Poor fourth-quarter defense dooms Knights in MLK Classic
By Andrew Schnittker aschnittker@wilsontimes.com |
FARMVILLE — The Greenfield School boys basketball team had the lead for most of Monday night’s showdown with The Burlington School in Farmville Central’s MLK Showcase, but didn’t have it at the most important time of the game — the end.
The Knights saw a crucial NCISAA contest slip away in a 68-64 loss in a battle of highly ranked 2-A teams.
The 2-A Knights (19-7) of the 2-A/3-A Coastal Plain Independents Conference held the lead after the first, second and third quarters, and held a two-point lead with just over two minutes left, but saw it slip away as the top-ranked Spartans (17-10) outscored No. 3 Greenfield 6-0 in the game’s final two minutes.
“It didn’t slip away,” corrected Greenfield head coach Rob Salter. “It was taken away by them. They were the aggressive team. We were soft. We didn’t show any heart. We didn’t battle in the fourth quarter. We let the guy kill us inside and we didn’t show any toughness in the fourth quarter. We’re not talented enough to not do that. The Greenfield program’s success is based on effort and heart. We’re not talented enough to beat some of these great teams by talent. We’ve got to do it by heart and effort. And we didn’t do it in the second half. I’m very, very disappointed.”
The Knights’ collapse could certainly have playoff seeding implications down the line.
“It’s really frustrating,” said Greenfield forward Hampton Evans. “They’re our competition for the state championship. Coach was saying if we would have won that, we could have had the No. 1 seed. That should have been a big win for us. It’s really frustrating to lose that one.”
With under 30 seconds left and the game tied at 64, Burlington capped a long possession by going inside to Josh Randolph for the lead.
Greenfield struggled to defend the paint in the final frame, with Burlington big man Cam Flippen scoring eight of his 10 points in the fourth.
“Defensively, we were giving up way too many 3s and we were doing terrible on the boards,” Evans said. “I put that stuff on me, because I’ve got to do better on the boards. But I feel like it’s really just defensively, because we were scoring, we were just giving up too many open layups and open shots.”
After Randolph’s big bucket, two Greenfield turnovers and a pair of Burlington free throws sealed the Knights’ fate.
“We’ve had a lot of lessons,” Salter said. “It’s self reflection time. I’m tired of having the same speech in some of these games where we can’t make the winning plays because of heart or a loose ball. It’s time for some of the guys to look in the mirror and are we going to try to get to our max potential or are we going to do what we’ve been doing again when we play the tough teams? I thought we went from having one of the best defensive halves in the first half to one of the worst in the second.”
Greenfield carried a five-point lead into the fourth quarter, but a barrage of 3-pointers (the Spartans knocked down six treys in the second half, four from leading scorer Savion Taylor) allowed Burlington to take its first lead of the game since the first quarter.
“(Taylor) just kept on hitting,” Evans said. “They were running the ball straight to him and he would just hit 3 after 3. We were giving up a lot of easy boards that we should have got.”
Evans and Matt Kirby both drained 3s to give Greenfield its lead back, but, after Kirby’s put the Knights up 64-62 with 2:20 left to play, the Spartans finished the game with a 6-0 run, with a missed layup from Nik Edwards with a chance to put Greenfield up four proving critical.
“Stuff like that happens, but it’s a big moment and we’ve just got to make those plays,” Salter said. “We made the right decision, but we’ve just got to be ready and we’ve got to capitalize on those opportunities. They’re the back-to-back state (2-A) champions for a reason. They were confident the whole game even though they were down, and they found a way to win.”
After trailing 8-2 early in the first quarter, the Knights controlled most of the game until that fateful final frame. Greenfield finished the opening frame on a 10-1 run to take a 12-9 lead after one quarter, and, in the second, used its ability to drive into the paint to take a nine-point lead into halftime.
“I thought we attacked well,” Salter said. “I thought we scrapped. I thought we pushed tempo pretty well, we found the mismatch. I thought we rebounded pretty well for the most part until the fourth quarter.”
The Knights’ lead reached as much as 12 in the third quarter before the Spartans began to march back.
Evans led Greenfield with 22 points, followed by Kirby with 16.
Taylor led the Spartans with 15 points, knocking down four 3-pointers, followed by Kaden Hammond with 14, Jordan Durham with 12 and Flippen with 10.
The Knights will look to bounce back with a visit to CPIC foe Parrott Academy on Tuesday in Kinston.
“If we want to do something, we’ve got to get a lot tougher than we are right now,” Salter said.
