FAIRLEA- Many observers in Friday night’s Class AAA top 10 showdown between 8th ranked Greenbrier East and 4th ranked Shady Spring will admit that the Spartans had no business winning the game. East struggled from the free throw line, struggled to contain Shady shooters in the first half, and were getting beat to nearly every loose ball.
But even after all that, the Spartans overcame the doubts and defeated the Tigers in upset fashion 61-57 in front of a loud and hostile Greenbrier East crowd at the Spartan Gym in Fairlea.
Shady started out hot and went up quickly by a score of 8-3 that included two 3s from sophomore Gabe Short. East (8-3) stayed pretty stagnant but got some momentum changing plays from Eloi Castillo. Castillo grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in, then the next time down the court, drained an open triple from the corner that actually gave the Spartans a 10-8 lead. At the end of the quarter, it was Shady’s Coby Dillon, a Woodrow Wilson transfer, who got the Tigers going again. He scored four quick points to end the period as East trailed 15-12.
East used a 7-2 run to open the second quarter that put them up 19-17, but Shady Spring responded with their own 8-0 run before Brody Hamric broke it with two free throws. Shady then extended their lead to 10 while the Spartans slowly lost all momentum, but a basket from Darius Burns and three points from Hamric down the stretch helped the Spartans cut the deficit to 31-26 at halftime.
Missed free throws were a culprit in the third quarter and they allowed the Tigers (7-3) to stay ahead by about 3-5 points consistently. Short’s trifecta put Shady up 38-32 and after cutting the deficit to two points, the Spartans watched Dillon catch fire at the end of the third when he knocked in two 3s and an impressive driving layup.
After three quarters, the Tigers led 45-41.
Nathan Dixon’s 3 opened the fourth quarter for the Spartans and was a sign of things to come. Dixon then knocked in a mid-range jumper and following an Eli Sexton 3, Burns hit a tough shot that made the score 50-48, Tigers, with just under six minutes left. Then, a basket from Hamric and another score from Burns put Greenbrier east on top. Short would knot the score back up at 52-all after a floating shot in the lane, but a huge triple from Burns and a dagger baseline jumper from Sam Hawver ended up being the dagger as Dixon added a bucket for good measure and Hamric knocked in an important free throw that extended the lead to four with just seven seconds left.
The Spartans celebrated their victory right after.
The Tigers shot 46 percent from the field. East took 13 more shots than the Tigers which allowed them more opportunities and offset their 50 percent shooting from the charity stripe (9-18).
Dixon led East with 20 points. Hamric had 17 points and Burns added 11.
East is off until this Tuesday, Jan. 27 against Oak Hill in a makeup game that was originally scheduled for Jan. 20. If the impending weather postpones it, there is a possibility the teams will try and play Wednesday, again, weather permitting.
