By Chris May
Boys Basketball Coordinator
ELLETTSVILLE – With an inside-out combination of seniors Garrett Butcher and Tommy Weakley and contributions from freshman forward Levi Garner, the 3A #3 Edgewood Mustangs opened their 2007-08 season with a 67-56 home win over Beech Grove November 21.
The Mustangs, coming off an unforgettable 20-0 regular season last winter, pushed out to a 13-3 lead early, held off a second quarter rally, and were able to put the visiting Hornets away with a 22-point third quarter performance.
In the first game of their senior year, the 6’7” Butcher and 6’0” Weakley scored 25 and 21 points respectively, while 6’4” freshman Garner scored 11 in extended minutes.
“I was very pleased with tonight’s effort all the way down the line,” said Edgewood head coach Jay Brown.
“I thought our kids were very unselfish, I thought they were focused and they were able to go out there and execute the things we talked about in the locker room. It’s definitely the best opening night we’ve had in the five years that I’ve been here.”
Edgewood, who lost half a dozen seniors from last year’s team, started four seniors and a junior but were replacing more than half of their starting lineup from a year ago. Fortunately their top two scorers from a year ago are back and led them in the season opener.
“We were kind of worried about how we were going to come out tonight with a lot of new guys and they stepped up,” said one of the holdovers, the Butler signee Butcher. “That’s a really good team so to beat them the way we did in the first game of the year was a big step for us.”
There was little worry early as the hosts popped out to a 13-3 lead and led 15-7 at the first stop with just one Beech Grove made field goal.
The visiting Hornets got within one when leading scorer John Hart, a 6’2” senior guard, got hot scoring eight points in an 11-4 run that got the score to 19-18, but Butcher countered with his own run scoring eight straight points from the field and at the line, pushing it to a nine point game.
Following Butcher’s offensive spurt, the outside opened up for Weakley as he hit a three-pointer and then drained two free throws in the closing minute of the half and gave Edgewood a 32-22 advantage.
But Weakley and the long distance fireworks had just begun.
Butcher knocked down a field goal eight seconds into the third quarter, and then the game’s next five field goals were treys.
Senior Ben Walters hit one for the Hornets which was answered by Weakley. Beech Grove came back with a three from Hart and Edgewood answered with Weakley. For good measure Weakley hit another three-pointer more than a minute later and Weakley had connected on his fifth three pointer of the game and given his team a 43-28 lead with 4:55 left in the third.
“Tommy got three wide open looks in the third quarter and he’s shot like that all fall so we’re not surprised when we see it go in like that,” said Brown.
“When people double down on me, I know if I kick it out to him and he’s open he’s going to hit it,” Butcher said of his classmate. “He’s a huge factor for us.”
The Mustangs gained their biggest lead of the night at the 2:29 mark of the third as Weakley struck again, stealing the ball and laying it in giving his team a 50-30 advantage.
Prior to Weakley’s steal, 6’4” freshman forward Levi Garner scored five of his 11 points on consecutive possessions, the latter a rebound basket that was converted for a three-point play.
“He played really well for his first game, I was pretty excited for him,” Butcher said. “It’s a big thing to come in your first game ever from junior high to varsity and play like he did, he did very well.”
“I thought for his first game as a freshman he came in and did an outstanding job,” Coach Brown said of Garner. “I really believe it’s because he wasn’t focused on anything but defense and rebounding and when the opportunities came he just cashed them in.”
After Edgewood started the fourth quarter up 54-37, Butcher continued to work scoring the Mustangs’ first three field goals of the corner and adding another free throw to finish with 25 points and nine rebounds.
“I thought, especially playing with a hurt finger, he came out and did exactly what we needed him to do,” declared Brown.
Butcher injured the index finger on his shooting hand in practice and has suffered some swelling.
“He struggled a little bit more at the line than he normally would, but we’ll just kind of work around him.”
Beech Grove was able to close the deficit late as John Hart scored eight and David Sanders had seven in the final quarter, but Hornets head coach Randy Males was less than pleased with his team’s performance.
“Give all the credit in the world to Edgewood. They were better prepared and played much harder than we did, they played with a lot of passion and we didn’t.”
“We were very lackadaisical. I’m just very disappointed. The bottom line is we just got outworked.”
Hart finished with 21 points and Sanders totaled 13 for Beech Grove. Ben Walters and Adam Page scored nine apiece and Eric Weathers had four.
Butcher took game-high honors with 25 points, Weakley had 21, and Garner joined them in double figures with 11. Junior guard Ryan Baugh had six and senior Jacob Thornton finished with four for the winners.
The Mustangs, who have won 19 straight home games since a December 2, 2005 loss to county rival Bloomington North, host Bloomington North and 3A #1 Washington in their next two games.
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