BRISTOL – It was a 9 a.m. start for the Greeneville Greene Devils and the Daniel Boone Trail Blazers in The Classic at Tennessee High School, and it took the Greene Devils a few minutes to wake up, but once they did there was little the Balzers could do to stop them as they ran away to a 90-58 win.
Greeneville’s Isaac McGill broke the early-morning ice when he banked home a layup. Garrison Jones then sank a triple from the top of the key for Boone, but Zaydyn Anderson drilled a triple of his own from the elbow to give the lead back to the Devils at 5-3. Greeneville would never relinquish that lead.
McGill stole the ball and went coast to coast for a layup, then Trey Thompson was fouled as he followed a miss with the put-back. The free throw was good as he completed the three-point play. McGill netted a deep three pointer from the logo to put the Devils up 13-5 midway through the first period.
For Daniel Boone Gavin Pearce was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws. Jacob Arnold then connected on back-to-back triples from the top of the key to keep the Blazers close, but McGill ended the quarter with back-to-back buckets and 19-14 Greeneville lead.
Yordan Mills opened the second quarter with back-to-back buckets and Cole Franklin put the Devils up 11 when he drove the baseline for a layup through contact. The free toss was good and the devils led 27-16. Thompson and McGill would end the quarter with triples from opposite elbows for a 40-27 halftime lead.
Thompson opened the third quarter with a little backdoor lob from Mills.
The most exciting play of the game was on a non-scoring play, in which Boone’s Arnold was going for what he thought was an uncontested breakaway layup. But little did he know that the fastest man in the state, track star Zaydyn Anderson, was closing in on him. Anderson striped the ball away, exciting the crowd and his team.
Coach Brad Woolsey said, “They probably didn’t know he’s a state champion sprinter and Zaydyn is an X factor for us and does a great job getting back on defense. With his speed he’s something to watch.”
Thompson then went on a streak that extended into the fourth quarter, scoring on four consecutive possessions. The first was a triple from the top of the key followed by a catch and release three-pointer from the right elbow, a put-back and he ended with an alley-oop dunk from Mills on the first possession of the fourth quarter that put the Devils up 65-40.
The Devils stayed hot in the final frame even with the reserves mixed into the game. They got two three-pointers by Mills and two from Ryan Maggert for a final score of 90-58. The Devils move on to play Monday morning at 9:30 am.
The Devils come off a game where they shot poorly and were only 2 of 24 from behind the arc. On Saturday they hit 14 three pointers and Coach Woolsey said, “I don’t know, I think we have guys that can shoot pretty good. I think the biggest thing today was we took good shots. and we all were clicking really well. Everyone has been focusing on Trey, and we weren’t scoring from anywhere else and the guys did a good job today of scoring from other places.”
The Devils put four players into double figures and were lead in scoring by McGil with a game high 22 points, Thompson finished with 20 points and Anderson and Mills each added 11. Thompson also hauled in 10 rebounds giving him a double-double. McGill’s 22-point effort was a new career high for him.
