For the Daily Journal
INDIANAPOLIS
Greenwood Christian boys basketball coach Jonny Marlin wrote a specific goal on the board before the game.
“We wanted a free throw line mentality. We have to get to the free throw line early and often,” Marlin said. “That’s a testament to our guys because we got there in the first and second half.”
The Cougars did that, hitting 23 of 28 free throws, including 10 of 12 in the fourth quarter, to eliminate Tindley 53-37 in the opener of Class A Indianapolis Lutheran Sectional on Tuesday evening.
GCA junior Champ McCorkle led the way, hitting 9 of 11 free throws en route to a team-high 26 points.
The Cougars (13-10) will play the host Saints, who drew a first-round bye, in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday.
“We prepared mentally more than we had for any other game for this one,” McCorkle said. “We locked in defensively the entire time. That led to us getting more stops. As they fell apart, we turned it up.”
McCorkle scored 18 points in the first half as the Cougars led 25-18 at halftime. The Cougars were able to expand that lead to 37-25 after three quarters.
“I think that came from us getting stop after stop,” Marlin said. “We wanted to keep the ball out of the paint, and I thought our guys played hard on the defensive end. To hold that team to 35 points says a lot about our guys. I’d love to say we score it at will, but we didn’t. We just got stops.”
McCorkle’s brother, Styles, contributed 10 points for the Cougars.
Marlin was pleased with how his team handled the ball in the second half.
“Quentin Steele does an unbelievable job just managing our team,” Marlin said. “I feel comfortable when the teams try to pressure us because of the work that he puts in. Payton Modlin is another kid that does really well with pressure. Champ is actually our 5 man, but he does well. That’s the main reason we handled it so well in the second half.”
McCorkle said he thought the Cougars did a good job of moving the basketball.
“There were times we could have pushed it, but we stayed patient and under control,” McCorkle said. “We looked to attack mismatches, Most of the time I had a mismatch; that’s why I got a couple of easy buckets at the start. We tried to get them in foul trouble and I think we succeed at that.”
It was the third consecutive victory for GCA, including a 57-55 win over University, now ranked No. 5 in Class A, in the regular-season finale.
“That gave everyone a boost of confidence,” McCorkle said of the upset.
The Cougars rolled past Indianapolis Lutheran 80-51 Dec. 8.
“Lutheran plays a completely different style than Tindley, so we’re going to have to prepare for that well,” Marlin said. “They shoot a little more 3s and they play zone so we’re going to have to do a good job of being active and have that free throw line mentality even against their zone.”
Senior Adedotun Adegbemigun was the high scorer for Tindley (9-14) with 18 points.
