HICO – A cold shooting first half sealed Greenbrier West’s fate Tuesday night in a 57-45 loss at Midland Trail. The Cavaliers shot a woeful 6-15 from the floor including 0-2 from three in the first two quarters and fell behind 30-13 at the half.
Midland Trail on the other hand shot a respectable 13-26 from the floor including 5-13 from behind the arc. Junior guard Payton Bailes sank four of the five Patriot three-pointers and tallied 16 points in the first half. Senior Thad Brown chipped in with seven first quarter points as Trail steadily climbed away from the Cavaliers as the first quarter ended.
Greenbrier West had cut the Patriot lead down to one at 10-9, but Midland Trail went on an 8-0 run to end the first quarter. Colton Dunbar and Kamden Sams combined for seven of the Cavaliers’ nine first quarter points. Senior forward Randy Keener muscled inside for West’s other bucket.
Midland Trail didn’t exactly scorch the nets in the second quarter, but they did more than enough to keep the Cavaliers at bay. Bailes hit his fourth three pointer of the night and tallied seven points while a trio of Patriot bench players added five points collectively to outdistance the Cavaliers 12-4 in the quarter. Shane Plogger and Carter Vandall handled the scoring for West with each knocking down a shot.
Sams heated up for the Cavaliers in the third quarter, scoring nine points on 4-7 shooting (0-1 from three) from the floor. The junior point guard also knocked down a foul shot. Isaac Crane hit his first career three pointer, Dakota McKinney added a three, and Dunbar added three points to his total. West had its best output of the night with 18 points, but the Patriots were a little better. Shooting a sizzling 5-8 from three, Midland Trail got eight points apiece from both Bailes and Brown while sophomore Levi Skaggs chipped in with five points to outscore the Cavalier 21-18 in the quarter. The Patriots held a 51-31 advantage after three quarters.
Down by 20 points, the Cavaliers kept fighting their way back in the fourth quarter. Getting buckets from Sams, Dunbar, and Keener, the Cavaliers got additional help from a pair of bench players. Shane Plogger drained a pair of free throws and knocked down a three to give him five points in the final frame. Jesse Walkup sank a three-pointer as well as the Cavaliers cut the lead to 13 before Patriot head coach Curtis Miller had seen enough and called timeout with 2:32 left in the game. The stoppage worked as planned as each team scored only once more before the game ended.
Greenbrier West drops to 1-1 on the season and heads to Montcalm on Wednesday night. The Cavaliers return to play at home Friday night against James Monroe. Midland Trail improves to 2-1 and travels to Clay County on Wednesday.
Radio coverage of Wednesday’s game begins at 7:15 on Rock 95, radiogreenbrier.com, or the TuneIn app.
