It wasn’t a flawless performance by any means, but the Greenwood boys basketball team will take it.
Eric Moenkhaus scored 24 points and the Woodmen bounced back after blowing a third-quarter lead to open their season with a 62-54 home victory against Mid-State Conference foe Martinsville.
“We have a lot to work on,” Moenkhaus said. “That game was a little too close.”
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Down by a point after three quarters, the Woodmen opened the final period with nine consecutive points to build a 53-45 advantage with 5:34 to go. The Artesians hit a pair of 3s to get within two, but baskets by Braydon Kincaid and Max Raker helped Greenwood stop the bleeding and hold on.
The Woodmen fell into a 7-0 hole in the first minute and a half of the game but crept back, tying it at 13-all and pulling ahead for the first time, 16-15, on a Jeffrey Reynolds 3.
Consecutive three-point plays by Isaiah Drew early in the second quarter put Greenwood on top 22-20, and the home side stayed on top for the rest of the half, getting seven points from Moenkhaus in the final three minutes to take a 33-26 edge into the break.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Moenkhaus briefly stretched the Greenwood lead to double digits at 42-32 in the third before the Artesians went into the fourth up 45-44 after closing the quarter with a 13-2 surge. Two Moenhkaus foul shots at the start of the fourth accounted for the final lead change of the night.
Moenkhaus hit four 3-pointers, the last coming with 5:45 left in the final period.
“I didn’t have a hand hitting my arms or something,” Moenkhaus said. “It was more wide open, and so it just made it a lot easier.”
Kincaid and Reynolds each wound up with 12 points, while Drew added 10 points and four steals off the bench.
Greenwood coach Joe Bradburn will gladly take the win, but he also had plenty to pick apart after it.
“We were our own worst enemy most of the time tonight,” he said. “We played fast when we didn’t need to play fast, and defensively we broke down and didn’t communicate very well. … The positive is that it’s early in the season, it’s the first game, and now we have a gauge.”
