After all the adversity, all the confusion and all of the positives that were sandwiched around it, the Greenbrier East Spartans basketball season came to an end on Wednesday night, April 29 in front of a large crowd on “The Hill” at George Washington.
East hung around for a long time, but a slow fourth quarter for the Spartans and a strong one for the Patriots propelled GW to a 73-58 win and a berth in the state tournament.
Alex Yoakum got the scoring started with two quick 3-pointers. East’s Adam Seams answered with a three of his own, but Yoakum hit his third trey and gave the Patriots a 9-3 lead.
William Gabbert, playing against his former team, hit two consecutive threes to tie the contest at 9-all. Later in the period, with the score knotted at 13-13, Ben Nicol hit a trifecta at the buzzer that bounced around the rim and fell in, almost signaling what kind of night the Spartans were up against.
Tucker Via knocked in a corner 3-pointer midway through the second that ended a GW 7-0 run, but Jason Munday and Yoakum kept the pressure on the Spartans with more buckets. The Patriots led by as many as nine, but two Goose Gabbert free throws trimmed the Spartans deficit to 36-29 at halftime.
William Gabbert, Bailee Coles and Via all had 3-pointers to open up the second half with Coles’ giving East a 1-point lead at 43-42 with 1:39 left in the third.
Mason Pinkett and Taron Fitzpatrick each scored for the Patriots to end the third and GW led 51-47 after three quarters.
George Washington wrapped up the contest with efficient play in the fourth quarter.
They outscored East 22-11, hit 13-of-16 free throws and stymied the Spartans offense in the process.
East shot just 35% from the field.
William Gabbert scored 22 points and led East in that department. Coles scored 14 and Via had 10.
Yoakum led the Patriots with 30 points.
Fans are sad to see the Spartans season come to an abrupt end as social media accounts have indicated. East finished the year with a 10-4 record and had one of the more exciting teams to watch in the last decade or so as coach Bimbo Coles truly built something special. How next year’s team will look is a mystery right now.
Stats courtesy of 103.1, the Bear. Also a special thanks to Trent Gabbert for providing stats and information all season.
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