GREENFIELD — What seemed destined to become a lopsided loss for the Greenfield-Central Cougars, quickly turned into a late-game opportunity to tie.
Maybe even win.
Down by as many as 15 points on Thursday night, the host Cougars charged back behind a 13-2 run in the final 2 minutes, 48 seconds against Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Delta to narrowly lose 55-52 on senior night.
The Cougars (10-7, 3-4 HHC) chipped away at the deficit all night after falling behind by 10 points early in the second quarter.
However, a pair of late, fourth-quarter 3-pointers by Greenfield-Central’s Dylan Moles and Adam Lester, along with a Gavin Roberton and-1 and two more buckets put the Cougars in control with 19.2 seconds left.
A pass on the perimeter from Robertson to Moles gave the sophomore guard a chance for a game-tying 3-pointer over Delta’s Jayden Furney, but the ball just bounced off target.
“I thought I was going to hit it, to be honest, but it just rimmed out,” Moles said.
Delta (9-4) regained possession with 2 seconds remaining and drew a foul, but the Eagles didn’t score again, surviving the Cougars’ comeback effort to improve to 4-1 in the HHC.
Moles scored a game-high 23 points, shooting 6 of 12 from 3-point range and 8-for-14 from the field. Lester followed with 18 points, finishing the second half a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor.
Delta countered, however, with Ball State football commit Brady Hunt, a 6-foot-5 senior, who led the Eagles with 21 points and nine rebounds.
Hunt went 9 of 12 from the field and converted 3 of 4 free throws.
“He killed us, catching in the high post and driving on easy layups against us every time,” Moles said. “We’ve started most of our games down, so we’re used to playing down, but we just try to fight back and never give up.”
The Cougars faced an immediate challenge in the first quarter after Moles tied the game 3-all on his first 3-pointer. The Eagles broke the deadlock with an 11-1 run to jump ahead 14-4 in the second quarter.
A 15-5 run that started in the second and carried into the third quarter gave Delta its largest lead at 33-18.
Before the halftime buzzer sounded, Delta took a 31-18 advantage on a dunk by Hunt in transition.
“I thought the play before the end of the half was big. Gavin Robertson missed the layup, and they came back down and got a dunk,” G-C head coach Luke Meredith said. “I really felt that it would have been very easy to come back out there and say, ‘it’s just not our night.’ And it really wasn’t, but I think it’s a mark of how far we’ve come as a program because we just fought back and we never give up.”
Greenfield-Central trailed 42-31 by the end of the third quarter before erupting for 21 points in the fourth while the Eagles were limited to 24 points in the second half.
Delta shot 52 percent in the second half, 72 percent in the first half and 62 percent in the game (22 of 35), but other than a 1-for-8 first quarter, the Cougars were right on their heels.
“That’s who we are. That’s our identity, and we gave ourselves a chance, down three with the ball and didn’t play well,” Meredith said. “I was just really proud of how our kids responded. At one point, we were down by (15), but we very easily could have been run out of the gym on senior night.
“I just kept telling them that I need five guys that are gritty. We talked about that at halftime.”
Moles, Lester and Robertson were up to the task, combining for 19 of the team’s final 21 points in the fourth quarter. G-C shot 50 percent from the field in the game and were 8 of 11 (72 percent) in the fourth and 57 percent (12 of 21) in the second half.
The Cougars’ turnovers dropped from nine in the first half to five in the second, which opened up their offense.
Robertson had three points, Will VanDuyn had two, Joey Roland added two and Rashawn Street scored another four points. Roland had five assists, while Lester dished out four.
Hunt was the difference, though.
The future collegiate quarterback had four assists, two steals and didn’t miss a shot in the first half, including five during Delta’s 15-5 run.
“I thought our kids were gritty and we responded,” Meredith said. “We have to be able to play harder than other teams and deserve it. I thought we did, especially in that fourth quarter.
“For some reason, we haven’t been able to get off to good starts all year. I don’t know what it was, but we were getting clean looks and they were sitting in their zone. We were expecting the zone, executing our sets. They just weren’t falling.”
Neil Marshall finished with 14 points for Delta. Clay Bragg had eight points, while Logan Manor had six and both Blake Jones and Riley Woodin contributed three each.
The Cougars host Greenwood on Saturday before back-to-back roads games next week at Franklin County and Western Boone, beginning on Feb. 12.
