Center Grove’s Jalen Bundy grabs a loose ball during Tuesday’s sectional game against visiting Greenwood.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
For most of Tuesday evening’s sectional clash with heavily-favored host Center Grove, Greenwood was doing nearly everything it needed to do to pull off a massive first-round upset of the fourth-ranked team in Class 4A.
Knock down shots? Check. Prevent the Trojans’ sharp-shooting perimeter guys from getting open looks? Check. Use big frontcourt bodies to limit Will Spellman in the post? More or less.
But Woodmen’s struggles with taking care of the basketball, along with a brief but timely Center Grove shooting burst early in the third quarter, allowed the home side to escape with a 49-42 triumph.
The Trojans (21-2) will face Bloomington South in a semifinal game on Friday.
“I feel like we got their best shot tonight, and we were able to capitalize and make enough plays,” Center Grove coach Zach Hahn said. “That’s all that matters in the tournament.”
The teams came out of halftime deadlocked at 25-25 before 3-pointers from Spellman and Ethan McComb at the start of the third gave the Trojans their largest lead to that point. Another 3 from Jalen Bundy and a baseline layup by Marcus Ankney stretched the margin to 36-27 with 1:48 left in the quarter.
Greenwood’s Carter Campbell scored the last points of the third on a 3, and his inside basket with 5:52 left in the contest got the Woodmen back within four. But Joey Schmitz responded with a 3-pointer from the left wing 24 seconds later, and Center Grove led by as many as 10 midway through the fourth.
A 3 from Jakeb Hornbeak and two deep balls from Campbell — who finished with a game-high 25 points — cut it to 45-42 with 1:24 remaining. The Woodmen (8-15) had a chance to tie after a missed Trojan free throw, but they committed turnovers on three of their final four possessions (finishing the night with 19) and Center Grove was able to add to its cushion with some late foul shots.
“Props to Greenwood; they didn’t miss,” Ankney said. “It’s hard to run away when the other team’s just hitting stepback 3s and everything. But I thought our team played together, we played unselfish and we hit shots when it mattered.”
The first half featured five ties and 10 lead changes, with Greenwood’s hot shooting effectively negating their nine first-half giveaways. Cade Kelly hit three 3-pointers from the right corner on the way to an 11-point first half, and his bucket with 43 seconds to go in the second quarter sent the teams into the break tied up.
“Our coaches made a great game plan, obviously,” Campbell said. “We just tried to execute it the best we could. If a couple of things would have gone our way, we might have had a different outcome, but everyone played as hard as we could, so I’m proud of the team.”
Kelly finished with 12 points for the Woodmen. Ankney had 14 to pace the Trojans, who also got 10 points from McComb, eight each from Spellman and Bundy and seven from Schmitz.
While Center Grove was able to force plenty of turnovers, Hahn didn’t feel like his team did enough to capitalize on the opportunities those takeaways provided.
“I just didn’t think we were in tune offensively,” the coach said. “But that’s a credit to (the Woodmen); I thought they did a good job of making us play their style, and it’s not necessarily a style that we like to play.”
The Trojans were forced to play a tougher game than expected out of the gate, but Ankney believes the team will benefit from it in the long run.
“All the nerves are gone now,” he said. “I feel like we’re ready for anything at this point. We’ve just got to execute, guard and take great shots on offense, and I feel like we can win.”
