|
|
Greenville junior Clay Guillozet score two of his 21 points for the
Wave in their sectional semi-final with
Xenia Wednesday. It wasn't a
night Greenville fans will want to remember as the Wave fell to the
Buccaneers, 54-52. CNO Photos by Dylan Knoop
|
|
Greenville bows
out of sectional run
Wave finish with 18-6 mark
By George Starks
CENTERVILLE- It didn’t take long to see the game plan Xenia had to stop
Greenville.
Try to contain junior Clay Guillozet and shut down the one that is
considered the backbone of the team…senior Aaron Balsbaugh.
Guillozet netted 21 for the Wave Wednesday but the 6-8 Balsbaugh was
checked on only two points the whole night. That coming early in the
first quarter on a one handed flush as Greenville fell to Xenia, 54-52,
in what would be a heartbreaking loss for the Wave.
“They did such a nice job of pressuring him when he got the ball, and
they did a nice job of making sue he didn’t get the ball.” Bashore
pointed out.
Ending the 2015 campaign with a mark of 18-6, it was a hard loss to
take as the Wave bowed out of the state tournament run.
Trailing 15-13 after one quarter of play, the Wave picked it up in the
second eight minutes, outscoring the Buccs, 14-8 in the frame to take a
27-24 lead at the break.
“We got that lead and I really think we missed some opportunities to
extend it,” quipped Bashore. “I was worried about that going in only
being up four because I knew what they were capable of doing
offensively. It’s frustrating because I felt like we had a good shot at
winning it, it just didn’t go our way tonight.”
That’s when things started to fall apart. Greenville was held to only
five points in the third quarter as Xenia seemingly took advantage of
everything that was given to them.
“We felt pretty confident going in at halftime,” said Greenville coach
Mike Bashore. “We hit that lull there in the third quarter where we
couldn’t buy a basket. We missed a lot of shots around the rim tonight.
But hats off to them. They’re a good basketball team. They are 19-5 now
and are conference champions as well (GWOC South) so we didn’t think it
was going to be easy by any stretch. We missed too many opportunities
and it’s like winning the lottery when you’re asked to fight like that
in the last couple of minutes. We got close and we had a shot to win
it.”
Hanging tight the whole fourth quarter, Greenville’s best defense was
to put its opposition on the foul line.
Xenia struggled the whole night from the line going 15 of 31 from the
line, helping to keep Greenville close.
Trailing 44-36 with 4:48 left in the game, Greenville kept chipping
away and would eventually trail by a 53-52 count with 3.5 seconds
remaining.
With senior Khiyani Harris at the line with a chance to all but ice it,
Harris hit only the second shot.
When the ball was triggered in, it went left to Alan Tabler who
launched one from mid-court. The ball sailed left, hitting the rim and
backboard at the same time, only to fall to the floor. As the ball hit
the floor, so do Tabler as the Wave season ended.
“We had a shot,” said Bashore. “I that goes in, then we are kings of
the world. I mean he got a clean look at it for only having three
seconds left. We were fouling kids down the stretch that were only 50
percent from the line and they were draining them so they stepped up
when they had to.”
When push came to shove, it all boiled down to the Xenia defense.
“It just wasn’t our night offensively and we struggled,” Bashore
stated. “In that third quarter, they really stepped up their defense
and was causing us fits there for a while. We were just hoping if we
could get a basket, it would get us going and we never got it until the
last minutes.”
Even though it seemed as if a lid had been put on the bucket,
Greenville held on as long as it could, before giving up the lead at
the 2:28 mark of the third when senior Jevon Jackson would sink two
free throws to give Xenia a 35-33 advantage. It would be a lead the
Buccaneers would never relinquish.
Bashore will lose three seniors in Balsbaugh, Tabler and Cody Preston
but will return a ton of talent.
“We have some good talent coming back but they’re going to have to put
the work in over the summer,” said Bashore. “I told the kids in the
locker room this team got great because of a lot of hard work and
dedication. My sophomore class is fantastic and it’s going to be fun
trying to come back.”
The GWOC North title was the first in 60 years for Greenville and the
18 wins were the most in school histoty.
|
|
In his final game in a Greenville uniform, Aaron Balsbaugh could muster
only two points on the night.
The 6-8 senior threw down a one handed
dunk in the first quarter but would be haunted by a relentless
Xenia
defense the rest of the night and held scoreless the rest of the way.
|
|
|
|
