HURRICANE, WV- The Greenbrier East Spartans traveled to Hurricane this past weekend and participated in the 2023 Will Washburn Classic.
The Spartans played hard and battled both games but unfortunately lost 76-61 on Friday night to Hurricane and then fell to Saint Albans 69-64 on Saturday.
In the opener on Friday night against the Redskins, the Spartans took a 4-0 lead early with a basket by Nathan Dixon and a Peyton DeHaven floater. Later in the quarter, Dixon hit a three and then knocked in two free throws to give east a 12-9 lead with just under three minutes to play. However, the Spartans had trouble keeping the Redskins off the glass as Sha’lik Hampton and Von Mills got numerous offensive rebounds that led to second chance points for Hurricane and the Redskins held a 17-14 lead after one.
Not much changed in the second quarter.
Hurricane went up by five points after a JoJo Green layup, but five quick points from Dixon and Dehaven tied the game at 21-all with 3:39 left in the first half. An old-fashioned three-point play by Hampton gave him 12 points for the quarter but a three from Reed McCraw put East up with just over a minute to play. Gabe Patton hit two late free throws gave the Spartans a 30-29 lead at halftime.
But just as it has a couple times already this year, the third quarter got away from the Spartans. Hampton started out with a floater, Carson O’Dell hit a 3 and then he hit another two as well which gave Hurricane a 37-30 lead at that point. Consecutive buckets by Hampton and an O’Dell layup put Hurricane up 14 just a few possessions later, as things were starting to fall apart for East. The Spartans never quit though. Patton hit two straight 3-pointers and Dehaven hit a three-quarter court shot at the third quarter buzzer which made the score 59-45 Hurricane after three.
The Spartans tried their best to keep pace in the fourth quarter, but big shots from O’Dell and Green kept the Redskins out in front for the majority of the quarter as Hurricane cruised to the victory.
Patton led the Spartans in scoring with 15 points, Dehaven scored 14 and Dixon netted 10.
East committed 21 turnovers on the night.
Hampton and O’Dell scored 21 apiece for the Redskins and Green contributed 13.
On Saturday against Saint Albans, the Spartans erased that hurricane game from their memory, at least in the first half.
They came out firing early and overcame an early Saint Albans 8-3 lead as Gabe Patton hit two first quarter three-pointers and the Spartans held a 20-17 lead after one quarter.
Brody Hamric went to work from the free-throw line in the second quarter as he finished the first half with 13 points as the Spartans shot 11-for-19 from the field in the first half including 4-of-8 from three and 11-of-13 from the charity stripe. Peyton Brown hit three consecutive trifectas for Saint Albans, but the Spartans went on a 9-0 run to end the first half.
All that led to a 37-30 advantage for East at the break.
East (1-3) went up nine on Dehaven’s floater to start the third, but the Red Dragons slowly started to chip away at the Spartan lead after that. Tyreek Wilkins scored two, Brogan Samms hit two free throws and Tyrone Paulin got a bucket inside as St. Albans pulled within three at 41-38. Hamric scored five points near the end of the quarter, but KeMante Gravely scored two at the buzzer and St. Albans led 51-49 heading to the fourth.
Brown took over in the fourth to put the game in his teams hands. The senior guard was hitting shots from the outside, getting to the basket, and knocking down free throws. The Spartans had a chance to cut the Red Dragons lead to one, but DeHaven pushed up a tough 3 that bounced off the rim, and then Brown converted a freebie to close out the scoring.
Brown had a game-high 24 points. Wilkins scored 14 and Samms and Paulin added 10.
Hamric led East with 18 and Patton scored 17. McCraw got 13 for the Spartans, who went 22-of-27 at the foul line.
East will look to get back on the winning track when they host Capital this Wednesday, Dec. 20 at the Spartan Gym in Fairlea.
Stats courtesy of 103.1, WRON.
