The West Greene boys were able to rally in the second half to defend their home court on Friday night in a heated battle with South Greene.
The Buffaloes led for only 25 seconds through the first three quarters, but tough defense down the stretch allowed them to swing the lead late and earn a 40-37 victory.
“I’m ecstatic right now. You know when South Greene comes in here it’s not going to be a light game. So, to come out and get a win is huge,” West Greene coach Allen Tolliver said. “We played a terrible first half, but in the second half we got some better touches and we moved a little bit better. Everybody stepped up from top to bottom tonight.”
With the win the Buffaloes improve to 2-0 in District 1-2A play, giving them an early leg up on the league standings. Just a week into the league slate West Greene and Unicoi County are the only teams in the district to with two wins.
“We’ve stressed it all week how important these games were going to be,” Tolliver said. “The last two years we’ve put ourselves behind early in the year, and had to play catch up at the end. It’s good to get out in front and win two games before Christmas break.”
South Greene now finds itself needing to dig out of a hole with an 0-2 record against league opponents.
Friday’s fourth quarter began with South Greene leading 29-28, but Elijah Williams changed that when he grabbed his own rebound and rolled in a runner with 6:35 left to play.
Tytus Shelton followed with a pair of turn-around jumpers in the paint that put the Buffaloes in front 34-31 with 3:22 left to play.
Simon Burns gave South Greene a chance to even the score when he drove the lane and landed a layup through contact, but his free toss was off the mark and West Greene led 34-33.
The Rebels then thought they had the go-ahead basket with 2:14 left to play when Charlie Lane floated one in, but a foul was called on the floor and the shot was erased. On the restart the Buffaloes defense won and the ball went the other way.
The Rebels got a stop of their own but they ball barely got past the midcourt stripe West Greene freshman Carter Stills swiped it and went the other way for a layup.
Stills gave West Greene a three-point lead again at 38-35, and then stole the ball again with 45 seconds remaining before the Rebels could put up the tying shot.
South Greene found two three-point looks for Gavin Dyer in the final 30 seconds, but neither connected.
In a last-gasp effort Burns turned a quick steal into a layup with four seconds left and South Greene coach Terry Hoese immediately called a timeout. Unfortunately for the Rebels none of three officials thought that looking at the clock in a late-game situation was important and it incorrectly ran down to 0.2 seconds. After a lengthy discussion the astute adjudicators decided the time was in fact wrong, but only put 0.4 seconds on the clock, effectively ending the game.
“We just told them at halftime that we have to chip away at it. We had to start scoring,” Tolliver said. “It was a slow process, but we were able to go in front in the fourth make some free throws at the end. It was an interesting last couple of minutes, but these guys battled and got us the win.”
Friday’s action was a defensive struggle from the start and the teams combined for just 12 points in the first quarter.
Dyer gave the Rebels the first lead when he scored on an inbound play, and he followed it by setting up Lucas Couch for a bucket.
Ayden Lamons started to go to work for the Buffs in the paint and turned away a series of South Greene attempts over the next four minutes, but on the other end of the floor South Greene’s defense was equally dominant.
Lane gave the Rebels some life with a triple and then with 26 seconds left in the first period he used a steal to set up Cayden Fillers for a lay in that put South Greene on top 9-3.
South Greene’s biggest lead in the first half came with 1:38 left when Dyer knocked down a triple from the left wing that made it 19-10.
Going the other way Williams rolled in a deep shot for the Buffaloes, and with 19 seconds left Lamons powered home a shot from the paint to close the gap to 19-15.
Early in the third quarter a bucket from the block by Fillers put South Greene in front 24-17. Josiah Dawson answered with a three-pointer 22 seconds later and the Buffaloes began their comeback attempt.
With 1:55 left in the third quarter Lamons put back a miss to tie things at 26-26, and with 1:01 left he dropped in a midrange jumper to give West Greene its first lead at 28-26.
The lead was short lived, and the quarter closed with Dyer coming off a screen to nail a straight-away trey that put the Rebels in front 29-28.
Williams and Lamons both scored 10 points for West Greene. Dyer led South Greene with 16 points on Friday.
West Greene earned a come-from-behind win, 40-37, over South Greene and improved to 2-0 against District 1-2A opponents on Friday night in Mosheim. Check out what Head Coach Allen Tolliver had to say afterwards. pic.twitter.com/sQFYBh5wik
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 13, 2025
The Buffaloes rallied in the second half to take a 40-37 victory over South Greene.#FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/QM2l481DbK
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 13, 2025
West Greene boys hold on late to beat South Greene, 40-37 #FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/HRj9pO3CbH
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 13, 2025
CALL HIM CLUTCH CARTER
West Greene Freshman Carter Stills hits the dagger and then gets the turnover late to beat South Greene at home in Jimmy Jones Gymnasium. #FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/tM0EoW4Mpv
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 13, 2025
