OAK HILL- The Greenbrier East Spartans have been playing their best basketball of the season over the last few weeks and that was no different on Monday night, Feb. 24 when they traveled to Oak Hill to take on the Red Devils.
What was thought to be a challenge with Oak Hill celebrating their senior night, was anything but. East strolled into the Lilly Center, dominated from start to finish, and left with a convincing 65-42 victory.
The Spartans opened the night with a 14-3 run right off the bat fueled by two Brody Hamric 3s and five points from Braylen Godfrey. Speaking of Godfrey, it’s no secret that the Spartans recent four-game winning streak can likely be attributed to the play of the 6-foot-4-inch sophomore. He controlled the paint early in this game on both ends as he grabbed numerous offensive rebounds and blocked a couple shots on the defensive side. Oak Hill actually seemed shell shocked at Godfrey’s early production, and they never recovered for the rest of the night.
After one quarter, East led 18-10.
After a Gabe Neal jumper to open quarter number two, Oak Hill (8-9) cut their deficit to just six points following consecutive baskets by Brent Connelly and Tom Jones. And the Red Devils would never get that close again. East went on a 10-0 run to close out the half and built a 30-14 lead at the break.
Godfrey’s three-point play put Greenbrier East up 39-19 just a few minutes into the second half and after a couple Oak Hill scores, Godfrey and Hamric answered with back-to-back buckets and the Spartans took a 47-23 lead. They led 49-25 after three.
Any hopes the Red Devils had of a miraculous senior night comeback was put to rest by junior Nathan Dixon faster than some fans could get to the concession stand lines. Dixon hit three 3s in the quarter and East cruised to their 12th win of the season (12-7).
Dixons fourth quarter propelled him to a game-high 23 points. Hamric was excellent with 18 and Godfrey added 13 points.
Oak put three in double figures; Levi Kiszka, Jones, and Connelly all had 10 points apiece.
The Spartans have two regular season games left before regional play begins. They will host Shady Spring this Thursday, Feb. 27. Shady is regarded as arguably the Class AAA title favorite and have bested the Spartans by once this year already.
