It was often slow at times and wasn’t the most exciting of games, but West Greene survived a late scare in the final minute before finally closing the door on the Black Knights and left Lower Afton with a 46-42 road win to begin District 1-2A competition.
“It was a good conference win. (Coach Broyles) has those guys playing hard. They get up in you and pressure you and they take care of the ball. At the start of the game, they really tried to slow it down in the first quarter and it was 8-5. He really tried to slow it down at the start of the game and I was just preaching to the guys to take good shots on our end and if we can value our possessions and get up good looks then that’ll get us some points ahead. It’s hard to hold the ball if the other team is scoring on the other end,” Buffs Head Coach Allen Tolliver said.
The Buffs led by 16 points at one point, but just like any fun county rivalry game, the Black Knights reeled themselves back within three with only seconds remaining and made things quite interesting. West Greene’s seniors delivered the clutch free throws needed to seal the win and helped West Greene begin conference action with a 1-0 record.
Sophomore Tytus Shelton led the way and had a breakout performance with 16 points to lead all scorers on the night. The sophomore class was big for West Greene as Luke Heck joined him in double figures with 14 points. Senior Elijah Williams cracked the double-digit mark with 10.
Dom Atchison shot well from the field and led Chuckey-Doak with 14 points.
West Greene shot an even 40 percent from the field and the Black Knights had a below average night at home being limited to just 27.6 percent.
The Buffs improved to 5-3 (1-0) and Chuckey-Doak fell to 3-5 (0-1) with the loss.
The game started with a jumper from Elijah Williams before Chuckey-Doak’s Ben Palazzo and Gavin Crum scored with a pair of layups to go ahead 4-2. West Greene was held to only one field goal in the first quarter, but made a living from the free-throw line and went 6-for-6 in the first period to lead 8-5 after one.
Luke Heck and Tytus Shelton started the second with two-point shots and extended their lead to 12-5. Ryland Grindstaff pulled up from three-point land and sank a triple to close the gap to four.
West Greene went on a tear after Grindstaff’s three and went on a 10-0 run that included buckets from leading scorers Shelton, Heck, and Williams. Chuckey-Doak’s leading scorer Dom Atchison sank a corner three towards the end of the quarter to end the run. Shelton got it back with a corner three for the Buffs to send them into halftime with a 25-11 lead.
Freshman Knox McAmis started the third quarter with another triple for the Black Knights and Atchison’s transition layup put it back to single digits. As soon as they would, West Greene stretched the lead to its largest margin at 16 with Heck’s layup, Williams’s three, and Shelton’s two-pointer.
Atchison’s step-back triple and Palazzo’s layup cut it to 11, but West Greene wouldn’t let them cut into the lead too much. The Buffs went into the fourth with a 38-29 lead.
Ayden Lamons had been held in check for most of the game and was limited to only two points heading into the fourth and had to deal with double teams for most of the game. Coach Tolliver spoke about West Greene’s ability to score without their biggest threat being an option.
“They sent a lot of doubles his way. Sometimes a few triple teams. Just a lot of cutters and I thought Luke Heck did a phenomenal job tonight. Luke played well. Just overall a good team effort. Everybody was moving off the ball. I thought Tytus played well. From top to bottom I thought we played good team ball tonight,” Tolliver explained.
The senior post finally got another chance to score with a turnaround jumper in the post to give the Buffs a 42-31 lead.
The time you don’t want your offense going cold is late in the fourth quarter and that’s what happened with West Greene. Chuckey-Doak started slowly coming back one shot at a time. Grindstaff netted a floater that he converted into a three-point play with the free throw after. Freshman Jake Broyles had quick hands and forced two turnovers that led to points. His first steal with 1:40 left led to a free throw from Gavin Crum. His next steal then led to a free throw from Palazzo.
Up 42-38 with 45 seconds left Tytus Shelton scored a clutch layup to put West Greene ahead by six. Atchison responded with a layup 15 seconds later to cut it back to four.
Chuckey-Doak started fouling and almost caught a break as Williams went 1-for-2 on his trip to the line and Atchison was fouled on his made layup with 16.7 left and had a chance to cut their deficit to just two. He missed the free throw and Lamons got the board and went to the line next up 45-42. He missed the first, but stepped up in a big spot and drained the game-sealing free throw to make it 46-42. The Black Knights missed a three-point attempt with time winding down and that signaled the end to their comeback attempt.
The Buffaloes left Lower Afton with their fourth-straight win over Chuckey-Doak and second-straight win on the road in Afton, 46-42.
The Buffs return back home to welcome another county rival to Jimmy Jones Gymnasium. The South Greene Rebels come to Mosheim on Friday night in a battle of county foes.
The Black Knights travel to Elizabethton to play Happy Valley on Friday night.
West Greene bested Chuckey-Doak 46-42 in a county battle that came down to the wire to begin District 1-2A play. Hear from Head Coach Allen Tolliver and what his thoughts were after a close win. pic.twitter.com/pSCWrxOIWB
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 10, 2025
