GREENVILLE – Greenville’s Green Wave played some of their best basketball of the season in the last six minutes of Friday’s Miami Valley League contest with Stebbins to claim their second win of the year with a 55-50 victory over the Indians.
Senior Drew Hamilton put the team on his shoulders in the latter stages, scoring 12 of his team’s final 17 points to energize the crowd on a cold night at the GHS gymnasium.
After the Wave had surged to an early 12-6 advantage, the Indians came back behind the
seven points of senior Mason Barlow to take a 13-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Greenville jumped back on top 18-13 before junior Malik James caught fire, pacing Stebbins to a 30-22 edge before Wave Coach Matt Hamilton called a timeout with 2:59 remaining in the first half. The Green and White then went on a 10-2 run to go to the locker room at halftime tied at 32-32.
Following intermission, the teams traded baskets throughout the third quarter with Stebbins holding a 42-38 lead before Hamilton hit an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer to put the Wave down 42-41 heading into the final period of regulation.
After the Indians went up 45-42 with 5:28 showing on the clock, the Wave went on another
big scoring run of 12-0 as sophomore Isaac Kerg converted two foul shots followed by eight
straight points from Hamilton and a basket by junior Johnny Barr to take command of the
game 54-45 with 0:42 left in the contest.
The Wave went to a 1-3-1 zone defense most of the final period as Stebbins was unable to
work the ball inside, forcing the Indians to shoot from outside the arc, making only 2 of 10
attempts. Greenville also was able to eliminate most of the turnovers that have haunted the team all season, committing only four in the second half and fourteen for the game.
Hamilton once again paced the Wave offensively with 25 points, doing most of his damage
inside the paint, while Barr finished with eight and senior Layne Hocker had his best game of the season with seven. Greenville unofficially was 20 of 55 from the floor, hitting 3 of 14 from three-point range and converting 12 of 25 from the charity stripe.
Stebbins was led by James with 18, 17 of them in the second and third stanzas, and Barlow
with 12 as the Tribe went 19 of 50 from the field, making only 6 of 20 from behind the arc and 6 of 8 from the line as they settled for long attempts, due in no small part to a Wave defense that forced 23 turnovers.
With the win, the Wave improve to 2-12 in MVL play and 2-14 overall, while the Indians fall to 4-8 in league action, and 4-10 overall. Greenville plays its third game of the week Saturday night, hosting the Versailles Tigers on “Hall of Fame” night, while Stebbins next travels to Tecumseh, also on Saturday.
