It was a senior night to remember for Greenwood’s Carter Campbell.
The 6-foot-5 Campbell scored a career-high 26 points to lead the host Woodmen to a 56-43 victory Tuesday night over Indian Creek.
More important to Campbell was that he had an assist on the biggest play of the night. Much to the crowd’s delight, senior manager Caleb Worgess entered the game in the final seconds. Campbell passed it to Worgess, who sank a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
“Caleb is great; he does a lot of things for the team behind the scenes,” Campbell said. “Everyone was excited to see him get in and bang that shot at the end. The most exciting part of the game was that shot, not my 26 points.”
Greenwood coach Joe Bradburn, whose team improved to 8-13, said it was the first time Worgess ever dressed, but he knew he could shoot from practice.
“He’ll go down in history as a 100% shooter,” Bradburn said. “You can’t beat that.”
Campbell was able to use his size advantage against the Braves (11-8).
“Give all the credit to my team, they were feeding me down low,” said Campbell, whose previous career high was 22. “They were making some great entry passes. All I had to do was finish it.”
Bradburn said Campbell is the floor general.
“He plays every position, one through five,” Bradburn said. “Offensively and defensively, he guides everything we do. He had a sense he needed to attack. He hit some big baskets when we needed him.”
The Braves closed the gap to 46-41 with 2:01 remaining. But Jake Mosemann, who finished with nine points, hit a 3-pointer to expand the lead to eight.
Junior Carter Modlin was high for Indian Creek with 10 points.
The Woodmen lead 16-8 after the first quarter, but the Braves narrowed the gap to 24-22 at halftime.
“We had a couple bad spots in the game,” Indian Creek Drew Glentzer said. “We gave up 16 points in the first quarter and then at the start of the third quarter, we struggled.”
Glentzer said it didn’t help that the Braves were 7 of 16 from the free throw line.
“It’s hard to win a possession game when you miss that many free throws,” Glentzer said. “We battled all the way to the end. We had some opportunities but didn’t take advantage of many of them. Obviously, (Campbell) is a tough matchup for us with his size. He’s a very skilled kid.”
Junior Cade Kelly scored six of 11 points in the third quarter but left the game after picking up a technical foul, his third foul of the night.
“Cade is a fiery kid; he gives a lift from an energy standpoint every night,” Bradburn said. “Sometimes he gets caught up in it. He controlled and got back his composure. He supported his teammates and got back in there and made a difference down the stretch.”
Kelly returned late in the fourth quarter to help hold off the Braves.
“You’ve always got to keep your composure when you play Indian Creek,” Bradburn said. “They challenged us and tested us. We were fortunate they didn’t make free throws. We responded most of the night. We didn’t relinquish the lead most of the night. It was a step in the right direction for us, because we got our composure back and maintained the lead.”
Bradburn said sophomore guard Alex Baugh has been helping since he has been playing more on varsity of late.
“He’s stabilizing from a ball handling standpoint and take some pressure off some other guys,” Bradburn said.