Wow, what a game!
Trailing by 19 points, the South Greene Rebels finished the game on a 32-10 run and silenced the rowdy crowd in Lower Afton by defeating Chuckey-Doak 55-52 on its home floor.
“It’s exhausting. I am exhausted and I know the guys are exhausted,” Rebels Head Coach Terry Hoese said. “Don’t quit. You never know what’s gonna happen in a path of a game.”
As if it weren’t true already, no matter what the score is at any point in the game, the South Greene Rebels are never out of it. Nineteen-point deficits seem like nothing to the Rebels. Seventeen-point deficit to Cosby in the Big H BBQ Bash, erased. Nineteen-point deficit to Chuckey-Doak two years prior at South Greene High School, erased. Nineteen-point deficit on Friday, erased.
No lead is ever safe against the Rebels.
The game had high stakes. The winner gained the No. 3 seed heading into next week’s District 1-2A Tournament. The loser would receive the No. 4 seed and be matchup up on Unicoi County’s side of the bracket.
When the dust settled and South Greene shocked everybody, they gained the No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 Happy Valley. Chuckey-Doak received the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Johnson County.
“It’s huge. And that’s what we talked about. You get the three seed and you’re at home Thursday night. It gets us on the opposite end of the bracket than Unicoi County,” Hoese mentioned.
Noah Wright was Friday’s unsung hero and led South Greene with 18 points. Cayden Fillers had 13 points. Ryland Grindstaff led Chuckey-Doak with 15 points. Gavin Crum scored 12 points and Ben Palazzo scored 10.
South Greene finished the regular season with a 17-11 (6-4) record after the win. Chuckey-Doak moved to 16-13 (5-5) after the loss.
The packed house in Lower Afton was treated to a classic on Friday night. The “bleacher creatures” crawled into the student section at Chuckey-Doak High School and created an intense atmosphere with the help of many outside spectators. Tusculum’s men’s basketball and men’s soccer teams joined forces with Chuckey-Doak’s student body to create one of the loudest and largest student sections. The plan worked, but South Greene’s student body also traveled well. South Greene created a smaller, but effective student section to match the energy from the home crowd.
With all of that included, plus the action on the court, the best rivalry in the county was back like it never left.
Chuckey-Doak fed off the home crowd and came out firing on all cylinders. Gavin Crum splashed an immediate three-pointer and lifted Chuckey-Doak ahead first. Simon Burns sank a mid-range and Noah Wright made a layup to give South Greene a brief 4-3 lead. Ryland Grindstaff drained a three next and regained the lead for Chuckey-Doak. Grindstaff helped cap off an 8-0 run with a tough, contested mid-range. The Black Knights led 11-4.
Noah Wright was South Greene’s only source of offense in the first half and scored six-straight. Without Wright, South Greene’s night could’ve been a whole lot worse.
Knox McCamis sank Chuckey-Doak’s third three of the quarter and helped the Black Knights lead 18-12 after one.
It was all Chuckey-Doak in the second. The biggest play of the first half was Dom Atchison’s and-one play at the rim. His crossover resulted in him attacking the cup and fighting through contact for a layup and the foul to the eruption of the Lower Afton crowd.
South Greene couldn’t buy a basket in the second quarter and only made one field goal from Noah Wright. Wright had 12 of South Greene’s 16 points at halftime. “He played really well. He had 12 of our 16 in the first half. Kudos to him,” Hoese mentioned.
The Black Knights held a large 32-16 lead at the halftime break.
South Greene showed flashes of what was to come by outscoring Chuckey-Doak 17-12 in the third quarter. South Greene saw contributions from Noah Wright, Cayden Fillers, and Simon Burns.
South Greene trailed 44-33 entering the fourth.
Jameson White began the quarter with a steal and raced to the basket for a layup. Will Arrowood’s reverse layup and a free throw from Simon Burns cut it to 46-39. Knox McCamis pushed it back to nine with a layup and Gavin Dyer sank his only shot of the night from his normal three-point zone to cut it to six. Cayden Fillers trimmed the lead to four after going up-and-under for a layup. All of a sudden, White’s step back mid-range cut it to 48-46.
Once the game’s closing moments were upon us, the urgency started to kick in. Cayden Fillers scored a second-chance layup to make it a one-point game. The Rebels looked to take the lead, but a questionable travel by Fillers forced a turnover. Ben Palazzo quickly scored a layup on the next possession and Chuckey-Doak led 51-48 with 1:52 left.
A big turning point in the game was Chuckey-Doak’s chance to go up even more with free throws, but misses would haunt them. Will Arrowood hit one of the biggest shots of the night after an 0-for-2 trip to the line by Chuckey-Doak. Arrowood landed a three-pointer that tied the game, 51-51, with 1:26 left.
Jameson White was called for a foul when reaching in and sent Ryland Grindstaff to the line. Grindstaff went 1-for-2 and gave Chuckey-Doak a brief lead again. Cayden Fillers made the biggest shot of the night and sank the go-ahead layup with 22 seconds to go and gave South Greene a 53-52 lead, their first since 4-3.
With the game hanging in the balance, everyone knew Ryland Grindstaff would get the ball for Chuckey-Doak. Grindstaff drove into the paint, but was unsuccessful on the potential game-winning shot.
White was fouled after South Greene hauled in the rebound and was clutch and knocked down both free throws to make it 55-52 with eight seconds remaining.
The Black Knights got off a clean look at the buzzer, but Knox McCamis was off to the left and missed the game-tying attempt at the buzzer.
South Greene left Lower Afton with a thrilling 55-52 comeback victory over Chuckey-Doak.
“Huge shot there by Will Arrowood at the end of the game. Two huge free throws by Jameson to ice it. But the bottom-line tonight was that defensive effort in the second half,” Coach Hoese expressed.
South Greene’s Noah Wright led all scorers with 18 points and Cayden Fillers had 13 points. Ryland Grindstaff led Chuckey-Doak with 15 points. Gavin Crum scored 12 points and Ben Palazzo scored 10.
South Greene finished up with their regular season on Friday night and will turn their focus to Johnson County in next week’s District 1-2A Tournament on Thursday. Chuckey-Doak still has one last game remaining. The Black Knights will face Independent Athletic Ministries on Monday night at home before hosting Happy Valley on Thursday.
