LEWISBURG (WVDN) – When the sixth-ranked Greenbrier East Spartans played the Oak Hill Red Devils a few weeks ago, East had arguably their worst offensive performance of the season. They could not buy a bucket from outside and allowed Oak Hill to upset them which shocked a lot of experts around the state and in the area.
However, that was then, and this is now.
East (10-6) played a much better all-around game on Tuesday night, Feb. 7, as they exacted their revenge on their sectional opponents and won the contest 68-49 in front of a large, weeknight crowd.
Oak Hill led 2-0 on the first basket of the game by Trevor Kelly, and that was it; that was their only lead of the night. East used a 17-0 run over the next five minutes, highlighted by Adam Seams, who scored 4 points and dished out a couple assists, and Gabe Patton and Jude Libby who each hit 3s. With revenge on their minds, the Spartans never let up and led 21-6 after the first quarter.
Oak Hill got going on offense more in the second quarter, as Cole Nelson and Malachi Lewis each connected on shots from deep, but the Spartans got good play from Monquelle Davis off the bench, as the senior made a nice driving layup late in the quarter that gave East a 34-19 advantage. But the duo of Nelson and Malachi Lewis scored 5 quick points, and the score was 34-24 at the break with the Spartans in front.
East head coach Jared Patton has been consistently good at adjusting and tweaking some things at halftime, and this time was no different. East came out in impressive fashion and began the third quarter on an 8-3 run that increased their lead back to 15 points. During that run, Seams threw a dart of a pass to Kaiden Huffman, who scored and got fouled on the play. Huffman then gave the Spartans their biggest lead of the game up to that point, when he drained a 3 from the corner in front of the cheerleaders. At that point, it was 47-30, and East kept the lead 49-36 after three.
Seams controlled the fourth quarter after going down with a minor injury in the third. He found Bryson Brammer for a basket that made it 53-38. Goose Gabbert became the closer as he typically does and paced his team with 8 fourth quarter points as East cruised until the clock read all zeroes.
Huffman took home player of the game honors. He scored 8 points and played tremendous defense all night.
Gabbert paced East with 15 points. Seams added 12.
Trevor Kelly led the Red Devils with 14 points, and Malachi Lewis scored 14 as well.
East returns home this Friday night, Feb. 10, looking to avenge another loss earlier this year when they host the Shady Spring Tigers. According to many, Shady is the best or second-best team in the entire state, regardless of class, and beat the Spartans 89-63 in early January.
OH: 6 18 12 13
GE: 21 13 15 19
Oak Hill Scoring:
Trevor Kelly 14, Malachi Lewis 14, Cole Nelson 12, Omar Lewis 7, Jeremiah Jackson 2
Greenbrier East Scoring:
Goose Gabbert 15, Adam Seams 12, Monquelle Davis 7, Gabe Patton 9, Chris Sinclair 5, Kaiden Huffman 8, Jude Libby 7, Bryson Brammer 5
