BOYS: Greencastle wins Doub Classic over Williamsport
WILLIAMSPORT, Md. - Ever since they fell in the championship game of the Franklin County Tip-Off Tournament, the Greencastle-Antrim Blue Devils have had a bad taste in their mouths.
And after being the runner-up in four consecutive tournaments, they weren't going to let the Richard E. Doub Classic run away.
Tuesday, Greencastle claimed the tournament championship with a 63-46 in over the host team, Williamsport.
"A win is a win, but a tournament means so much more," Greencastle coach Gary Martin said. "We basically said, we are not leaving here without winning this championship. They're a good team, but we are tired of being second."
Greencastle had eight scorers, and three of its top five ended the night in double figures. Casey Hoover, who was named tournament MVP, led the way with 17 points. Bryan Gembe scored 12, followed by Sam Sprague with 10.
Gembe was named to the All-Tournament team, along with Brandon Stuhler, who scored nine points.
"It was contributions from everybody," Martin said. "Some guys who really don't play a lot really stepped up."
Despite the score, it wasn't easy sailing for Greencastle (6-2), as the Wildcats (5-3) kept the pace in the first half using its man defense to slow down GA's offense.
"They made us slow down and react to what they had out there," Martin said. "They had a soft balance, and offensively they were strong. They made us play slow in the first half. We definitely didn't want to."
It took nearly three minutes for either team to score in the second, but two consecutive 3-pointers for the Blue Devils gave them the push they needed to separate themselves, going up by as many as nine points in the third quarter, after leading by just two in the entire first half.
"It started out a little slow, a little rugged, but in the third quarter we really got it going, and really showed that we could win this whole thing," Hoover said. "We started beating the pressure they gave us and started getting some easy layups."
"I thought we played pretty good defense in the first half," Williamsport coach Ryan Grabill said. "It just went downhill in the second half. They completely controlled the tempo and we had a couple missed shots on our end and it just snowballed from there."
Greencastle took care of the ball, making only eight turnovers.
"We rebounded well, and we held the ball pretty well," Hoover said. "If we are under 10 (turnovers) we are going to win any game."
"They wanted it more and it showed in the outcome," Grabill said. "When you play harder, and you want it more, the ball typically bounces your way and they just out-hustled us tonight."
Greencastle-Antrim 63, Williamsport 46
Greencastle (63)
Brandon Stuhler 4 0-0 9, Sam Sprague 2 6-610, Ian Gelsinger 3 0-1 8, Casey Hoover 5 6-6 17, Bryan Gembe 4 2-2 12, Spencer Meyers 1 0-0 3, Ben Freeman 0 0-0 0, Matt Lutz 1 0-0 2, Bryson Robinson 0 2-2 2. Totals — 20 16-17 63.
Williamsport (46)
Marquil Nelson 1 2-2 4, Mike Riley 3 5-5 11, Kieth Hamilton 1 0-0 2, Jake Arnone 4 3-4 13, Bryce Ruppenthal 1 1-2 3, Jakob Ball 2 0-0 4, Caleb Yost 2 0-0 4, Chris Sambula 1 0-0 3, Jayden Johnson 1 0-0 2. Totals — 16 11-13 46.
Greencastle _ 15 _ 10 _ 22 _ 16 _ — _ 63
Williamsport _ 14 _ 9 _ 15 _ 8 _ — _ 46
3-point goals — GA 7 (Gelsinger 2, Gembe 2, Hoover, Meyers), Will 3 (Arnone 2, Sambula).