FAIRLEA- After suffering a difficult and surprising loss to Princeton on Tuesday night, the AAA 4th ranked Greenbrier East Spartans bounced back in a big way on Friday night, Jan. 16 when they defeated the Pikeview Panthers 77-40 at the Spartan Gym in Fairlea.
It was a big night for senior guard Brody Hamric. He finished with 21 points with 17 of those coming in a dominating first half as he set the tone from the start.
Greenbrier East (7-3) opened the game on an 8-0 run before the Panthers finally got on the board with a Tyler Murray 3. Later in the quarter, three consecutive buckets from Hamric, including a thunderous dunk, put the Spartans ahead 16-5 and that lead went to 17-7 after one.
Gabe Neal’s bucket to open the second quarter started things off on the right foot for East early. A couple possessions later, Hamric’s 3 extended the Spartan lead to 22-8.
The crowd got riled up midway through the second when Hamric got a steal and turned it into a two-handed jam on the other hand. But he was called for a technical for pulling himself up on the rim, which the Spartan faithful did not agree with as a loud mixture of boos rang through the building.
Shortly after that sequence, Nathan Dixon had a huge block that only fired up the crowd even more. That energy and hustle took the Greenbrier East advantage to 32-16 at halftime.
Dixon came alive offensively in the second half and at one point, went on a personal 8-0 run that extended the Spartan lead from 17 points to 25, 43-18. The senior would finish the third quarter with 12 points and a 53-26 score after three quarters of play.
That was all it took for the Spartans to close out the much-needed victory. After Hamric’s game-high honors, Dixon contributed 17 points. Darius Burns scored 8 for the Spartans.
East will hit the court again this Tuesday, Jan. 20 when they welcome their longtime rivals, the Oak Hill Red Devils to Spartan Gymnasium. Varsity tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 with the JV set for 5:30.
Scoring by Quarter:
P: 7 9 10 14 — 40
GE: 17 15 21 24 — 77
