BORDEN

Playing their entire starting lineup almost all 32 minutes, Crothersville’s boys basketball team broke down their Sectional 61 contest with Borden one possession at a time.

While the teams exchanged the lead in the first half, the Braves used their depth to put the pressure on the Tigers in the final 16 minutes.

The result was a 61-44 victory for the Braves (13-11), who advance to today’s championship game against West Washington.

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Crothersville freshman Josh Thomas didn’t shy away from commanding the Tigers’ offense from the start.

The Tigers (7-17) held on to the ball for almost two minutes in their opening possession, and the score remained at zero until Thomas hit a 3-pointer with 4:50 on the clock.

A mini 6-0 run by the Braves was halted by a pair of threes from Thomas, as the Tigers led 9-7 at the 1:50-mark.

A basket from Nathan Bachman retied the game at 9-9 before the buzzer.

The Tigers went on a 6-0 scoring string, sparked by a 3-pointer from junior Noah Hoskins, to go up 15-13 with 2:11 before intermission.

With 49 ticks left in the first half, the Braves held onto the ball for one last shot.

With one second on the clock, Bachman drilled a 3-pointer from the left side to give the Braves an 20-17 advantage at the break.

“Our game plan, with our depth, we wanted to try and slow them down as much as possible,” Tigers coach Greg Kilgore said. ” We did a great job in the first half and the start of the third quarter. We let a couple possessions get away form us and that led to a bigger lead for them. Then we had to speed it up”

Thomas accounted for 14 of the Tigers’ points — including all nine in the first quarter — while Braves big man Noah Hart led the home team with nine from the post.

While senior Conner O’Sullivan scored the Tigers’ first six points of the second half, Crothersville gave up nine in the first five minutes, as they trailed 29-23.

Threes from juniors Zane Elliott and Lane Wienhorst cut the deficit to 34-29 at the conclusion of the third quarter.

Borden scored seven unanswered points by the 5:54-mark in the fourth quarter to extend their lead to 41-29.

O’Sullivan drained back-to-back 3-pointers and added a field goal, and Thomas got a basket to go, as the Tigers’ deficit shrunk to 46-39 with 3:08 remaining.

The Braves answered with a 10-0 run to push their advantage into double digits and cruise towards the win.

Thomas and O’Sullivan each finished with 16 points and Hart topped the Braves with 24.

Kilgore said that O’Sullivan left it all out on the floor with his play in the second half.

On the boards, Hart pulled down 13 rebounds as the Braves out rebounded the Tigers 23-21. Thomas led the Tigers with 11 rebounds.

The Tigers had 10 turnovers to the Braves’ six giveaways.

O’Sullivan is the lone senior on the Tigers’ roster.

“I have to credit my guys, they played as hard as they could for 32 minutes,” Kilgore said. “We have a lot of guys coming back. We are going to put in the work this summer. I really appreciate all the work they put in this season. I’m looking forward for a month or two break and then getting right back at it.”