GREENVILLE – The Green Wave defeated the Xenia Buccaneers 51-50 in a Tuesday night MVL home game.
“We are all just super proud of them, just the men that they are becoming,” said Greenville coach Kyle Joseph. “A lot of criticism, a lot of doubt and they just keep coming back, keep plugging away, keep staying together.”
“They have had a chance to quit but there is no quit in these guys,” Coach Joseph continued. “Everything they have been through, everything they have to deal with – they just keep coming back for more.”
The Buccaneers were one better in the opening period by a 12-11 score with Tyler Beyke leading Greenville with 5-points including a 3-pointer.
Greenville opened second quarter play on a 6-0 run to lead 17-12 with 5:35 showing only to have Xenia battle back to outscore the home team 11-4 sending the MVL squads to the break with the visitor leading 23-21.
Period No. 3 saw both team’s defense cause the opposing team to struggle offensively with Greenville taking the quarter by a 7-5 score with the teams heading to the fourth tied at 28-28.
Both teams found the fourth quarter scoring column with the free throw line coming into play. Greenville opened the period with an 8-0 run to lead 36-28 at 5:53 with Xenia cutting into the Wave’s lead with 2:11 on the clock and the Wave holding a 42-39 advantage.
“We had seven guys out there for varying amounts of time and every single one of them when they were in there they contributed,” said Coach Joseph, “and they did what they needed to do.”
Greenville pushed its lead back 6-points, 45-39 at 1:37 only to have the Buccaneers make it slim 1-point Wave 49-48 lead with 0:22 on the game clock. Greenville made it a 51-48 advantage with 0:18 showing before Xenia had it back to a 1-point game, 51-50 that would prove to be the final score giving the Wave its fourth win of the season.
The Buccaneers sent Greenville to the fourth quarter free throw line for 26 tosses including a technical foul and an intentional foul with the Wave going 19-26 while Xenia was 8-9 at the fourth quarter line.
Foster Cole was a perfect 6-6 at the fourth quarter free throw line, DJ Zimmer 2-2, Nolan Curtis 5-6, Marcus Wood 4-8 and Tyler Beyke 2-4 to round out the Wave’s fourth quarter work at the charity stripe.
“Xenia has a lot of size and athleticism,” Coach Joseph said following the win. “They present plenty of challenges especially defensively; we did a good job of staying patient.”
“We have plenty of things to clean up but we know our guys aren’t going to stop, they’re not going to quit on each other, they’re not going to quit on the program,” added Coach Joseph. “They are going to play through mistakes and keep working to get better.”
Greenville was 24-32 at the free throw line for an impressive 75 percent shooting on the night.
BOXSCORE:
GREENVILLE 51, XENIA 50
GREENVILLE – F. Cole 12, DJ Zimmer 11, T. Beyke 9, M. Wood 6, A. Fletcher 6, N. Curtis 5, M. Wykes 2 – TOTALS 12 24-32 1
XENIA – S. Thigpen 14, C. McFarland 11, K. Johnson 9, I. Hoyt 6, M. Caupp 3, G. Gerhardt 3, Z. Gaither 2, I, Rogan 2 – TOTALS 15 14-21 2 50
3-POINTERS
Greenville 1 (T. Beyke 1)
Xenia 2 (S. Thigpen 1, C. McFarland 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS:
11-10-07-23 51 Greenville
12-11-05-22 50 Xenia
