LEWISBURG (WVDN) – Mar. 1 cannot come soon enough for the Greenbrier East Spartans basketball team.
That is when they tip off the Class AAAA Region 3, Section 2 tournament at home against the Oak Hill Red Devils.
East finished the regular season with a record of just 10-11, but the schedule they navigated through was one of the toughest ones in recent memory.
They played Jefferson (#2 in Class AAAA) twice, Shady Spring (#2 in Class AAA) twice, Bluefield twice, Greater Beckley Christian twice, South Charleston twice and Huntington once. They also battled Radford (VA) who featured one of the best young players in that state in Elijah Kelly and banged with Roanoke Catholic (VA) early in the season as well.
The Spartans have never been so battle tested and prepared for the sectionals as they are right now, and head coach Jared Patton confirms that thought with 100 percent certainty.
“I’m hoping that by us playing such a tough schedule we will be ready for anything that is thrown at us. We have played many top teams in the state. I wanted the players to learn how to compete at a high level, and at the same time understand that they can play with anyone in the state,” Patton said.
East has beaten Oak Hill twice this year. However, both games were hard fought, and the Red Devils may be one of the better 4-seeds in a long time.
“Oak Hill is a good basketball team,” Patton said. “They played us really well at their place. They are a dangerous 4-seed because they are well coach and have a couple guards that can shoot lights out.”
Patton hopes the home crowd will give his team some energy, as the student section can be wild when geared up for an important game.
“Our mindset is focused on executing on both sides of the ball. We are excited to play another home game in front of the best student section in the state,” the coach said.
If the Spartans can get by Oak Hill, they will play the winner of Woodrow and Princeton. But Patton does not want to look ahead and forget the task at hand, although he does have some thoughts about the potential second game.
“Our focus right now is Oak Hill. That will be a tough task, but I think our players are ready,” he stated.
“That’s a toss up for us,” Patton said when asked if he would rather play the Eagles or the Tigers. “We have played Woodrow twice and know how good of a team those guys are, but we didn’t get a chance to play Princeton in the regular season,” he said.
Hopefully, the opportunity will come to face one or the other on Friday, Mar. 4.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.