Thunderbirds defeat Martinsville

Eastern Greene's Davis Russell (22) uses his hands to keep Martinsville's Seth Dow in check during a high school boys basketball game Friday night at Little Cincinnati. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World).

LITTLE CINCINNATI -- Eastern Greene scored the game's final seven points in the final three minutes as the Thunderbirds came back to defeat Class 4A Martinsville 42-39 in a non-conference high school boys basketball game Friday night.

The victory was the second in a row for the Thunderbirds, who improved to 5-1. Martinsville dropped to 0-7.

"We would not have won this game two weeks ago," said an ecstatic Eastern Greene Coach Andy Igel. "I told the kids after the game that this was a character win.

"You have to give Martinsville a lot of credit. They were able to control the tempo throughout. We did not come close to playing our best game, but was still able to get out of here with a win."

Eastern Greene took advantage of a nine-minute scoreless stretch by the Artesians in the first half, pushing their lead to 20-11 before settling for a 20-13 advantage at intermission.

Martinsville responded by making 4 of 6 shots to open the second half, including 3-pointers by Isaac Johnson and Seth Dow. The visitors took a 31-30 lead to the fourth quarter.

"There was no energy from us or from the fans," said Igel. "We had a lead at the half, but was unable to build on it.

"We don't schedule teams like Martinsville to get moral victories. We schedule them to beat them and also to make us better. Any time you play a bigger school it has to make you better."

Martinsville went ahead 39-35 after a basket by Shawn Downey, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half, to go with nine rebounds.

But the Artesians would come up empty in their final four attempts at the basket.

Davis Russell, who had 10 points, two steals, three assists and two rebounds, took a pass from Tyler Igel and buried a mid-range baseline jumper to cut the deficit to 39-37. His steal and subsequent three-point play earlier had tied the issue in the quarter at 35-all.

"Davis really came up with some big plays down the stretch," said Igel. "His steal was really huge."

Zack Johnson, who spent most of the game on the bench in foul trouble, scored half of his eight points in the final two minutes.

His driving shot in the paint was followed by two free throws with 12.7 ticks remaining, putting the Thunderbirds ahead 41-39. It was their first lead since a three-point play by J.T. Yoho (15 points on 6 of 17 shooting) put Eastern Greene ahead 30-29 in the final minute of the third period.

"Johnson had some silly fouls right in front of the referee," said Igel. "He is an important part of what we do and we need him in the game."

A foul shot by Zach Ingram, who had four points and nine rebounds, gave the T-Birds the final three-point margin. They survived two shots in the final seconds by Martinsville.

Martinsville won the junior varsity contest 51-47 despite 19 points from Eastern Greene sophomore Nathan Cobine.

Also for the Thunderbirds, Blake Crowe had eight points, Brody Martin and Nate Higgins each hit for seven and Jake Hash and Kurtis Stille each added three. Zach Bruner, Tyler Brough and Zak Eckerle also played.

The Thunderbirds will host Paoli at 6 p.m. tonight.

"We are going to have to play a lot better tomorrow," said Igel.

MARTINSVILLE (39) -- Jason Ray 3-5 0-2 6, Derek Crebs 3-8 1-1 9, Seth Dow 2-7 0-0 5, Willie Spina 0-3 0-0 0, Hagan Carter 0-1 0-0 0, C.J. Cazee 0-0 0-0 0, Isaac Johnson 1-2 0-0 3, Shawn Downey 5-12 0-0 10, Greg Spina 3-6 0-0 6, Barker 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Schneck 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 17-47 1-5 39.

EASTERN GREENE (42) -- Zack Johnson 3-6 2-2 8, Zach Ingram 1-4 2-4 4, Tyler Igel 0-0 2-2 2, Davis Russell 4-9 2-3 10, JT Yoho 6-17 3-3 15, Cody Sparks 1-7 0-0 3, Sam Jacob 0-1 0-0 0, Miles Hutchison 0-3 0-0 0, Logan Hash 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-47 11-14 42.

Martinsville 11 2 18 8 -- 42

Eastern Greene 11 9 10 12 -- 39

3-point shooting -- Martinsville 4-11 (Crebs 2-4, I. Dow 1-1, Johnson 1-2, G. Spina 0-1, Downey 0-1, W. Spina 0-2). Eastern Greene 1-10 (Sparks 1-5, Yoho 0-5). Fouls -- Martinsville 14, Eastern Greene 9. Fouled out -- None. Rebounds -- Martinsville 31 (Downey 9), Eastern Greene 30 (Ingram 9). Assists -- Martinsville 10 (Downey 2, Crebs 2), Eastern Greene 7 (Russell 3). Steals -- Martinsville 3 (W. Spina, G. Spina, Dow), Eastern Greene 4 (Russell 2, Yoho 2). Turnovers -- Martinsville Dow 2, Crebs 2), Eastern Greene 7 (Hutchison 2). Blocks -- Martinsville 3 (Dow 2), Eastern Greene 2 (Ingram, Russell).