Pete Mansheffer Photo

Pete Mansheffer

Sun Sports Contributor

GREENE – Evan Walters sat the bench in Greene’s overtime loss to Sidney on Dec. 7, but he certainly made presence felt in the rematch Wednesday night, scoring a career-high 24 points in just over three quarters in the Trojans’ 55-40 Midstate Athletic Conference boys’ basketball victory.

Walter was a “Did Not Play, Coaches Decision” in the first game at Sidney – Coach Chris Rice hoping to “light a fire” under his 6-foot-6 junior. It’s worked, as Walters has been one of the top players in the area.

“The Sidney coach (Mike Brazee) said they had no answer for him tonight,” Rice said.

“Since that (first Sidney) game, Evan’s been dominant,” he added. “Tonight, the game plan was to get inside to Evan and he responded.”

Walters scored 14 points in the opening half, including Greene’s first six points of the game to help the Trojans erase an early 7-0 deficit. Down 15-13 at the conclusion of the first quarter, Greene finally took the lead for good with 3:21 to play in the half when Walters grabbed his own miss and scored for a 22-20 lead. Nate Erickson’s three-pointer and Alec Frair’s short jumper gave Greene its biggest lead of the first half (29-21) before Sidney closed the halftime gap to 29-24.

17 first half turnovers did not allow Greene to pull away further.