Thunderbirds fall to Patriots

SWITZ CITY -- Cody Sparks (left) of Eastern Greene is closely guarded by Vincennes Rivet's Mitchell Bahr here Friday night in the semifinal game of the Greene County Invitational. The Patriots defeated the Thunderbirds 46-34. (By Travis David/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

SWITZ CITY -- Ten proved to a an unlucky number for the Eastern Greene Thunderbirds here Friday night in their semifinal game of the Greene County Invitational against Vincennes Rivet. The Thunderbirds scored 10 points in each of the final three periods but was only able to outscore the Patriots in just one of those frames, falling 46-34.

The loss drops the T-Birds a game below .500 at 5-6 for the season, while the Patriots, No. 11 in Class A, improve to 8-1 for the season.

Davis Russell gave the T-Birds an early 2-0 lead with a fast-break lay-up, but the Patriots used a 7-0 run over the next five minutes to take command of the game.

Thunderbirds coach Andy Igel said he was most disappointed with the way his squad came out tentative.

"It was obvious that we came out scared and played timid from the beginning," Igel said. "We just did not give ourselves a chance from the beginning."

Eastern Greene misfired on 11 of their 12 shots from the field in the first quarter as Rivet led 9-4 after the first eight minutes of play.

"We just didn't do a good job of executing our zone offense tonight," Igel said. "It's like we were playing ping pong with the way we were skipping passes from one side of the court to the other."

One player that did an excellent job of executing his offense was Rivet guard Mitchell Bahr. The 6-2 senior connected on three shots from behind the arc in the second period.

"The Bahr kid is one of the most underrated players around," Igel said. "He has a very nice stroke and he hurt us tonight. We knew coming in that he could hit the outside shot, we just did not do a good job of making him move. He got his feet set on way too many looks.

Bahr hit four 3-pointers in the first half as the Patriots carried a 26-14 lead into the locker room at intermission.

Rivet would stretch their lead to as many as 13 points in the third frame, but the Thunderbird still had some fight left in them, cutting the lead back down to as close as five points. Lack of execution on the offensive end allowed Rivet to push the margin back to double figures by the fourth quarter.

"You have to give our kids credit for not laying down," Igel said. "But in the same sense it's disappointing when you make plays and have an opportunity to get the deficit cut to a single possession and not be able to execute. Then the lead gets back into double figures and all the effort spent on getting back into the game is wasted."

During most of the fourth quarter, Rivet's lead was in double figures as they won by 12 points.

"The disappointing thing tonight is I thought coming in we had a pretty good game plan against them," Igel said. "But we had opportunities and just could not execute.

"We will be fine though. These kids battle each and every game and I have all the faith in the world in them."

Russell and Gray led the Thunderbirds with 12 and 10 points respectively. Gray also led the team with five boards and two steals.

"David played his heart out tonight," Igel said. "He laid everything out on the line tonight."

Zack Johnson came off the bench to score six points for the T-Birds, while Cody Sparks five points and Sam Jacob one point rounded out the scoring for Eastern Greene.

Bahr and Kendall Vieke led the Patriots with 14 and 12 points respectively.

"My hat goes off to Rivet," Igel said. "They have a very good ball club and are very well coached. They are 8-1 for a reason and I wish them the very best of luck tomorrow night."

Eastern Greene will play White River Valley at 6 p.m. tonight in the third-place game. Rivet will meet Shakamak at 7:30 p.m. tonight for the tournament championship.

Friday

Greene County Invitational

At White River Valley

VINCENNES RIVET (46) -- Kendall Vieke 5-9 2-3 12, Tyler Vieke 3-7 0-0 6, Erik Schleicher 0-0 0-0 0, Spencer Wirth 1-5 3-4 5, Jordan Brasseur 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Sievers 2-8 1-1 5, Mitchell Bahr 5-10 14, Phillip Halter 1-1 0-0 2, Cory Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0, Nicholas Gartner 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 18-43 6-8 46.

EASTERN GREENE (34) -- David Gray 3-10 2-2 10, Sam Jacob 0-1 1-2 1, Davis Russell 4-14 2-2 12, Chris Graham 0-1 0-0 0, J.T. Yoho 0-3 0-0 0, Zack Johnson 3-4 0-0 6, Cody Sparks 2-5 1-1 5, Zach Ingram 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-40 6-7 34.

Vincennes Rivet 9 17 5 15 -- 46

Eastern Greene 4 10 10 10 -- 34

3-Pointers -- Vincennes Rivet 4 (Bahr 4), Eastern Greene 4 (Russell, Gray 2). Rebounds -- Vincennes Rivet 25 (Wirth 7), Eastern Greene 19 (Gray 5). Steals -- Vincennes Rivet 3 (T. Vieke 2), Eastern Greene 5 (Gray 2). Turnovers -- Vincennes Rivet 11, Eastern Greene 8. Fouls -- Vincennes Rivet 8, Eastern Greene 13. Fouled out -- None.