The North Greene boys completed their varsity sweep on senior night as the boys survived a strong comeback attempt to hang on to a wire-to-wire 52-48 win over South Greene.
“Any time you can beat a team that good, I’m just proud of these kids. They put in a lot of work. We’ve really come a long way. I’m just proud of our toughness,” Huskies coach Sam Tarlton said. “To just see them win against a great team, a well-coached team like that, I’m just really proud of them on senior night.”
In a full capacity Jerome Woolsey Gymnasium, the game was about as wild and fun as you would expect. Both fan bases were loud and lively with tensions high. A chaotic ending to the JV boys’ game and a physical varsity girls’ game made for an interesting level of anticipation entering the varsity boy’s game.
North Greene started hot with a barrage of scoring from Lance Carrico. The senior walked off the court with a game-high 24 points, but 16 of those came in the first quarter. He was joined on senior night by Lawson Davenport, Tyler Britton, Yeshua Vaught, Tim Hillerman, and Bennett McLain. The seniors combined to score 40 of their 52 points.
The Huskies improved to 23-4 and South Greene fell to 19-8. North Greene bumped their winning streak up to 15 games.
After losing Bennett McLain due to a season-ending injury, the Huskies had one last chance to honor him as he walked on the floor for his final career start and walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd.
“I couldn’t be more proud of all them seniors. Lawson, Bubba, Lance, Tim, Tyler, and what about Ben being able to go out there. He’s meant so much to our program and all those guys have. They just have great careers and to end it like this against a county rival and such a great team,” Tarlton expressed.
Once the game resumed after tipping off, North Greene started hot and never surrendered the lead. Lance Carrico sent points through the net in every which way he could. He started with a pair of triples before scoring in the mid-range and off the glass. He scored their first ten points.
“He was just electric. He was electric early and shot the ball well. He’s been great all season. He’s really improved just as much as anybody as I’ve ever coached. He’s had a great year and I hope he continues that,” Coach Tarlton spoke about Carrico.
Cayden Fillers provided six early points for South Greene to keep pace with Carrico’s hot start. The Husky senior continued catching fire from beyond the arc and drained two more three-pointers before Fillers responded back with a mid-range jumper.
Carrico finished with 16 first-quarter points and Fillers finished with 10. North Greene led 21-12 after one.
The Rebels held steady and outscored the Huskies 8-7 in the second. Chandler Gamble’s put back was countered by Thomas Darnell’s two free throws. South Greene went on to score four-straight with layups from Trey Gentry and Noah Wright. Lance Carrico finished with five-straight for the Huskies with a post fade and an and-one.
North Greene led South Greene 28-20 at halftime.
The Rebels were able to pull themselves within one possession in the third quarter. Jaiden Bailey bumped the margin back to double digits with a layup, but eight-straight from Noah Wright, Chandler Gamble, and Charlie Lane made it a 30-28 game. Tyler Britton provided five huge points at the end of the quarter. He came away with an offensive rebound and delivered a baseline put back before drilling a three-point buzzer beater to end the frame.
North Greene gained the momentum back and led 35-30 heading into the fourth.
The Huskies extended their lead back out to ten points with Darnell’s free-throw line jumper and another Britton triple. Both teams traded buckets back-and-forth until Carrico hit a three-pointer with just over two minutes left to make it 47-36. Up 11 with two minutes remaining, the lead seemed safe. But the Rebels did not shy away.
Trey Gentry immediately came back with a three-point field goal to cut it to eight. After a timeout, Lucas Couch stole the ball at half court and got fouled on his layup attempt. He made both foul shots.
With the lead down to six, Thomas Darnell scored on a wide-open layup on a sideline inbounds play. Gentry responded with two points at the top on a baseline inbounds play.
South Greene kept their foot in the door and had a chance to open it even more after Darnell missed a pair of free throws with under a minute remaining, but a turnover with 38.8 left gave the ball back to North Greene. Tyler Britton was fouled and made 1-of-2 to make it a seven-point difference. A huge three-pointer from Gavin Dyer with 28 seconds left cut it to a four-point game. Lawson Davenport was a perfect 2-of-2 at the stripe to make it six.
The Rebels had three opportunities to trim their deficit to three, but three missed three-pointers wasted 25 seconds off the clock and they settled with a Cayden Fillers put back with 2.9 left.
North Greene survived a wild one in The Den 52-48 to carry their winning streak to 15 games and sweep senior night.
Lance Carrico led all scorers with 24 points. Tyler Britton added 11 and Thomas Darnell had 10. Cayden Fillers scored 14 to lead South Greene.
The Huskies suit up again on Friday for a road test in Stoney Creek against Unaka. South Greene travels also for a road game at Crockett on Thursday.
