The Chuckey-Doak boys basketball team erased a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter and stormed past North Greene on the way to a 61-53 win on Tuesday night.
“Defensively we finally got it going. It was tremendous to see that fight in the fourth quarter,” Chuckey-Doak coach Sam Broyles said. “We had guys step in to help us, we had at least three or four different lineups in there to help us get this win. Those seniors really stepped up in the end.”
The Black Knights were down 50-40 with 6:07 left to play, but in the final frame they tightened up on defense and outscored North Greene 21-3 in the closing stretch.
Ben Palazzo started the comeback by powering up a jumper in the paint. After making two free throws Gavin Crum forced a Huskies turnover and that set up Logan Malone for a big three-pointer from the corner that closed the gap to 50-47 with 4:57 left to play.
After that the Black Knights caught a break when North Greene coach Matt Weems was dinged with a technical foul as result of his communication with the referee. Dom Atchison made both free tosses and it turned into a four-point swing when Crum drove the lane to make it 51-50 with 3:17 left to play.
North Greene had it chances to get the lead back, but a runner by Tyler Britton with 48 seconds remaining was the only field goal the Huskies could come up with in the closing stretch.
Chuckey-Doak took care of business at the foul line to secure the 61-53 win.
“We finally started getting after it on defense,” Broyles said. “We knew we had to challenge (Tyler) Britton and Gavin Crum did a really god job on him. We started switching more to help and I thought over the last four minutes we really started to figure things out.”
The night started as a defensive struggle, but North Greene got three-pointers from Isaac Gaby, Havoc Fair and Britton to take a 9-8 lead into the second frame.
As a team North Greene hit 11 three pointers on Tuesday.
After a long possession early in the second quarter Blake Lippard nailed a triple to give Chuckey-Doak an 11-9 lead.
With 4:09 left to play an offensive rebound by Thomas Darnell set up Gaby for a three-pointer that put North Greene in front 16-13. Deep shots from Britton and Fair followed as the Huskies’ lead grew to 22-15.
Chuckey-Doak closed the first half with nine points in the final two minutes. Malone scored on an inbound play to close the gap to 22-21. Just before the buzzer Grindstaff flew into the paint for a putback through contact. He turned it into a three-point play and the teams went to intermission tied at 24-24.
In the early portion of the third quarter the two teams traded buckets, but with 3:05 left Gaby drained a triple from deep on the left side to give North Greene a 40-36 lead.
Gaby then stole the ball at midcourt and set up Britton for three points that stretched the lead to 45-36.
The third quarter ended with North Greene leading 47-40.
North Greene put three players in double figures on Tuesday with Fair scoring 18 points, Gaby put in 17 and Britton added 14. The trio scored 49 of the Huskies 53 points.
Grindstaff led Chuckey-Doak on Tuesday with 16 points. Crum scored nine, Dom Atchison had eight and Palazzo scored eight points.
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday. Chuckey-Doak will be at Cherokee and North Greene will host West Greene.
Chuckey-Doak erased a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to complete their comeback win over North Greene at home on Tuesday night. Listen in to catch what Coach Sam Broyles had to say after a thriller. pic.twitter.com/3xC5Rp8oF7
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 3, 2025
