FAIRLEA- The Greenbrier East boys opened up their 2025-26 season at home on Friday night, Dec. 12 in front of a nice crowd against the Virginia Episcopal School Bishops (VES).
After a lot of pregame hype, it was the Bishops who brought an immense defensive effort and turned it into a 77-58 road win.
The Spartans had trouble getting into their offense consistently due to VES’ quick hands, outstretched arms, and height on the interior and even out front. Braden Morris, a 6’9″ center blocked two Spartan shot attempts early which turned to buckets on the other end. Kaloyan Kolev, a 6’7″ point guard, converted some buckets for the Bishops as well and after one, East trailed 16-11.
The Spartans trailed at halftime 36-23, but in the third quarter, seemed to wake up a little. Transfer guard Brodrik Gunter gave the gym a spark when he checked in for the first time all night and drained a 3 and Brody Hamric played aggressively with eight points in the quarter. Still, East guarded the inside better, but Virginia Episcopal’s Marquez Berrara scored seven in the quarter and Kolev kind of controlled the pace of play.
The Spartans (0-1) pulled within seven points at 58-51 after a Darius Burns 3-pointer, but Berrara answered with one of his own immediately and then Ryan Briggs hit a jumper that put VES back up by 12 points, and they cruised the rest of the way.
Hamric led the Spartans with 15 points, two rebounds, and two assists. Nathan Dixon scored 10.
For VES (6-2), Kolev led the way with 15 points. Berrara added 14 and Patrick Steptoe had 12.
The boys will play at St. Albans on Saturday, Dec. 13.
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NITRO- The Class AAA 2nd ranked Lady Spartans had quite a victory on the other hand in Kanawha County, beating the 4th rated (also AAA) Nitro Lady Wildcats 84-72 in a tense, high energy contest.
A high scoring first quarter saw East with a 26-24 lead and that lead extended to 49-45 at halftime.
Kennedy Stewart, Ava Workman, and Sandy Banton formed a three-headed monster that the Wildcats could not seem to handle or get an answer for.
The game had a scary moment in the third quarter when Stewart dove for a loose ball and a Nitro player fell on her from behind which put Stewart’s face to the floor. Stewart actually lost a tooth on the play but fortunately after gathering her emotions and after her parents came down to check on her, she was able to come back in the game later in the period.
Nitro cut their deficit to 72-69 with just over four minutes to play, but Greenbrier East outscored the Wildcats 10-5 from that point forward.
East (2-0) was led by Stewart who torched the nets all night and finished with 35 points.
Workman added 28 and Banton scored 14 as the Spartans got a big-time early season road victory. The Lady Spartans will stay in Charleston and play at Capital on Saturday.
