The Greenbrier East Spartans welcomed the Pikeview Panthers into the Spartan gym in Fairlea on Wednesday night, January 5 for their first game since the calendar turned to 2022.
It was the second time the two teams had met this season after East defeated Pikeview in Mercer County about three weeks ago, and East was riding high fresh off a win over 8th ranked South Charleston just a week earlier.
After a late push by the Panthers in the fourth quarter, East held on for an important 69-55 victory.
Kaiden Huffman got the scoring started for East and the next time down the floor, Spartan guard Monquelle Davis had a steal and turned it into an easy bucket for a 5-2 East lead. Adam Seams then scored back-to-back buckets, and after a Dylan Blake score from Pikeview, Gabe Patton scored five straight points to extend the Spartans lead to 14-8.
Patton hit another 3-pointer early in the second quarter and was on fire at that point. After a Bryson Brammer three, the Panthers went on a mini 8-0 run to cut the East lead to just five points, but Patton again stepped up and nailed another from downtown to give his team a 28-20 lead with three minutes to go in the first half.
The Spartans (4-4) extended that lead to 40-26 at halftime after Goose Gabbert’s long distance connection just before the break.
Fast forward to the fourth quarter with the Spartans ahead 60-39, but Pikeview’s never-say-die attitude proved to make the game more competitive from their standpoint.
They started the final quarter on a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 60-51, but Patton finally stopped the Panthers momentum with his fifth 3-pointer of the night, and the Spartans outscored the Panthers 9-4 over the last four minutes to secure the home victory.
Patton was named Magic’s Computer Repair player of the game after tallying 19 points (16 in the first half) and going 5-of-9 from three point range.
Gabbert also scored 15 points and Brammer added 10.
The Spartans went 11-of-35 from downtown as a team. They shot 43 percent overall.
Blake led Pikeview (1-5) with a game-high 20 points.
East returns to action this weekend beginning Friday, January 7 in the New River CTC tournament in Beckley. They will play the Cabell Midland Knights at 4:30 PM.
Stats courtesy of 103.1, WRON.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.