INDIANAPOLIS
Greenwood Christian’s boys basketball team outran its opponents most of the season en route to building a 23-1 record.
Playing against Providence Cristo Rey in Saturday’s championship game of the Class A Indianapolis Lutheran Sectional , the third-ranked Cougars used a moderate version of stall ball to put away the eighth-ranked Wolves.
GCA led 27-20 at halftime, but spread the floor to start the second half and deliberately shaved lots of time off the clock. The Cougars burnt four minutes on three possessions, but still scored eight points while shutting out Cristo Rey during that stretch.
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It extended GCA’s lead to 35-20 and effectively closed the door on the Wolves, as the Cougars claimed a 57-42 win and a second straight sectional title.
GCA (24-1) will face Oldenburg Academy (18-7) in the second game of Saturday’s Martinsville Regional. Providence Cristo Rey ended its season at 20-5.
The Cougars average 68.8 points per game offensively and put up 73 in Friday’s semifinal win over Tindley, but they slowed the pace in the second half to limit the Wolves’ possessions and comeback possibilities.
“At tournament time, the only thing that matters is the wins; we don’t care how much we win by,” said GCA senior forward Champ McCorkle, who led the Cougars with 16 points and also grabbed six rebounds. “That’s why we tried to slow it down. We had a big lead. They wanted to stay back in that zone, and we made them come out of it, so it worked for us.”
McCorkle and Andrew Anderson helped GCA seize control early. After Providence Cristo Rey took a 6-5 lead, those two combined to score the game’s next 10 points. Anderson, who scored 11 of his 14 points in the first quarter, hit a pair of 3-pointers during that run. McCorkle converted a layup and a post basket to extend the Cougars’ lead to 15-6 with two minutes to play in the first quarter.
“I just tried to play smart and play to our strengths,” Anderson said. “They were really keying in on (other) people, so I just saw my opportunity and took it.”
The Cougars’ 10-0 stretch that spanned the late second and early third quarters began with a Styles McCorkle bucket with three seconds remaining in the first half. In the third quarter, Evan Stinnett and Derek Petersen hit 3-pointers and Champ McCorkle drove for a layup to take a 25-20 lead out to a 35-20 margin.
GCA coach Jonny Marlin credited Anderson with settling down the Cougars with his early shot-making.
“We were kind of stagnant; I’m not sure if it was the crowd or what, but Andrew just settled us down,” Marlin said. “He’s made big shots all year for us, and that’s what you expect from a senior like him.”
The Cougars received a balanced scoring effort, including Champ McCorkle’s 16, Anderson’s 14, Petersen’s 13 and Stinnett’s nine. Anderson also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, GCA’s defense harassed the Wolves into a 13-of-43 field goal shooting effort (30.2 percent). The Cougars connected on 19 of 42 from the floor (45.2 percent).
“Defensively, we walled up really well,” Marlin said. “We held them scoreless for five or six minutes in the third quarter, so the defense was really great for us.”
