The Greeneville boys basketball team had not lost a district game in nearly six years, with 2,555 days passing, but that streak came to an end on Tuesday.
It wasn’t easy as the Devils fought with everything they had, and it took overtime for the Volunteer Falcons to claim the 72-70 win.
The Falcons’ big man, 6’7” senior Jeremiah Jones started the game with back-to-back dunks, and it looked like it might be a long night for the Devils.
Yordan Mills got Greeneville settled down as he drove the lane for a layup and Zy Neal was good from in front to draw the Devils within two. Then Jones broke loose for another dunk and the Falcons led by three at the end of the first quarter, 12-9.
Amir Knight entered the game to try to control Jones and scored the first two points of the second quarter, then Parker Quillen gave the Devils a slim and brief lead on a slick pass from Taren Clairdy. The game from there was back-and-forth see-saw affair.
Clairdy scored on three of the next four possessions for Greeneville. He started with a rebound that ended with a coast-to-coast layup, followed with a fade-away jumper and then Clairdy displayed his dunking skills to give the Devils a two point lead at 24-22 with just over one-minute remaining in the first half.
Brennan Greene drilled a triple from the elbow and the Falcons took a one-point lead into the locker room at 25-24.
The third quarter saw both teams dig in on defensive and neither team wanting to take control until around the three minute mark. With the score tied at 37-37 Clairdy came up with a big steal and went the distance for a layup that gave the Devils a two-point lead.
Clairdy followed that with runner in the lane. Neal then came up with a big steal and drove to the goal for a layup through contact, the layup was good as was the free throw and the Devils had a six-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Things heated up as the fourth period got underway, for the Devils it was Braylen Kidwell who scored on the next three possessions with layups in front and a triple for the elbow. But the Falcons had gained ground with a pair of triples themselves.
Greeneville went up by seven points at 56-49 when Mills made a reverse layup with 1:30 to play, but the Falcons played the game to perfection with a corner three by Greene and tip in by Lucas Gilliam. The Falcons were needing to foul to get the ball back and sent Neal to the line twice, but Neal made all four, so they had to abandon that strategy.
The next strategy was to just launch the three ball, Mills fouled out on a three-point shot from Griffin Head. He made all three. Going the other way Clairdy put up a layup that was blocked but ruled goal tending and Head drilled another three from the key to cut the lead to 62-60.
Then the unthinkable happened, the Falcons stole the inbounds pass and Jones’ layup tied the score at 62-62 and extra time was needed to decide this one.
Clairdy put the Devils on the board first in the overtime period with a monster one-handed dunk. William Woolsey then gave the Devils a three point lead with a triple from the top of the key. But the Falcons still had the ice-water running through their veins. Jones made a pair from the charity stripe, Head drilled another triple from the elbow and Jones finished off the game making three of four free throws.
Coach Brad Woolsey said, “It was a great battle all night long, we should have won that one, but they made plays in the end. Play after play on the offensive end and they made just one more play than we did.”
GREENEVILLE- Mills 17, Neal 14, Clairdy 13, Kidwell 13, Quillen 7, Kniht 3, Woolsey 3
VOLUNTEER – Jones 24, Head 23, Greene 14, Gilliam 5, Groves 4, Shepard 2
