It’s not just the best start in Luke Meredith’s four seasons as the Greenfield-Central head boys basketball coach. It’s the best start for the Cougars since the 2015-16 season.
Greenfield-Central improved to 3-0 Tuesday, beating Decatur Central 66-55 at Dellen Automotive Gymnasium.
The 2015-16 team, under then-coach Michael Lewis, went 20-5 and won the first four games of the year.
On Tuesday, a transition bucket from senior Tyler Kerkhof late in the first quarter gave the Cougars the lead for good. They continued to grow their advantage the entire night.
Senior guard Dylan Moles had 30 points, three shy of his career-high. The Marian University recruit hit big shot after big shot all night long. He had four 3-pointers and went 6 of 7 at the free-throw line.
Sophomore guard Braylon Mullins scored 19. At 6-feet-4, the tallest Cougar in the starter lineup also had 11 rebounds.
“We beat the defending state champs (Beech Grove in the season opener), who just beat the Class 3A No. 1 team NorthWood. We beat a perennial (2A) powerhouse in Northeastern and now we beat a Marion County team that was bigger, and more athletic than us, I am proud of how our guys have competed,” Meredith said of his team’s start to the 2022-23 season. “We have bought in. Same old story in Year 4. We have some guys playing hard. We have some guys fitting into their roles and we have some guards that are really good. Kerkhof, Moles and Mullins, I’d put our backcourt up against anybody in the state. They are three really good players.”
Moles, the 6-3 guard who Meredith touts as an Indiana All-Star candidate, was 6 of 7 from the field in the first half and finished 11 of 16 for the game.
He helped extend the lead in the opening quarter with two straight treys. The latter was from at least 25-feet away gave G-C a 15-10 first-quarter lead. The Hawks cut it to two, 24-22, late in the first half, and Moles answered with another 3. Mullins finished off the halftime scoring to put the Cougars up 29-22 at the break.
Every time the Hawks would inch closer, the Cougars would answer, and then extend the lead.
In the third quarter, Moles hit an and-one to give G-C a nine-point advantage, 42-33. At the time it was the Cougars biggest lead of the game. Two Moles free throws late in the quarter gave Greenfield-Central it’s first double figure lead, 47-37.
The lead got as high as 12 when Kerkhof hit a 3 for a 52-40 score with 4 :50 to go.
Decatur Central cut it to six, 54-48, with just over three minutes remaining. Moles followed with a pair of free throws and then scored off a steal to get the lead back to double figures.
Mullins helped close it out with 5 of 6 shooting at the charity stripe.
Moles wasn’t the only guard having a big night on Tuesday. Decatur Central was led by junior KC Berry, who tied Moles for game-high honors with 30.
The Cougars are hopeful the 3-0 start gives momentum into, at this point, the biggest game of the season.
Greenfield-Central hosts 3-0 New Palestine Friday in a battle of Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals.
“Friday is the game. We’re 3-0. They’re 3-0. They’re the sectional favorite, best team in the county. If we want to win the game we better be ready to go,” Meredith said, who along with praising Moles as an Indiana All-Star did the same for New Pal 6-foot-6 senior Ian Stephens. “I’ve seen them twice live and once on film. They’re really talented and are playing really well. We’ll have to play better than we did (Tuesday) to have a chance Friday night. New Pal is really good.”
Greenfield-Central 66, Decatur Central 55
Decatur Central;10;12;15;18;—;55
Greenfield-Central;15;14;18;19;—;66
Decatur Central (3-2): Melakih Cunningham 0 0-0 0, Steven Rogers 0 0-0 0, Anthony Ball 5 2-6 12, Ty’reese Burnett 2 0-2 4, KC Berry 9 8-9 30, Eric Hopson 0 0-0 0, Raekwon Cunningham 2 1-1 5, Ayden Lawwson 1 1-2 4, Aycen Stevens 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 12-20 55
Greenfield-Central (3-0): Will DeJarnett 1 1-4 3, Braylon Mullins 6 6-7 19, Braden Robertson 1 0-0 3, Dylan Moles 10 6-7 30, Tyler Kerkhof 2 4-5 9, Jake Hinton 1 0-1 2, Dallas Freeman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 17-24 66.
3-point goals: Decatur Central 5 (Berry 4, Lawwson); Greenfield-Central 7 (Moles 4, Mullins, Robertson, Kerkhof)
