Greenwood’s boys basketball team has played 89 games since its most recent meeting with Franklin Central.
Even so, 27th-year Woodmen coach Bruce Hensley has enough experience against the Flashes to know what they do well.
“They’ve got size, they’ve got a really good scorer in (Marcus) Burk, and they’re physical. They can hurt you in different ways,” said Hensley, whose 12-11 squad plays Franklin Central (16-6) in tonight’s second semifinal of the Class 4A Martinsville Sectional.
“They defend well, and in Burk have a player who can shoot it, can get to the rim and score in a multitude of ways,” Hensley said. “And we can’t let them hurt us on the glass.
“We’ve got to be able to rebound.”
Greenwood advanced Tuesday night by rallying for a 63-60 overtime win against Martinsville. The win snapped a 13-game postseason losing streak dating to the end of the 2002-03 season.
Senior guard Justin Conley, who made clutch free-throw conversions with 5.8 seconds remaining in the extra session against Martinsville, said the Woodmen have been a different, more-composed team since coming back to win at Decatur Central 62-58 on Jan. 22.
In that game, the Woodmen, who start four sophomores alongside Conley, trailed by 25 points before storming back to win.
“The season has really matured a lot of guys. After the Decatur Central game we all came together a little bit,” Conley said. “Our team has a lot of fight.”
It will be needed against the Flashes, Class 4A sectional champions the past three seasons and winners of six of nine games to close the regular-season.
Burk is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound shooting guard and Indiana All-Star candidate who averages 25.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game.
Two other Franklin Central players average double-figures: 6-2 senior point guard Jimmy Weinke (12.2) and 6-6 junior Grant Pedigo (10.7).
Weinke also averages 4.4 assists, with Pedigo pulling down a team-high 6.3 boards.
All five of Greenwood’s starters — Conley, along with sophomores Eric Moenkhaus, Jeffrey Reynolds, Braydon Kincaid and Max Raker — average between 8.9 and 13.9 points.
Tonight’s first semifinal features county rivals Franklin Community (16-6) and Center Grove (9-15). The Grizzly Cubs defeated the Trojans 57-52 in early January, only to see Center Grove respond with a 63-52 victory 10 days later in a Johnson County Tournament semifinal game.
Tonight’s game marks the first time the schools have played three times in the same season since 2005-06.
Center Grove posted a 63-52 win against Whiteland on Tuesday to advance. Franklin drew a bye.
Grizzly Cubs coach Brad Dickey said he isn’t surprised the Trojans played as well as they did against Whiteland.
“Center Grove has had a lot of games where they’ve looked just like that. They’ve got good shooters and they’re patient with the big kid inside (6-6 freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis),” Dickey said. “We’re all starting over, but we hope we’ve grown and improved since we last played them, too.”
The Class A Edinburgh Sectional also features two semifinal games tonight, with Greenwood Christian Academy and the host Lancers in action.
Greenwood Christian (6-17) plays Morristown (11-11) in the first game, and Edinburgh (4-19) plays Arlington (18-5) in the nightcap.
Morristown won a close one at home 51-48 against the Cougars on Feb. 4. The Lancers most recently played Arlington during the 2014-15 regular season, winning on the road 61-55.
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TONIGHT’S GAMES
Class 4A
At Martinsville
6 p.m.: Franklin Community (16-6) vs. Center Grove (9-15)
7:45 p.m.: Franklin Central (16-6) vs. Greenwood (12-11)
Class A
At Edinburgh
6 p.m.: Greenwood Christian Academy (6-17) vs. Morristown (11-11)
7:45 p.m.: Edinburgh (4-19) vs. Indianapolis Arlington (18-5)
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