ROGERSVILLE – Down four of their top six rotation players everybody had to step up for the South Greene boys basketball team on Wednesday, and the Rebels got maximum effort out of their new-look like lineup on the way to a 67-58 win over Hancock County in the Big H BBQ Bash.
“These guys gave me everything they could give me. They played hard,” South Greene coach Terry Hoese said. “We didn’t play our best and gave up too many easy buckets. But to be able to come in here and get a win with that group was good to see. I felt like everybody played together tonight and everybody played their part.”
The Rebels played without senior starters Jase Roderick, Chandler Gamble and Cayden Fillers while Noah Wright also missed the contest. That left Trey Gentry and Will Arrowood as the only regular starters. Reserve post Lucas Couch was thrust into the starting lineup as was guard Charlie Lane, who has just returned to the rotation after recovering from a football injury. Sophomore Gavin Dyer got the start on Wednesday and turned it into a career night as he fired in six three pointers and scored 26 points.
Off the bench was mostly a junior varsity lineup of Brant Wilhoit, Zack Mason, Simon Burns and Alex Leon who handled their new responsibilities admirably.
“If you take Trey out that’s my team next year, so it was good to get them in the action tonight,” Hoese said. “It was good to see everyone moving the ball tonight. At times this year we’ve gotten it to Jase and Chandler and just watched. We couldn’t do that tonight; we had to play together. I felt like several guys really stepped up and everyone who came in gave me something.”
The Indians played from in front early with Isaiah Fodor scoring six points in the first three minutes.
South Greene led for the first time at 10-8 with 3:52 left in the opening period when Arrowood found Lane darting into the lane for a layup. That lead was short lives as Hancock answered with short jumpers from Jacob Belcher and Gage Stewart.
Dyer got going from behind the arc in the late stages of the quarter and sank two triples to give the Rebels an 18-14 lead. South Greene never trailed in the final three quarters.
“Gavin is a great shooter, and his percentage this year is out of this world,” Hoese said. “He’s up over 50 percent from the three-point line. He’s just a sophomore and he didn’t play much last year, but him coming in and having a big night like this is only going to help us down the road. He makes it hard to play us in a zone, and if you play us in man it opens things for everyone else. With the big kids we have that can create some problems for defenses.”
The Indians twice tied the game in the second quarter the last coming at 25-25 when Jacob Johnson slashed to the rim for a layup.
Dyer answered by rolling a triple in off the front iron and then Lane took a turnover the length of the floor for a lay in. After two free throws by Gentry South Greene led 32-25 and they took a 32-28 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter Arrowood got going on the inside and he powered in seven points in the period. Leon gave the Rebels their biggest lead with a layup that made it 44-35 with 3:20 left.
Hancock snipped that lead to 46-42 heading to the final frame.
Early in the fourth quarter Hancock’s Fodor made it a two-point game with a transition layup, and Eli Jones cut the lead to 53-50 when he drained a trey. Both times Dyer answered with a deep shot that let the Rebels catch their breath.
Gentry and Leon added buckets on the inside to give South Greene a 60-52 advantage with 1:35 left to play. When the Indians were forced to foul late Dyer sealed the 67-58 win by going 6-for-6 at the charity stripe.
In addition to Dyer’s 26 points, Gentry scored 12 points for South Greene, Arrowood had nine and Lane scored eight.
South Greene moves on to the tournament semifinals on Friday where it will meet Cocke County at 4 p.m. at Cherokee.
