CARROLLTON - On Wednesday night the Duke Blue Devils blew out the Evansville Purple Aces 104-40.
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Why is this relevant to a high school basketball game you may ask?
Well, on that same night 25 miles down Tobacco Road North Carolina was upset by Wofford 79-75.
“I told the boys before the game that North Carolina and Duke had the exact same odds of winning their games in their own house,” Carrollton Hawks basketball coach Matt Goetten said. “This is a game that we felt like we could win going into the holidays. Even if it’s a game, you think you’re going to win you can never take any of them for granted. You gotta grind them out.”
Carrollton got out on the Griggsville-Perry Tornadoes fast and never looked back as they cruised to a 74-32 win in Carrollton on Thursday night.
The Hawks advance to 3-3, and it’s their last game before they head into the Waverly Holiday Tournament the day after Christmas.
“I was happy with the effort for the entire game and happy with the effort I got off the bench. We stuck to our game plan, and there’s a lot to be said about that because it was really the first time they did stick to it,” Goetten said. In the Triopia game, when the wheels started to wobble they wanted to go away from the plan, and it takes us to a 20-point loss.”
Sophomore Ethan Brannan led all scorers with a career-high 17 points which included four three-pointers. Gabe Jones tallied 15 points, and nine rebounds and Nathan Walker added nine.
“Starting at the beginning of the year I’ve been a little rough, but we’ve been working on it in practice, and I’m glad I finally got going tonight,” Brannan said. “We’re glad to get the transition offense going, and we finally got it working. We have great guys who can do anything when they get the ball and are capable of shooting and driving.”
“Ethan’s a guy that we really wanted to get going, and that was part of the game plan. E is genetically predisposed to play basketball,” Goetten said with a laugh. “I played with his old man, and he was a player. You can’t swing a cat without hitting a Brannan in the Carrollton area that can’t drop 30 on somebody. It runs in the family, and we knew we needed to get that out of him. Even as a sophomore he’s instinctive and does a lot of things for us that maybe don’t show up on the stat sheet all the time. I can’t say enough about him.”
Carrollton got out on Griggsville-Perry fast.
They stormed out to a 14-2 lead that included two Brannan triples and some steals that led to easy layups, which forced a Tornadoes timeout and after the first quarter it was 20-5. The Hawks high-tempo pressure caused Griggsville-Perry to rush shots and get out in transition, usually resulting in layups or second chance points coming on layups.
That’s what Goetten and the Hawks had been patiently waiting to achieve.
“I’m not a very good basketball coach, but I do know we have very athletic guys. We want to put them into a position where they can be successful that way,” Goetten said. “We haven’t really been healthy, so we haven’t seen that full-court pressure that we want to assert.”
Despite battling foul trouble because of their aggressive approach the Hawks led by a comfortable 38-14 lead at halftime.
Carrollton outscored the Tornadoes 23-4 in the third quarter, and that allowed Goetten to rotate in the likes of Seth Howard, Jacob Graner, and Garrett Settles among others.
“We had a lot more people going in and out in this game so that sometimes causes that friction. I’m looking for Graner, Settles, and even Howard to step into a role where we can rely on them more in a tight game. It was nice those guys got some minutes tonight.”
Griggsville-Perry fell to 0-8 on the season and completed their third-game this week which were all on the road.
“I’m glad that coach [Todd] Bradshaw is back and coaching. He’s a fun guy, and he will have those guys playing Bird City Bomber basketball again,” Goetten said. “I know it’s just a matter of time that they’ll be right back in the thick of things. Kudos to him and his guys for coming out and grinding.”
The Hawks will be back out on the court in the Waverly Holiday Tournament against the No. 7 ranked team in Class 1A, but also WIVC rivals in the West Central Cougars. The nine seeded Hawks will take on the 8-0 Cougars, who are the one seed and the game will be played as it is traditionally at 9 a.m. Riverbender.com will be at Waverly to report/photograph the Carrollton-West Central action.
“It’s an energy thing at 9 a.m. As a player I hated it, and as a coach I hate it,” Goetten said. “Both teams have the same circumstance, and we can’t let that bother us. West Central is a state-ranked opponent, and my guys will get up for that. Hopefully, my guys play the way they did tonight with that type of energy.”
