FAIRLEA- After Saturday night, March 1, the Greenbrier East Spartans regular season is officially in the books following a hard fought, physical 49-34 win over the Oak Hill Red Devils at Spartan Gym.
East will now turn their attention to the regional tournament that starts on Friday, March 7, and where they are the no. 3 seed in Region-3.
But first, East (14-7) had to get by the Red Devils, and it was by no means an easy task-.
Oak Hill showed up to play and did not just roll over and let the Spartans take an easy victory as they did just five days before when East beat them 65-42 in Fayette County.
The Red Devils defense was tenacious, active, and quick. The Spartans offense struggled as bad as they have struggled maybe all season. They had just 3 points with :10 seconds left until Nathan Dixon knocked down a triple at the first quarter buzzer and Oak Hill (8-13) led 7-6 after the first quarter.
The action in the second quarter picked up a little bit, but not by much. Both defenses were still flying around and getting in the passing lanes. A key sequence involved East’s Reed McCraw as he got inside and scored and then later hit a step-back 3 that seemed to wake the Spartans up. Dixon also had a big quarter and scored seven points as both of those players were the only ones that scored for the Spartans in the period.
At halftime, Greenbrier East still trailed by a point, 19-18.
Coach Jared Patton’s message in the locker room at the break apparently resonated with his team as the Spartans came out in a completely different mindset. Their defense stayed active, and their offense came in total control. Speaking of the defense, the Red Devils did not score a single point in the third quarter. Add in that Brody Hamric, Dixon, and Donavin Penn got the offense going, and East outscored Oak Hill 21-0 in what would end up being the decisive stretch of the game.
East used that run to carry their team over the finish line as they wrapped up their sixth win in a row.
Dixon led the way with 19 points for East. Hamric added 10 and Penn scored nine.
Oak Hill had no one in double figures.
The #3 Spartans will host #6 Independence on Friday in the opening round of regional play.
