The South Greene boys basketball team kept its season alive on Saturday night by taking down Eagleton 65-41 in the quarterfinals of the Region 1-2A Tournament.
“We beat a good team. They play in a good conference, and it was good for us to come out of here with a win,” South Greene coach Terry Hoese said. “I feel like we missed some opportunities in the first half. But we came out in the second half and changed defenses and were able to go a little run. We got a great defensive efforts from Noah Wright and Simon Burns that really made a difference.”
The Rebels advance to the tournament semifinals and will take on Gatlinburg-Pittman on its home floor on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The Highlanders are the No.3 team in Class 2A and the District 2-2A champions. They beat Chuckey-Doak 88-55 on Saturday.
“We have to go on the road now, and we’ll have to shoot it well. But if we shoot it well we’ll have a chance,” Hoese said. “We’re going to have to be even better defensively and on the glass. They have one of the best point guards around, and their post players are football players who are physical. We’ll have to do a really good job and we’ll have to put some points on the board.”
The first few minutes on Saturday were spent with the two teams feeling each other out, but over the final 5:12 of the first quarter the Rebels went on a 17-4 run to take a 23-10 lead.
That run really got going when Simon Burns knocked down a triple from the right wing. Gavin Dyer followed it by pulling up for a three-pointer in transition for a 14-8 lead.
South Greene scored the final nine points of the period with Burns starting things by grabbing a carom and putting back a miss. Noah Wright then powered in four points in the paint.
South Greene’s rebounding advantage was a major difference maker on Saturday as they won that battle 40-22.
“We outrebounded then and limited their second shots. Not giving them offensive rebounds was a huge part of tonight, because they did get three-pointers on two of three offensive rebounds they did get,” Hoese said.
The second quarter started with Eagleton’s Jackson Caylor and South Greene’s Jameson White trading treys, but then the Rebels scoring slowed and the Royals were able to narrow the margin.
Caylor hit from deep again and Evyn Wheelon struck from beyond the arc to close the gap to 29-21 with 2:53 left in the first half.
Eagleton got as close as 29-23 when Noel Meza-Flores made two at the free-throw line.
South Greene went to halftime leading 32-23 after an offensive rebound by Cayden Fillers set up Lucas Couch for a triple.
In the first two minutes of the third quarter Caylor connected on two more three-pointers and South Greene’s advantage was down to 35-31.
Hoese called a timeout to reset the defense and the Rebels answered with a 27-2 run that put the game away.
“They didn’t handle that change of defense very well, and it gave us some easy opportunities. Gavin and Jameson knocked down threes, and that opened the game up,” Hoese said.
The run started with Fillers getting South Greene a second chance and Dyer making the most of it with a triple. On the next possession Wright found Dyer at the top of the key and South Greene’s lead grew to 41-31.
Dyer kept going by slashing to the rim, and Wright scored four more to put South Greene in front 49-33.
South Greene stayed hot early in the fourth quarter. In as 45-second stretch Jameson White sank two three-pointers and Will Arrowood knocked down another as the lead grew to 58-33.
A layup by Couch gave the Rebels their biggest lead of the night at 62-33.
Shortly after Hoese cleared the bench before finishing out the 65-41 win.
Dyer led South Greene with 16 points, Wright scored 14 and White finished with 12 points.
Caylor scored 20 of the Royals’ 41 points.
