The Greeneville boys basketball team cruised to a win over the Elizabethton cyclones, 81-59, in the Region 1-3A Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday night in Hal Henard Gymnasium.
Greeneville advances to the Tournament semifinals on Tuesday where they will travel to Bristol to take on host Tennessee High at 6 p.m. The Vikings beat Volunteer 73-38 in its quarterfinal contest. The other semifinal will pit David Crockett against Unicoi County.
At the start of the game, it was no surprise what the Greene Devils game plan was. Press and go as hard as you can while you’re on the court. Greeneville jumped out to a 19-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Greeneville Coach Brad Woolsey said, “We came out really, really hard and played good defensively.”
By halftime the Greene Devil lead had been pushed all the way up to 22 points by the score of 45-23.
At the start of the second half, it was still all gas for Greeneville. They pushed their lead out to 31 points.
The whole reason for the success against the Cyclones Trey Thompson, the Devils’ junior big man, said, “We played as one and we played for the name on the front of our jersey.”
With the game all but over in the fourth quarter, the Greene Devils brought in some substitutes, but the game plan stayed the same. Press and go hard until you’re off the court.
The defense stood its ground and the effort to take a good shot on the other end was on point.
Coach Woolsey also said, “We got a lot of kids in, everyone moved the ball well to find the open man. Being able to knock those shots down makes everything look good.”
Greeneville now moves their focus to the regional semifinals, the round they have been knocked out in each of the last two season.
Senior Issac McGill said, “That’s exactly what we needed to do, business on Tuesday.”
The Greene Devils were led in scoring by Zaydyn Anderson with 20 points.
He had a message for every Greeneville fan about going to Bristol on Tuesday night. “We need you all to come out and have that energy you guys had tonight. Get the crowd going!”
Andrew Barnett led Elizabethton with 17 points while Zach Wallin added 10 points.
