INDIANAPOLIS
It took about 25 minutes longer than they likely wanted, but Greenwood Christian’s boys basketball players finally were able to breathe sighs of relief late Tuesday in their Class A sectional opener at Indianapolis Lutheran.
Facing a winless Providence Cristo Rey team, the Cougars held a tenuous 42-38 lead after three quarters. They asserted themselves in the fourth period, outscoring the Wolves 19-3 to turn the game into a comfortable 61-41 victory.
The win, the eighth in a row for GCA (16-9), propels the team into a Friday semifinal against Victory College Prep, which struggled to a 1-22 mark this season. Coach Jackson Williams said the Cougars didn’t overlook the winless Wolves in Tuesday’s win, but admitted they needed to seize control late.
“We were able to mentally put it together in the last part of the game,” Williams said. “Getting them ready to play wasn’t hard to do, but at sectional time, anything can happen. We just really emphasized we’ve got to be who we are and make sure we bring our defense, take the best shot and take care of the ball and we’ll be okay.”
GCA never trailed but couldn’t shake the Wolves until the fourth quarter. The Cougars never led by more than nine points in the first three periods, and Providence Cristo Rey cut the lead to one point on two occasions, both early in the third quarter.
“We prepared for them the same way we do every team,” said GCA guard Blake Shewmaker, who led all scorers with 19 points and added six rebounds. “We just started knocking down some shots (in the fourth quarters) and got into a new defense, and it worked pretty well.”
Shewmaker kickstarted the fourth-quarter dominance with a 3-pointer 23 seconds into the period that extended GCA’s lead to 45-38. He later added another 3-pointer and a backdoor layup, which came in the middle of a 9-0 Cougars run that extended their edge to 57-39 with 1:43 remaining.
GCA’s defense also played a large role in the game-sealing fourth-quarter run. The Cougars held Jason Johnson, who scored 14 points in the first three periods, to just two in the fourth. Those came on a garbage-time layup with 1:43 to play. The Wolves (0-22) shot just 1 of 10 in the fourth quarter after hitting 16 of 34 during the first three periods.
“We really keyed in, finally, on their two guys that were really hurting us and limited what they were able to do,” Williams said, referring to Johnson and Anthony Hayes, who finished with 12 points. “It always helps hitting shots at the end of the game.”
Matt Teike added 12 points for GCA, and Aden Sloan contributed 10 points and five rebounds off the bench. Ian Reed finished with eight points and five rebounds.
