OAK HILL- After trailing by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, the Greenbrier East Spartans played about as perfect a fourth quarter as you could dream, and East escaped the Lilly Center with an impressive 65-58 win over the Oak Hill Red Devils.
In the process, the Spartans got an important early season sectional victory as well.
Nathan Dixon got things going early for East as he poured in eight first quarter points. The defense also stood tall and played well even though the Red Devils’ Malachi Lewis did his best for his team to stay close. After one quarter, the Spartans led 13-8.
East (1-1) kept the lead at five at 15-10 early in the second, but Oak Hill appeared to wake up just a little bit. Cole Nelson got a floater, and Lewis and Levi Kriska each hit free throws, but the Spartans never let Oak Hill take the lead. With the game tied at 16-all midway through the second, Jakob Tomlinson sank two freebies and Lambert did the same, and East had a 4-point lead at that point.
At halftime, the Spartans led 22-20.
Whatever Oak Hill coach Benitez Jackson said in his locker room speech must have resonated with his players once they came back on the floor. They used a 16-5 run to jump out to a 9-point lead behind Lewis and Kriska, who played hard and played well. Trevor Kelly also chipped in for Oak Hill and had six points in the quarter. But the Spartans’ Reed McCraw got a couple baskets late in the third that kind of sent the momentum and confidence to the East side of the floor. Still, at one point, Oak Hill led by 13 and heading to the fourth, led 45-34.
Whatever East coach Jared Patton said in his fourth quarter speech may have resonated better than the previously mentioned Jackson’s. A 9-3 scoring run for the Spartans started the period as McCraw scored, Gabe Patton had a beautiful coast-to-coast bucket, Dixon drained a 3 and DeHaven followed with a driving lay-in as well.
And they just never stopped.
After a Patton offensive rebound putback and a DeHaven assist to McCraw underneath, the Spartans had trimmed their deficit to just three points at 50-47.
McCraw then hit one from downtown and Brody Hamric got going and scored six consecutive East points, and just like that, the Spartans led 56-54 with 1:26 left in the game. That grew to 59-54 on a Patton old-fashioned three-point play with 1:01 remaining. From there, it was a foul shooting competition which McCraw and Patton stepped up confidently and converted to help East hold on for their huge comeback victory.
For the Spartans, Dixon, Hamric, and McCraw all scored 13 points each. McCraw’s points were in the second half. Patton scored 11 points, and coincidentally, all his were in the fourth quarter.
East shot 38 percent from the field and went 16-of-22 from the charity stripe.
Lewis led Oak Hill with 23. Kiska had 11 and Kelly added 10.
Stats courtesy of Oldies 93, WKCJ.
Scoring by Quarter:
Team 1 2 3 4 Tot.
GE- 13 9 12 31 65
OH- 8 12 25 13 58
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.