BLUEFIELD, WV.a– The Greenbrier East Spartans basketball team took a bus to Mercer County on Monday night, Feb. 19 to do battle with the Class AA no. 1 ranked Bluefield Beavers.
Missing starter Layne Lambert for the second straight game due to a lingering illness, East gave it their all before falling 84-66.
Sophomore Nathan Dixon had his best game of his young Spartan career. He scored a career high 29 points and shot the ball extremely well. Bluefield started the game on a 7-0 run and Dixon scored the Spartans’ first eight points of the contest. East’s defense struggled to stop the duo of RJ Hairston and Ka’mron Gore as the Beavers put up 29 points in the first quarter and led 29-14 after one.
Peyton DeHaven had a nice second quarter for East (5-16) and Dixon knocked in a triple, but Gore made sure his Beavers stayed in front consistently as Bluefield led 42-30 at the half.
After a Jesse Hertz basket midway through the third quarter, the Beavers (14-5) took a commanding 58-39 lead, but then the Spartans went on a 15-2 run into the early portion of the fourth period. Dixon then hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 62-57 with about six minutes remaining, but Gore and the Beavers flipped the switch and closed the game on a 19-9 run to get the win.
Dixon was the only Spartan in double figures.
East will conclude their regular season this Friday night at home against the Hurricane Redskins. After that one, sectional play will start next week.
Scoring by Quarter:
1 2 3 4 Total
GE- 14 16 19 17 66
B- 29 13 18 21 81
