The South Greene boys struggled to score on Thursday night and fell to David Crockett in their final home game of the regular season.
Just two days prior the Rebels poured in 75 points against North Greene, but they could not reach half of that on Thursday and fell 51-34.
“Obviously we didn’t play very well and obviously Crockett had a lot to do with it,” South Greene coach Terry Hoese said. “I feel like playing teams like that makes us better. We missed I don’t know how many one footers. We laid an egg in the second quarter, and you can’t have quarters like that and beat good teams.”
The night started with David Crockett scoring the first 11 points. Nolan Street scored five in that stretch, including a three-pointer from the corner.
With 4:30 left in the period Noah Wright came off the bench and took a feed from Cayden Fillers to score South Greene’s first points of the contest.
The Rebels managed to keep pace with Wright, Lucas Couch and Fillers all scoring in the paint, but Crockett led 16-8 after one quarter of action.
In the second quarter South Greene got as close as 18-12 when Couch drove the lane for a layup. Then the shots stopped falling and the Rebels went scoreless for the final 6:33 of the first half.
On the other end of the floor Street hit from beyond the twice while Aden Britton scored four points as the Pioneers went to halftime leading 29-12.
In the third quarter South Greene’s scoring troubles continued and Crockett extended its lead. With 4:55 remaining in the period the Pioneers hit Lukas Easterling on a backdoor cut for a 37-16 lead.
The Pioneers’ biggest lead came at 41-18 after Street slashed through the paint.
In the final 1:14 of the quarter South Greene put in five free throws with Wright and Will Arrowwood each going 2-for-2. That closed the gap to 42-23.
South Greene had its best scoring stretch to start the fourth quarter with nine points in the first 2:45. Arrowood but in four points and Couch hit from beyond the arc to close the margin to 46-32.
The Rebels would not get any closer and fell 51-34.
Caleb Eaves led David Crockett with 16 points and Street finished with 15.
For South Greene Wright was the top scorer with eight points while Couch scored seven.
The Rebels will have little time to sulk and will be back on the floor on Friday at Chuckey-Doak. The No.3 seed in the District 1-2A tournament is on the line, which will put the winner opposite of league-leader Unicoi County in the bracket.
“Hopefully we shoot it better tomorrow, and if not we’ll get beat again,” Hoese said. “We have to go out and play hard. If we make some shots we have a good chance, if not we’ll be playing from the four spot.”
