KETTERING – Greenville’s boys basketball team saw their season come to an end Wednesday evening in
Kettering Fairmont’s Trent Arena as they fell to the number two-ranked team in Ohio Division II, the Eagles of Chaminade-Julienne by a 65-24 count.
The Wave fell behind early 8-0 before first-year Head Coach Matt Hamilton called a quick timeout and calmed down his ball club. “We had twelve days to prepare for this game and I told them that we couldn’t afford to have that deer in a headlight look. We wanted to compete as well as see a team in C-J that plays with discipline, a team that we want to be like some time in the future.”
The Wave settled down enough to pull back within 15-9 late in the first quarter as point guard Jarrod Demange hit two threes and looked like they were going to at least worry the Eagles somewhat.
C-J turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, forcing Greenville into many turnovers and limiting them to only 10 field goal attempts in the first half. 6’3” University of Michigan commit George Washington III poured in 14 points as the Eagles went on a 26-4 run to go into the locker room leading 41-13.
Washington and his two brothers just moved into the Dayton area last summer as their father, George Washington II, is the top assistant coach for the University of Dayton’s women’s basketball team.
The Eagles continued to press to start the third quarter and their quickness and defensive discipline harassed the Wave to the point where the “running clock” rule came into play with 4:55 left in the stanza and the score 50-15.
Veteran C-J Coach Charlie Szabo pulled his starters at this point and called off the press giving the remaining ten players on the bench plenty of playing time as they cruised to the final score and improved to 22-2 on the season. They move on to face Dayton Ponitz in the sectional finals Friday night at 7:30 at Trent Arena.
Greenville was shorthanded coming into the contest as leading scorer Haiden Livingston didn’t dress nor did senior post player AJ Shaffer who was out with illness. Livingston, Shaffer, and Demange all concluded their Wave careers and were praised by Hamilton for “their leadership throughout the year.”
Washington finished with 19 points and 6’4” senior teammate Evan Dickey added 10 as ten Eagles scored in the victory. C-J hit 27 of 56 shots from the field and dominated the boards while wreaking havoc on the Wave defensively.
GHS was limited to only 21 field goal attempts for the game, converting on seven including four from beyond the arc. As has happened all season, turnovers continued to plague the team as they lost possession 25 times down the court. Demange and junior center Chace Drew each had six in the losing effort as the Wave concluded the campaign with a 2-21 mark.
Hamilton is optimistic for the future as “we had lots of kids playing throughout the system and look forward to the younger players moving up. We’ll work hard over the summer months and continue to improve to become more competitive next year and the ones after that.”
