FAIRLEA- The Greenbrier East Spartans made it a season sweep of the Nicholas County Grizzlies on Tuesday night, Feb. 4 in Fairlea as the Spartans rolled to an easy, yet challenging 60-47 victory.
East, who had defeated Nicholas County 66-59 in Summersville a couple weeks ago, played cleaner basketball in the second half to secure the win.
But it was not like the first half was bad.
Other than some turnovers, Greenbrier East got off to a good start. Brody Hamric and Nathan Dixon scored eight and seven points, respectively, in the opening period to help the Spartans race out to a 20-8 lead after one.
In the second, Nicholas’ Trey Stump showcased some of his skill and kept his team within striking distance by scoring nine points in the quarter, including a 3. Donavin Penn (five points) and Layne Lambert played well for East (8-6) and crashed the glass with authority, and it helped the Spartans maintain a 30-21 halftime lead as the Valley Dance Company had a few good performances for the crowd.
Gabe Neal played a solid game throughout the contest and hit a big 3-pointer in the third. Also, in the third, East’s Darius Burns was called for a questionable offensive foul with the Spartans up 43-34, but luckily the call did not hurt East where it could have changed momentum had Nicholas County (5-10) scored on the other end. Instead, Hamric made two free throws on the next trip down.
Halfway through the third quarter, Reed McCraw made a nice spin move to put the Spartans up 52-36 and that lead would extend to as much as 18 as East smooth sailed their way to the win column.
Stump led Nicholas County with 24 points. Hamric (15 points), Dixon (13) and Neal (10) led Greenbrier East.
East will host Lewis County this Saturday afternoon at 3:00 PM.
