FAIRLEA, WV- The stage was set in Fairlea on Friday night, Dec. 8 for the Greenbrier East Spartans home opener against their biggest rivals, the Class AAAA 6th ranked Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles.
The crowd filed in, and the students were ready to get rowdy, and after the first quarter, they were. However, from the second quarter on, Woodrow took control of the game and beat East 64-38 using a stifling, quick defense and an offense led by all-stater Elijah Redfern.
East used the building’s energy early to create a little separation between them and the Eagles. Brody Hamric and Peyton DeHaven each hit a pair of free throws, and a couple minutes later, Hamric got an old-fashioned 3-point play for an 8-7 Spartan lead.
And that’s when East went on their run.
The Spartans used an 11-3 spurt over the next three and a half minutes that was fueled by a Gabe Patton driving layup and then a 3 from Patton off the right wing. Reed McCraw got a running half hook to go, and DeHaven hit two more freebies, and after one quarter, the Spartans led 19-10 and had all the momentum the gym could hold.
Then, Beckley (1-0) opened the second quarter like they had something to prove, and that they did. Coby Dillon got a quick bucket, Redfern made a nice pass to Preston Clary for a score, and then Redfern scored an easy one under the basket. After a Clary 3 right after that, the Eagles had opened the second on a 9-0 run that knotted the game at 19-all. Nathan Dixon gave East (0-1) the lead at 23-21 with a under a minute to go, but Woodrow scored the half’s last four points and led 25-23 at halftime and never trailed again. East scored just four points in the quarter.
The game started to slowly slip away from the Spartans grasp in the third period when it appeared the halftime adjustment for the Eagles was to get to the bucket and get there quickly, and again, that is what happened.
Jaylon Walton got the scoring started, but he was answered by Dixon of the Spartans with a score as well. But Redfern then went on a personal 11-2 run, including nine points in a row that seemed to give Beckley the confidence and momentum as they held a 38-27 lead at that point. The game became out of reach after Dillon hit a 3 and then Andrew Fitzwater had a huge block that led to a Zion Hawthorne layup on the other end and the rowdy, packed student section got a little quieter.
The Eagles then outscored the Spartans 19-11 in the fourth and final period to put the game on ice for good.
It was a tough shooting night for the home team as East hit on just 28 percent of their shots including an ice cold 6 percent from 3-point range.
Hamric was the only double figure scorer with 12 points and was named the Magic’s Computer Repair player of the game for his efforts.
Redfern led the Eagles with a game-high 24 points.
All in all, it was a night of ups and downs for the young Spartans, but they will get an opportunity to erase the bad taste from their mouths this Tuesday, Dec. 12 when they head to Oak Hill to battle another rival, the Red Devils. Tipoff for that one is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
Stats courtesy of 103.1, WRON.
