JAMESTOWN — Games take four quarters to reach a conclusion, but this one was over near its beginning.
Greeneview scored the first 18 points of the game and its offense never removed its foot from the gas pedal in a dominant 70-31 win against Catholic Central on Friday at home.
“The guys were locked in and knew the game plan,” Greeneview head coach Kyle Fulk said. “Executed, worked their butt off, defensively rebounded. As a coach, I couldn’t be more proud of the team effort.”
Carter Williams knocked down three shots from beyond the arc in the opening minutes of the game to start the rout. He scored 14 points in the opening period and led the Rams with 24 in the contest.
Greeneview jumped out to an 18-0 advantage after a driving backdoor pass to Ethen Caudill before the Irish got on the board with a three from the corner with 1:16 remaining in the first.
From that point on the Rams lead never dropped below 13 as the Irish weren’t able to produce easy shots and faced a tenacious Greeneview defense looking to force turnovers. A 13-0 run to close out the half had an exclamation point put on the end of it with a three by Ronnie McKinney.
“Our defensive effort and execution was huge,” Greeneview head coach Kyle Fulk. “… To hold them to three points in the first quarter, that set the tone. We’ve done that some this year but we haven’t put four quarters together like that defensively.”
The 43-14 lead at halftime saw Greeneview shoot 52 percent from the field with a 6 of 10 effort from three. They made 10 total from deep in the game.
Greeneview came out of the break scoring the first eight points to remove any improbable thoughts of a comeback.
“I’ve been waiting on our group to have a game like that,” Jordan Erisman said. “Everybody was making shots.”
The game was an early battle for first place in the OHC South with Greeneview sitting at 4-0 and Catholic Central at 3-1, but there was no doubting who belongs on top of the standings starting right after tip-off.
Erisman clutch when needed
Erisman came into Friday’s game leading the OHC in assists per game this season, helping his teammates be a balanced scoring group through his facilitation capabilities.
When he has stepped up himself though, he has certainly delivered in the biggest of ways.
Erisman has knocked down two buzzer beating shots to secure two of the first five wins of Greeneview’s season.
“I’ve always want to have the ball in my hand and be the dude to shoot the ball,” Erisman said. “I got those opportunities to let them both fly and they were feelings I’ve never felt before. Everybody dogpiling on me and yelling my name. I loved feeling that since I never had before.”
In a game at Madison Plains on Dec. 6, the teams went to overtime but neither scored in the extra period into the final seconds. The Rams held the ball for over two minutes before Erisman fired a shot from three which gave his team the win.
A week later playing at Southeastern on Tuesday, Greeneview held a big lead at halftime before giving it up in the second half. Trailing on the final possession, Erisman banked in a shot to pull out a one-point win.
“The play was designed for my teammate Carter,” Erisman said. “He wasn’t open, so in my head I had to make up a backyard play.”
One that worked out well for a player coming up big in the clutch.
