The 6-foot junior netted a career-high 34-points and the Rangers defense forced Hardin County into eight fourth quarter turnovers as Joppa improved to 1-1 on the season while giving first year head coach Ken Harris his maiden victory, 68-59 in the second game of the Tuesday night session.

Trailing for most of the second half, which included a bad third quarter in which Joppa turned the ball over themselves 11 times, Castleman led the charge as the Rangers rallied.

“He (Castleman) is one of the best shooters, and if he keeps his head in the game he can play with anybody,” added Coach Harris. “I keep telling the kids that if you hit your free throws you will win a lot of these games. We just came out in the fourth quarter and gave everything we had.”

With Hardin County seemingly in control at 47-39 just a minute into the fourth quarter, Joppa began to chip away at the advantage.

Castleman and teammate Thomas Garner all scored important baskets and when sophomore Michael Sparks scored on an inbounds play, Joppa trailed just 50-49 at the 4:36 mark.

The Cougars final lead of the contest came on a conventional three-point play by reserve Colton Winters. Winters came off the bench for Coach Rodney Lane and had triggered the big third quarter with 10 of his 13-points.

Joppa then took control, with Garner hitting a trey from the right wing while Justin Harvill also connected from downtown moments later after yet another HC turnover.

His trifecta put Joppa in front for good.

During that stretch, Hardin County committed three consecutive turnovers.

Joppa, led by Castleman and Garner, slammed the door shut from the foul line.

The Rangers nailed 8-of-9 charity tosses in the final :54 seconds to seal the victory.
“We keep telling the kids to keep hustling and it will all come through,” said Coach Harris. “We just need to play hard for all four quarters.”

Hardin County saw their record slip to 0-2 despite 14-points from the Cougars' lone senior Dustin Vaughn and 13-points each from Winters and B.J. Austin.

Castleman tossed in 13 of his points in the second quarter, keeping the Rangers in the contest.

His fastbreak score on a pass from Sparks put Joppa up 28-27 with just over a minute left before intermission.

However a rebound basket by Jeremy Hicks sent the teams to the break tat 29-28 Hardin County.

The Cougars can point to many reasons for the defeat but 25-turnovers and a 25-of-70 shooting percentage are good places to look.

Despite the failures on the offensive end, Hardin County still had chances to win.

But those seven turnovers late along with a 3-of-13 effort from the field spelled doom.

Young teams make mistakes and both of these teams did plenty on Tuesday night.

Neither team has much time for rest or practice.

Joppa didn't handle the ball well, either.

The Rangers committed 29-turnovers, including a stretch where they had five turnovers in a :32 second stretch.

But they shot the ball a bit better than the Cougars (24-of-61) and made the right moves down the stretch.

Hardin County will play Elverado at 5 pm on Wednesday while Joppa plays the host Trojans at 8 pm.

Tyler Eddleman, a 6-foot-7 senior, topped all scorers with 31-points and his conventional three-point play off of a missed free throw attempt gave Dongola a 55-50 advantage with 1:29 remaining.

Elverado had chances to tie the game in the final minute but missed three long range shots.

The Demons closed out the win with a pair of free throws by senior Brock Patterson and a steal and lay in by Darius Schauer.

Elverado was led by Andrew Jeschke with 19-points. Kyle Whittington and Josh Sorensen added 15 and 11-points perspectively.

Elverado and Hardin County hook up on Wednesday night while Dongola and Pope County will do the same at 6:30 pm.