about moving the ball and getting multiple guys involved. Unofficially, we had 11 turnovers, which is much better than we’ve been doing. We’re continuing to head in that direction of taking better care of the ball – tomorrow’s a new day.”
Xenia was led by 6-foot junior Devin Withers, who poured in a game-high 30 points to pace the Buccaneers.
Kerg led Greenville with 16 points, while Barr added 14 points, highlighted by three emphatic two-handed slam dunks.
BOX SCORE:
XENIA 68, GREENVILLE 61
XENIA – D. Withers 30, D. White 18, A. Caudill 12, C. Jenkins 3, C. Corbett 2, Williams 2, J. Austin 1 – TOTALS 15 15-22 7 68
GREENVILLE – I. Kerg 16, J. Barr 14, E. Flatter 12, G. Denham 6, D. Conway 6, M. McMahon 4, L. Thorp 3 – TOTALS 24 10-16 1 61
3-POINTERS
Xenia 7 (D. Withers 4, A. Caudill 2, C. Jenkins 1)
Greenville 1 (E. Flatter 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
21-17-11-19 68 Xenia
20-08-13-20 61 Greenville
