By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Green Wave boys’ basketball team lost to conference foe Tippecanoe High School, 73-33, at home on Dec. 13.

Head coach Matt Hamilton said it was going to be an uphill battle for his team. They were coming into the game short handed going up against the winner of the Miami division from a season ago.

“They (Tippecanoe) were prepared and came in like we expected them to. So we knew with being short handed, it was going to be a challenge and try to control what we could. They’re a good team,” Hamilton said.

The Red Devils led 21-2 after the first quarter. Tippecanoe took advantage of the space the Greenville defense was giving them. They also were able to run out in transition after their defense kept getting stops and turnovers.

The Green Wave couldn’t get going on offense. They were able to get open looks at times, but just couldn’t get them to fall. Along with some turnovers, they were digging themselves into a hole early.

Things started to look up in the second quarter. Greenville started to switch up their defenses switching between a man and zone defense. They were able to slow down Tippecanoe’s offense for the middle part of the second quarter.

Hamilton said they did what they could on defense as some players had to play out of position and adjust to a new defensive scheme on the fly.

“Trying to do that in the midst of different lineups and a couple guys playing positions they don’t normally play so they don’t get a lot of reps in those positions is just a hard position to be in. But, you still got to play,” Hamilton said.

The Red Devils went into halftime up 37-11. Senior Haiden Livingston led the team with seven points at halftime. He scored on a half-court buzzer beater to reach seven points. Junior TJ Barr scored the other four points for Greenville.

In the second half, the Red Devils’ started to get more and more open looks as they figured out the Greenville defensive plan.

Tippecanoe kept knocking down open shots and controlled the pace of the game. They could run the court on offense and then slow down Greenville on defense. The Green Wave couldn’t keep up with the pace.

Greenville kept fighting, but couldn’t close the gap during the second half. They started to convert on their open looks, but it was too late.

Livingston finished with 14 points to lead the team. Senior Jarrod Demange had seven points and sophomore Drew Hamilton had six points.

For Tippecanoe, senior Evan Manes had 25 points. He had 15 points in the second half while making four threes during the half. Seniors Josh Dietz Stanley Clyne along with junior Jackson Smith all reach double-digit points as well.

Despite the loss, Hamilton said the team did what he asked them to do. The Green Wave never gave up and continued to play the game like it was scoreless.

“I told them before the game, ‘I’ll go to war with you guys and I know you’ll play to the end. I trust you to do that.’ That’s what they did,” Hamilton said.

Greenville is now 0-6 on the season and will look for their first win on Dec. 16 as they host MVL rival Xenia. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]