Sunday, December 07, 2008
MORTONS GAP – Under the weather and behind on the scoreboard, Hopkins County Central’s Cory Coble took charge of the Storm’s offense during the final minutes of the last game of the annual Messenger Tip-Off Classic.
Coble scored just five points, but four came during the most crucial minutes against Greenwood (1-2) and the senior’s 10 assists helped propel Central (1-1) to a 71-66 victory.
“Cory’s a winner,” coach Matt Bell said. “He wasn’t 100 percent tonight. A lot of people didn’t know that going in, but he’s a warrior. He could care less if he ever scores a point. He wants to find the open man.”
Coble’s 10 assists fell just one shy of tying a school-record, but his ability to dribble through traffic and create his own shots in the fourth quarter helped his team create momentum.
Down three points with less than four minutes to go, Coble took an in-bounds pass after a Gator score and raced the length of the court through traffic and right to the basket for two points.
Just inside the two-minute mark, Coble found an open Chuck Jones for two more points to take a 65-64 lead, one the Storm would not surrender.
“Usually whenever you’re going full-speed, somebody is bound to pick you up and it leaves a man open,” Coble said. “I usually think pass then shot, and Chuck was there.”
On Greenwood’s ensuing offensive possession, junior Dan Croft stepped up to make a block and the ball deflected into Coble’s grasp. Coble, a point guard, dribbled toward his basket, but was fouled. His two free-throws gave Central a three-point lead with 1:42 to go.
Croft made another block less than a minute later and a Nikee Caldwell shot increased the Storm’s lead to five.
Central and Greenwood traded points during the final minute, but the Storm eventually escaped with their first victory of the season.
Bell said his team’s ability to make second-half adjustments was the difference in notching the win.
“The fourth quarter was the key,” Bell said. “Our stats show 17 possessions for each team. We scored on 12 of them and they only scored on five, so that tells me we did the right things on both ends.”
Neither team led by more than a half dozen during the game and the two squads entered the intermission tied at 31 all.
In the first 16 minutes of action, both teams struggled handling the ball and each racked up 10-plus fouls in the first half alone.
“We’re not a good team starting out very well and that’s the main thing we need to work on: coming out of the gate better,” Jones said. “We have to learn to play the first half like we do the second half.”
Coble agreed and said the initial speed of the game did not favor Central.
“I think whenever you get that tempo going, you get a little sloppy,” Coble said. “When we started to slow it down there at the end, we started making better passes.”
Coble also said he was proud of the way his team stepped up when Croft and Jones each committed two fouls in the first half.
“I think it showed the heart of some of these people coming off the bench to work hard and make up for it,” he said.
By game’s end five Storm players reached double-figures, led by Je’Vonte Hughes with 14 points. Croft (13), Josh Riley (13), Jones (12) and Caldwell (11) also reached double-digits.
While Central made the game a balanced effort, Greenwood’s Miles Stinson and J.J. Smith each garnered 19 points.
“We just let (Stinson) get too many looks,” Bell said. “I think he had five three’s in the first half and we really wanted to focus on him a little bit more and make sure he didn’t get any open looks and we held him to three points in the second half.”
The Storm learned a lot about themselves by stepping up when the game was on the line, but Jones said he’s not going to remain content.
“We’re learning to play together, but we still have a long way to go,” he said.
HCCHS (1-1): 19 12 18 22 – 71
GHS (1-2): 16 15 21 14 – 66
Central: Je’Vonte Hughes 14, Dan Croft 13, Josh Riley 13, Nikee Caldwell 11, Cory Coble 5, Justin Vanvactor 5
Greenwood: Miles Stinson 19, J.J. Smith 19, Cody Stumbo 8, Will Clayton 6, Jeremy Diggs 4, Dee Anderson 3, Connor Raymer 3, Lane Embry 2, Stefan Iverson 1, C.J. Smith 1
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