GREENVILLE – Versailles had three players score in double figures to spoil Senior night at Greenville on Saturday.
The Green Wave kept things close for much of the first half, but a late second quarter run for the Tigers carried over to the third period and Versailles went onto the win the game, 56-36.
Greenville junior Tyler Beyke scored his first points of the game with 3;38 left in the first half to get the Wave within one point at 18-17, but Versailles closed out the remainder of the second quarter with a 8-1 run to go up 26-18 at the break. And it was more of the same in the third quarter as the Tigers stretched their lead to 11 points , 39-28, by the end of the third. Ryan Martin was a big part of the third-quarter run for Versailles. The junior scored six points in the final 1:16 including an old-fashioned 3-point play and also a 3-point shot at the buzzer.
Martin was one of the three players to finish in double figures with 14 points. Michael Stammen led the offense with 18, 14 of which came in the first half, and Evan Hiestand added 16 in the win.
“(Michael) Stammen has been a great player for us all year,” Versailles coach Travis Swank said. “He has shouldered the load a lot. He doesn’t hardly ever come out of the game and not only does he have to handle the ball and hit a lot of shots for us, but a lot of times we put him on one of their better guards. He has a lot on his plate and I hope people appreciate what he does for us because he may be small in stature, but he is not small on heart and he does a lot of good things.
“We had a slow start tonight,” he continued. “They came out with a lot of energy and effort so kudos to Greenville, but we talked about how we had to match up. We knew they had four seniors and wanted to send their seniors out on a good note and we kind of slept walked through there. We didn’t execute any layups I felt like in the first quarter whatsoever and we had a lot of easy ones or stickbacks and it made it a closer game than probably what it should have been if we could have executed a little bit better and hit those.”
For Greenville, started out good with one of the four seniors – Jordan Dill – hitting a 3-pointer for the first points of the game. The other three seniors are Noah Walker, Austin Fitzgerald and Bryce Shilt. Walker led the Green Wave with 8 points.
“We played hard throughout, but I think the big thing we were just talking about in the locker room is the amount of leadership the four seniors have shown all year and how that has us in a position to be successful next year,” Greenville coach Kyle Joseph said. “A big thing that got us tonight was the way we finished. The last minute of the second quarter we were minus 7 and then they hit a big 3 at the buzzer to end the third quarter and that is 10 points right there that is really the difference in the game.
“Those are things that quite frankly we haven’t worked on because we haven’t been in those positions,” he continued. “We have had other things of higher priority that we had to work on skill level wise and our seniors have led through all that and got us to the point where we feel like not just varsity wise but program wide our skill level and our understanding is at such a higher place than what it was to begin the year.”
Greenville (0-22) will play against the winner between top-seeded Trotwood-Madison and Bellefontaine at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 in the Division II sectional tournament at Springfield. Versailles (12-10) will play the winner between Jamestown Greeneview and Twin Valley South at 6 p.m. on Feb. 26 in the Division III sectional tournament at Northmont.
Score by quarters
Versailles^13^13^13^17^-^56
Greenville^10^8^10^8^-^36
Individual scoring
Versailles – Michael Stammen 6 4 18, Ryan Martin 5 2 14, Hunter Trump 1 0 3, Connor VanSkyock 1 0 2, Evan Hiestand 7 2 16, Austin Toner 1 1 3. Totals: 21 9 56.
Greenville – Marcus Wood 3 0 7, Reed Hanes 2 1 5, Tyler Beyke 1 3 5, Noah Walker 2 3 8, Jordan Dill 1 0 3, Foster Cole 2 0 5, Nolan Curtis 1 0 2, Austin Fitzgerald 0 1 1. Totals: 12 8 36.
3-pointers – Versailles 5 (Stammen 2, Martin 2, Trump 1), Greenville 4 (Wood 1, Walker 1, Dill 1, Cole 1).
Records: Versailles (12-10), Greenville (0-22).
