Spartans Win at Woodrow
By Brandon Baker
For the first time in school history, the Greenbrier East Spartans defeated the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles at the Raleigh County Convention Center in back-to-back seasons.
East won the contest 60-44 over their archrivals and avenged a buzzer beating one-point loss from their first meeting back in December.
In the first quarter, Goose Gabbert gave the Spartans a 4-0 lead on a left-wing three and the next possession saw Adam Seams score on an acrobatic floater.
Freshman Brandon Hawthorne answered with a 3-pointer for the Eagles and at that point the Spartans led 6-5 with 4:25 left in the opening quarter. After a mini Woodrow run that brought the crowd into the game, Gabe Patton put an end to it with a little runner in the lane that cut the Woodrow lead to 9-8.
Seams hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to end the quarter with a 13-9 Spartan lead.
Monquelle Davis provided a nice spark off the bench in the second quarter. He stole a Woodrow (3-10) inbounds pass that led to two Kaiden Huffman free throws, then broke down the defense for a bucket underneath. That basket gave the Spartans a 19-11 lead with 5:30 left in the half.
A minute later, Jude Libby kicked a pass out to Bryson Brammer who drained the long distance shot for a 22-13 advantage, their largest lead up to that point in the game.
Beckley’s Elijah Redfern scored four straight after East had gone up by 11, but the Spartans answered with Seams, Gabbert and Aaron Griffith for a 31-23 East halftime lead.
Gabbert hit Griffith with pin-point pass underneath for two then Griffith converted two free throws the next time down, and the Spartans had a 37-25 lead with 5:30 left in the third quarter.
East (8-8) would extend that lead to 14, but the Eagles never went away and cut it back to 39-31, but the Spartans stayed resilient all night. Seams connected on a step-back trey to end the third to give East a 46-35 lead after three.
The Spartans outscored the Eagles 14-9 in the fourth as Beckley never seriously threatened in the final period.
Seams finished with 20 points to lead East. Gabbert had 12 and Griffith added 11.
Redfern led Beckley with 20 points.
Prior to tip-off, Beckley had an emotional tribute to Dwayne Richardson, a former player who was tragically killed just a little less than a year ago.
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