With starters Jase Roderick and Cayden Fillers both in walking boots and top bench player Noah Wright also sidelined the Rebels were shorthanded to say the least on Saturday night as they fell to David Crockett 71-60.
South Greene coach Terry Hoese said, “I’m not a very good loser, but those six, seven or eight that played gave me all they had. There with about four minutes to go I thought we had a shot, then the lead went back to eight points. As far as effort goes, I can’t complain about the effort. Trey Gentry played his guts out, Gavin Dyer played well Lucas Couch, Will Arrowood, we had other kids too. Simon Burns played well. We’ll regroup on Monday.”
South Greene kept things close in the first quarter, mainly behind Will Arrowood. With the Pioneers up 10-4 Arrowood found a spot just left of the free throw line and scored six consecutive Rebel points, but South Greene would trail after one quarter 15-10.
Gavin Dyer drove for a layup to open the second quarter, but Reagan Cash and Stephen Hensley would both connect twice apiece. Arrowood followed with a three-point play the hard way to once again keep the Rebels close at 21-15. Dyer dropped back-to-back buckets, and Charlie Lane sank two free throws to get the Rebels within two points at 25-23 with 1:56 until halftime.
Caleb Eaves and Bradley Gouge both scored late to give the Pioneers a 29-23 halftime advantage.
The tandem of Eaves and Gouge scored the next 13 Pioneer points to open the third quarter and they led 47-36 before Dyer dropped a triple from the elbow. Trey Gentry completed an old-fashioned-three-point play. Then, with one minute remaining in the third quarter Dyer dropped another triple from the elbow and Simon Burns came off the bench for an up-and-under scoop layup to close the gap to 49-44.
Eaves tipped in a miss at the horn to give the Pioneers a 51-44 lead going into the final period.
Dyer’s triple midway through the quarter kept the Rebs within six points at 57-51, but Cash drove the lane for a dunk that inspired the Pioneer defense to rise up and increase their lead to 61-51.
Chandler Gamble struggled to get going on offense and the Pioneer bench let him know about it, baiting him into a technical foul. Gouge hit both of the technical free throws and Hensley followed with the dagger, a deep three from the elbow.
The Pioneers who lost to the Rebels in the finals in the Hardee’s Classic less than two weeks ago came away with the win 71-60.
Dyer led the Rebels in scoring with 20 points, Arrowood had 13 while Gentry added 12. Hensley led the way for the Pioneers with 18, Gouge chipped in with 16, Cash had 14 and Eaves added 13.
GIRLS
DAVID CROCKETT 66, South Greene 34
It might have been the aftereffects of a double overtime win at Hampton on Friday or it might have been the buzz saw they ran into in the Lady Pioneers of David Crockett, or a combination of the two. Either way it was the first running clock loss for the South Greene Lady Rebels in the Stephen Gregg era, 66-34.
Gregg said, “I’m not going to make excuses they just came in here a whipped us tonight. It is the first time in 27 years of coaching that I’ve ever had a running clock against me. I’m really ticked that we didn’t put a good effort there. Some of it was legs, but they’re kids. As good a we felt when we went to bed last night, we feel equally terrible tonight. It’s left a bad taste in our mouth.”
The Lady Pioneers have two of the top players in the state in Brylee Tullock and Aaliyah Story and that combination scored the first 16 points for the Lady Pioneers. With The lady Pioneers up by 12 early the Lady Rebels got a brief spark by Madison Hensley and Samantha Birdwell on back-to-back short jumpers in the lane to cut the lead to 16-8. But the Lady Pioneers would lead after one quarter 21-8.
The second quarter was not a good one for the Lady Rebels, only scoring five points while the Lady Pioneers added another 20 to lead at halftime 41-13.
Arianna Hoese hit a short-range jumper to open the third quarter and Birdwell dropped a triple from the elbow, but Story and company kept pace and then some leading by 35 points at 57-22 going into the fourth quarter with the running clock.
At one point in the fourth quarter the Lady Rebels trailed by 40 points at 62-22. Both teams let the reserves finish the game and the Lady Rebs suffered one of their worst losses in many years, 66-34.
Story finished with a game high 20 points, Loney Britton added 13 and Tullock finished with 10. Not a single Lady Rebel scored in double figures, Kortnei Bailey led South Greene with seven points.
