Skip to main content

BOYS HOOPS: Shippensburg claws back to beat Greencastle


GREENCASTLE -- After trailing for nearly the entire game, Shippensburg guard Carter Van Scyoc hit a contested layup to give the Greyhounds a narrow lead with just under two minutes to go in regulation.

From there, the wind came out of Greencastle-Antrim's sails. The Hounds went on a 10-point run through the middle of the fourth quarter and held on to claim a 47-41 victory in a heated Mid Penn Colonial Division game.

"The score was at 44-37 with about 1:02 left, and we almost felt like something had been taken from us," Blue Devil coach Gary Martin said. "There were a few (questionable calls), and they had a nice and-one play from Carter after they went ahead. Everything sort of went haywire in their favor."

The Greyhounds (3-1, 2-0 MPC) were certainly the favorite to win Friday night's contest, but Greencastle (1-2, 0-1 MPC) gave them all it had. Holding onto a one-point lead heading into the fourth, the Blue Devils got a steal and layup from Casey Hoover to begin the frame.

Wade Mills countered with a putback for Ship, but Bryan Gembe had an answer in the form of a reverse layup to give Greencastle a 3-point lead with 4:36 remaining. But the Devils did not score again until there was fewer than 20 seconds on the clock.

"In the third quarter and first couple minutes of the fourth, we were just taking the first available shot, and it wasn't always a high-percentage shot," Shippensburg coach Ray Staver said. "Then we got a bucket from (Wade) that we showed a lot of patience on. When we had that run -- Shuntan (Hickman) got a layup, Wade got a layup and Carter got two layups -- we got it to the rim, and that was the big difference."

It also didn't help that Greencastle got a bit flustered. After a strong shooting night, the Blue Devils were just 3-for-12 (25%) from the field in the fourth.

"I think we were all just trying to be the hero and make the shot," Gembe said. "We definitely could've picked some better shots down the stretch."

Martin said, "We didn't feel like we were getting the same calls, but by all means, they played a heck of a game."

The Greyhounds were 7 of 14 from the foul line in the final period; Greencastle had seven free-throw attempts all night.

Not only did Shippensburg get better offensively as the game went on, it also did much better on the boards. The Hounds had a grand total of three rebounds in the first quarter but ended up out-rebounding the Devils, 33-18.

"We got some boards and got a few defensive stops, but the big thing was we just got better shots," Van Scyoc said. "We were down 10 after the first, so each quarter, we just wanted to keep chipping away, chipping away to try to get it down. We definitely battled back."

NOTES >> Mills finished with the game's only double-double; he scored 14 points and pulled down 14 boards ... Van Scyoc finished with 11 points, six of which came in the final quarter ... Hoover led the Devils with 16 points, while Gembe had 10.

Shippensburg 47, Greencastle 41

Shippensburg (47)

Cody Gustafson 1 1-4 3, Wade Mills 5 4-7 14, Teagan Staver 2 2-4 8, Shuntan Hickman 3 2-2 9, Carter Van Scyoc 3 4-5 11, Clayton Stine 0 0-0 0, Brady Kuhn 1 0-0 2, Adam Houser 0 0-0 0, Payton Fridinger 0 0-0 0. Totals — 15 13-22 47.

Greencastle (41)

Brandon Stuhler 1 0-0 2, Sam Sprague 4 0-2 8, Ian Gelsinger 0 0-0 0, Casey Hoover 7 0-1 16, Bryan Gembe 4 0-0 10, Matt Lutz 0 2-4 2, Bryson Robinson 0 0-0 0, Camron Hileman 0 0-0 0, Ben Freeman 1 0-0 3. Totals — 17 2-7 41.

Shippensburg _ 6 _ 17 _ 9 _ 15 _ — _ 47

Greencastle _ 16 _ 12 _ 5 _ 8 _ — _ 41

3-point goals — Ship 4 (Staver 2, Hickman, Van Scyoc), GA 5 (Hoover 2, Gembe 2, Freeman).

JV score — Shippensburg 53, Greencastle 14. Alaric Hickman led the Hounds with 13 points.