Greenville boys basketball team defeats Troy in home opener

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GREENVILLE – Greenville continued a home winning streak that dates back almost two years when the Green Wave beat Troy 74-46 in their home opener on Friday.

Greenville hasn’t lost a game at home since Dec. 20, 2013, when the Wave fell 88-64 to Trotwood-Madison, and coach Michael Bashore said his team didn’t want the streak to end during its first home game of the 2015-16 season.

“We kind of came into this week and we were talking about how big the target was going to be on our back,” the coach of the defending Greater Western Ohio Conference North Division champions said. “And Coach (Paul) Bremigan’s been doing this for a long time so I knew they were going to play hard for him so we wanted to come out and match their energy early. We talked about everybody’s going to be gunning for us since we won the league last year. The last thing we wanted to do was let somebody come into our house and whoop up on us. So I think the kids kind of took that to heart, and it really showed early on especially.”

The energy did show as Greenville scored the first 10 points of the game with Clay Guillozet and Isaiah Gable both putting up five points in the first two minutes of the contest.

While Greenville was playing with energy, Bremigan said his team lacked it.

“Lousy,” he said of the Trojans’ play. “We didn’t play very well. I thought Greenville handed it to us, and that’s pretty much the story. They got a lot of rebounds, a lot of loose balls, and we didn’t get too many.”

Troy finally broke its scoreless drought with a basket by DeMarcus Moody and then another by Romello Yaqub. But Greenville remained hot with a 3-pointer by Devin Hendrix, a field goal by Aaron Rich and a pair of 3-pointers by Clay Guillozet increasing the Green Wave lead to 21-4.

Guillozet also hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the first quarter – Greenville’s fifth long-distance shot of the game – to put the Wave up 26-9 through one quarter of play.

“When Clay shoots the ball like that, we’re real tough to beat,” Bashore said of the GWOC’s leading scorer, who had a game-high 37 points on Friday.

Greenville’s hustle continued to pay dividends in the second quarter. At one point early in the period Hendrix collected a loose ball and raced down the floor. After he missed his shot, Guillozet was right behind him to score for the Wave and increase their lead to 33-11, prompting Troy to use another timeout less than two minutes into the second quarter.

Greenville had 32 rebounds on the night, including 10 on the offensive end. Guillozet ended the game with a team-leading 10 rebounds while Gable pulled down seven.

“Isaiah really controlled the boards early on,” Bashore said. “(Aaron) Rich did a nice job boxing out, and Isaiah grabbed every rebound in that first half. He does such a good job of getting the rebound and then seeing the floor because he can handle the ball.”

Controlling the boards and outracing Troy for loose balls, Greenville went into halftime up 42-22.

Troy came out of the locker room with more energy in the third quarter and scored six quick points off baskets by Trey Bucio, Zach Reichelderfer and Yaqub.

“Playing a little harder in the second half but you’ve got to come ready to play,” Bremigan said. “That’s the game, coming ready to play, being ready. It’s more on me than anything. We’ve got to get these guys ready to play. When we come out and play like that in the first half, it doesn’t look good on any of us.”

Despite cutting Greenville’s lead to 14 points, Troy couldn’t maintain its momentum. Guillozet got hot again and scored nine third quarter points to go along with scoring from Peter Pandey and Gable to elevate the Green Wave lead back to 21 points, 56-35.

With the game firmly in control, Greenville added to its lead even more in the fourth quarter en route to the 74-46 win in its GWOC North opener.

“We played a lot better tonight than we did last Friday (in a 58-56 overtime win at Beavercreek), the younger kids did,” Bashore said. “I knew what we were going to get out of Rich and Isaiah and Clay, but the younger kids stepped up. I thought Peter Pandey had a nice game. (Braden) Russell gave us some solid minutes. Devin in spurts did really well, too.”

Guillozet led Greenville with his game-high 37 points and 10 rebounds. Also for the Green Wave, Gable scored 16 points, Rich scored eight, Pandey scored six, Hendrix scored three, Russell scored two, and Chris Force scored two.

Greenville improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the GWOC North with Friday’s win while Troy fell to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the GWOC North.

The Green Wave will return to action with a GWOC North game on Friday at Vandalia-Butler. They won’t play in front of their home fans, whom Bashore said provided a big boost Friday, until Jan. 2 when they play host to Arcanum.

“We love playing here,” Bashore said. “The fans come out … they support us on the road but the energy in this building is amazing.

“The kids really feed off of that. I thought it gave us an extra boost there early on, and we just kept pouring it on.”

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Greenville’s Clay Guillozet keeps the ball away from a Troy defender during the Green Wave’s home opener on Friday night.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Clay-Guillozet-WEB-4.jpgGreenville’s Clay Guillozet keeps the ball away from a Troy defender during the Green Wave’s home opener on Friday night. Kyle Shaner|The Daily Advocate

By Kyle Shaner

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Kyle Shaner may be reached at 937-569-4316. Follow me on Twitter @KShanerAdvocate or get updates on Facebook by searching Darke County Sports or Advocate 360. For more features online go to dailyadvocate.com.

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