In one of their best defensive efforts of the season, the North Greene boys clamped down on Sullivan East and ended Tuesday night with a 53-37 win over the visiting Patriots.
“Just a great job defensively. They followed the scout and even rebounded well. If you take out the last four minutes of the fourth where we got up and kind of got lazy it was as good of a defensive performance as we’ve had all year. We’ve got to learn to finish a little stronger if we’re going to reach our peak but I was proud of our defense tonight,” North Greene Head Coach Sam Tarlton said.
The Huskies have put a large focus on defense this year and it was evident tonight. Outside of the fourth quarter, they allowed just 22 points in the first 24 minutes and made it a hard night on the hardwood for the Patriots.
While the focus was on the defense, Lance Carrico was elite on offense and dropped a game-high 24 points to go along with his tough defense. “He was elite. Not just offensively, but defensively too. He’s starting to do it more and more,” Tarlton stated.
The Huskies remain unbeaten at home and improved to 12-4.
With a three-pointer from Carrico the Huskies opened up with the lead and never trailed for the entirety of the game. He scored their first seven points and helped cruise out to a 7-2 lead early. Lawson Davenport rebounded his own miss and put it back off the glass for two and later followed it up with a floater to help pad the lead. Jaiden Bailey splashed a three-point bucket also to make the score 16-9 after one.
A balanced second quarter featured a triple from Tyler Britton, a turnaround jumper from Thomas Darnell, and a layup from Carrico. The Huskies held Sullivan East to only six in the second and held a 24-15 lead at the half.
The third quarter belonged solely to Lance Carrico and Tyler Britton as they combined for all 13 in the quarter. North Greene’s defense was on display again and held their opponents to only seven in the third. The scoreboard read 37-22 entering the fourth.
The Huskies kept extending the lead with buckets from Davenport, Darnell, Carrico, and Britton, but allowed a rare 11-0 run in the latter half of the quarter. The lead reached 25 points before dropping down to 14 again. The Huskies had amassed a large enough lead to sit on it for the rest of the game and ride to victory.
North Greene knocked off Sullivan East 53-37 to continue their winning ways. Lance Carrico carried them to a win with 24 points and Tyler Britton joined him in double figures with 14.
The Huskies travel to Brooks Gym next to open up District 1-A play against University High on Thursday night.
GIRLS
North Greene 54, Sullivan East 44
It took three quarters for the Lady Huskies to finally pull away, but in the end North Greene knocked off visiting Sullivan East 54-44 powered by a career-high night from senior guard Mercy Buchanan.
After giving up a 14-0 run in the second quarter, the Lady Huskies trailed atthe half and had a hard time getting shots to fall as a team. In the third quarter, Mercy Buchanan came to life and nailed a trio of huge three-point buckets to score nine of their 11 in the frame. The rest of the team sprang to life in the fourth and scored 18 points to capture the win.
“Mercy hit six threes and five in the second half when the game was still up for grabs. That was the difference. That’s a career-high for her and she just shot the ball extremely well tonight and we’re very proud of her and the effort she gave,” Lady Huskies Head Coach James Buchanan expressed.
Buchanan didn’t only show up in the third, she showed up all night and poured in a career-high 20 points and 6 three-pointers to help contribute in their win. The victory improves North Greene’s record to 13-3 heading into their District 1-A opener this Thursday.
The Lady Huskies struggled to find points and often found themselves trailing throughout the first 24 minutes. Hannah Miller opened up the game with a layup, but Sullivan East went on an 8-2 run to take the early lead. Josie Graham’s 4 points and Loren Blevins’ layup pulled them even. Ella Head’s transition layup handed them a 13-10 lead at the end of the first.
The second opened up with Buchanan’s first three, but the Lady Patriots’ 14-0 run ensued and they took a 24-16 lead. Asia Cairns banked in two threes in that run. She finished with a game-high 22 points.
Ella Head broke a 4-plus minute dry spell with a three-point bucket. Her and Kaydence Marshall managed to hit back-to-back threes a few possessions later to go into the half trailing 28-25.
“I thought defensively in the first half that wasn’t going to do it. We gave up 28 and they’re on pace to go for 56 or in the mid to high 50s. We’re not going to win a lot of games when we give up that much. We buckled down in the second half and did much better,” Buchanan stated.
Both teams struggled to put the ball through the nets in the third, but Buchanan’s hot hand helped outscore Sullivan East in the third. Kaydence Marshall beat the buzzer with a baseline jumper to knot the score at 36-36 going into the fourth.
Marshall began the final frame with another mid-range jumper. Hannah Miller had been silenced since the first quarter, but her five-straight points in the fourth quarter gave North Greene the final lead of the game that they’d ride to the end. Buchanan drained her final pair of threes and Head drained one too to extend their lead and help runaway with the victory.
“I’m just tickled with the win and now it’s on to the next one,” Buchanan said.
The Lady Huskies weathered the storm and pulled away to a 54-44 win in the end. Mercy Buchanan scored a team-high 20 points and Ella Head had 11. Asia Cairns led all scorers with 22.
North Greene begins District 1-A competition on Thursday night as they begin on the road at University High.
