COLDWATER – In what coach Mike Bashore described as one of his team’s better wins of the season, Greenville traveled to Coldwater on Monday and beat one of the top Midwest Athletic Conference teams 69-66.
“That’s a big win,” the Greenville boys basketball coach said. “That’s a team that might win the MAC. They’ve got some kids that can shoot the ball, they’ve got good guard play, and then the big guy down low is an absolute load to guard. I thought we played extremely well tonight.”
Greenville started off with the lead early in the first quarter as Isaiah Gable came out shooting hot. He made 5 of 9 3-point attempts on Monday including three in the first quarter to put the Green Wave up 9-4.
The lead didn’t last, however, as Coldwater went on a 10-0 run to take its first lead of the game. The Cavaliers’ 6-foot 9-inch senior center Andy Brunet led Coldwater with eight first period points as the home team led 16-13 through one quarter of play.
Brunet finished the night with 26 points, but Bashore was pleased with how 6-foot 3-inch Aaron Rich and 6-foot 1-inch Braden Russell defended him despite giving up 6 or more inches in height.
“We tried to front him early on,” Bashore said. “That wasn’t working. What started to work a little bit is where we let him just kind of catch the ball because he looks to pass first if he’s outside the block. So we tried to start doing that. Tried to get some backside help but when you’re giving backside help with a 6 foot kid against a 6-9 kid there’s only so much you can do. He’s just a good basketball player. You’ve got to try to contain everybody else. You know he’s going to get his.”
After the first quarter belonged to Gable for Greenville, Guillozet started to get hot in the second quarter. The Wave’s all-time leading scorer scored Greenville’s first 10 points of the second quarter to regain the lead for Greenville.
“It’s nice that when you’ve got two kids like that that if one’s not feeling it pretty sure the other one is going to be feeling it,” Bashore said. “And they kind of carry you until the other one gets going. Not a lot of people have two kids that can defend so one of them is always going to be able to probably have a good night. You’ve got to kind of pick your poison.”
Rich, Gable, Codi Byrd and Devin Hendrix also joined Guillozet in scoring second quarter points as the Wave went into halftime holding a 35-29 lead.
In the third quarter Coldwater started to chip away at Greenville’s lead with Brunet, Aaron Harlamert and Marcus Bruns leading the Cavalier offense. Coldwater tied the game at 46-46 with 52 seconds remaining in the period. Then after Gable made a basket to regain the lead, Brunet scored to knot the score at 48-48. But Greenville went into the fourth quarter with the lead as Guillozet drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 51-48.
The largest lead for either team in the fourth quarter was just four points as Coldwater and Greenville continued to battle back and forth.
The Cavaliers took their first lead since early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Jack Hemmelgarn to make it 56-54 with 6:28 remaining. After Guillozet drained a 3-pointer to regain the lead just 14 seconds later, it only took another 14 seconds for Coldwater to go back up on a Dylan Thobe 3-pointer.
Greenville tied the game at 61-61 on a basket by Rich with 4:26 remaining and went ahead 62-61 on a Peter Pandey free throw with 3:51 left. From there, Greenville would hold the lead the rest of the game.
Guillozet made a pair of free throws and Gable drained a 3-pointer to keep Greenville ahead, but Coldwater got a Brunet basket and a Harlamert 3-pointer to keep it close.
With less than a minute to go and Greenville clinging to a one-point lead, Russell scored his first points of the night to put Greenville up by three, 69-66.
That basket proved to be big for the Wave as it forced the Cavaliers to shoot long-range shots instead of pounding inside to its 6-foot 9-inch center in the final seconds. Coldwater couldn’t hit any of its late 3-point attempts, and Greenville held on for the three-point win.
“It actually was kind of fun to be a part of,” Bashore said. “It’s a lot more fun that we came out on top, but it was back and forth, back and forth. It was a good, hard-fought game. We battled for everything we got tonight. This isn’t an easy place to get a victory at.”
Guillozet led Greenville with a game-high 30 points. Also for the Green Wave, Gable scored 21 points, Rich scored eight, Pandey scored four, Byrd scored two, Hendrix scored two, and Russell scored two.
Brunet led Coldwater with his 26 points. Also for the Cavaliers, Harlamert scored 16 points, Thobe scored eight, Bruns scored seven, Sam Broering scored three, Hemmelgarn scored three, and Neal Muhlenkamp scored three.
Greenville improved to 7-3 on the season with Monday’s win while Coldwater fell to 5-4.
The Green Wave will return to the court at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Trent Arena in Kettering as they take on Columbus Northland in the Flyin’ to the Hoop showcase.