By Andrew Schnittker aschnittker@wilsontimes.com |
FARMVILLE — The Greenfield School boys basketball team had the lead for most of Monday night’s showdown with The Burlington School in Farmville Central’s MLK Showcase, but didn’t have it at the most important time of the game — the end.
The Knights saw a crucial NCISAA contest slip away in a 68-64 loss in a battle of highly ranked 2-A teams.
The 2-A Knights (19-7) of the 2-A/3-A Coastal Plain Independents Conference held the lead after the first, second and third quarters, and held a two-point lead with just over two minutes left, but saw it slip away as the top-ranked Spartans (17-10) outscored No. 3 Greenfield 6-0 in the game’s final two minutes.
“It didn’t slip away,” corrected Greenfield head coach Rob Salter. “It was taken away by them. They were the aggressive team. We were soft. We didn’t show any heart. We didn’t battle in the fourth quarter. We let the guy kill us inside and we didn’t show any toughness in the fourth quarter. We’re not talented enough to not do that. The Greenfield program’s success is based on effort and heart. We’re not talented enough to beat some of these great teams by talent. We’ve got to do it by heart and effort. And we didn’t do it in the second half. I’m very, very disappointed.”
The Knights’ collapse could certainly have playoff seeding implications down the line.
“It’s really frustrating,” said Greenfield forward Hampton Evans. “They’re our competition for the state championship. Coach was saying if we would have won that, we could have had the No. 1 seed. That should have been a big win for us. It’s really frustrating to lose that one.”
With under 30 seconds left and the game tied at 64, Burlington capped a long possession by going inside to Josh Randolph for the lead.
Greenfield struggled to defend the paint in the final frame, with Burlington big man Cam Flippen scoring eight of his 10 points in the fourth.
“Defensively, we were giving up way too many 3s and we were doing terrible on the boards,” Evans said. “I put that stuff on me, because I’ve got to do better on the boards. But I feel like it’s really just defensively, because we were scoring, we were just giving up too many open layups and open shots.”
After Randolph’s big bucket, two Greenfield turnovers and a pair of Burlington free throws sealed the Knights’ fate.
“We’ve had a lot of lessons,” Salter said. “It’s self reflection time. I’m tired of having the same speech in some of these games where we can’t make the winning plays because of heart or a loose ball. It’s time for some of the guys to look in the mirror and are we going to try to get to our max potential or are we going to do what we’ve been doing again when we play the tough teams? I thought we went from having one of the best defensive halves in the first half to one of the worst in the second.”
Greenfield carried a five-point lead into the fourth quarter, but a barrage of 3-pointers (the Spartans knocked down six treys in the second half, four from leading scorer Savion Taylor) allowed Burlington to take its first lead of the game since the first quarter.
“(Taylor) just kept on hitting,” Evans said. “They were running the ball straight to him and he would just hit 3 after 3. We were giving up a lot of easy boards that we should have got.”
Evans and Matt Kirby both drained 3s to give Greenfield its lead back, but, after Kirby’s put the Knights up 64-62 with 2:20 left to play, the Spartans finished the game with a 6-0 run, with a missed layup from Nik Edwards with a chance to put Greenfield up four proving critical.
“Stuff like that happens, but it’s a big moment and we’ve just got to make those plays,” Salter said. “We made the right decision, but we’ve just got to be ready and we’ve got to capitalize on those opportunities. They’re the back-to-back state (2-A) champions for a reason. They were confident the whole game even though they were down, and they found a way to win.”
After trailing 8-2 early in the first quarter, the Knights controlled most of the game until that fateful final frame. Greenfield finished the opening frame on a 10-1 run to take a 12-9 lead after one quarter, and, in the second, used its ability to drive into the paint to take a nine-point lead into halftime.
“I thought we attacked well,” Salter said. “I thought we scrapped. I thought we pushed tempo pretty well, we found the mismatch. I thought we rebounded pretty well for the most part until the fourth quarter.”
The Knights’ lead reached as much as 12 in the third quarter before the Spartans began to march back.
Evans led Greenfield with 22 points, followed by Kirby with 16.
Taylor led the Spartans with 15 points, knocking down four 3-pointers, followed by Kaden Hammond with 14, Jordan Durham with 12 and Flippen with 10.
The Knights will look to bounce back with a visit to CPIC foe Parrott Academy on Tuesday in Kinston.
“If we want to do something, we’ve got to get a lot tougher than we are right now,” Salter said.
