The West Greene boys basketball team showed no signs of a long layoff on Thursday evening and turned in a spectacular first-half effort on the way to earning a 64-52 win Johnson County.
“I felt like we played really well especially in the first half. We played good defensively, we were unselfish on offense and our subs came in and added energy,” West Greene coach Allen Tolliver said. “After not being able to practice for four or five days it was good to see them come out like that. These guys are doing everything I’m asking them to do, but we still need to figure out how to do it for four quarters.”
A big part of West Greene’s success on Thursday was due to its offensive balance with all five players in the starting lineup reaching double figures. Ayden Lamons led the way with 17 points, Elijah Williams had 13, Tytus Shelton 11, Luke Heck 11 and Josiah Dawson put in 10 points.
“It was huge to get that balance on offense. Five in double figures is always nice to see,” Tolliver said. “It’s always nice to have a guy like Ayden down low. When we got into a lull we could tell him to get on the block and go score. He did good job of helping get through their press as well.”
After traded shots early the Buffaloes took the lead for good with 4:34 left in the first quarter when Lamons powered in a shot from the block to make it 9-7.
Over the next two minutes Dawson knocked down a triple, Lamons turned a steal into a breakaway layup, and then Dawson found Lamons cutting to basket to stretch that lead to 16-7.
Defensively Lamons began to takeover the lane late in the first quarter while on the perimeter the Buffaloes made good looks hard to find as they allowed only two points over the final 5:06 of the period.
“Defense was really good in the first half,” Tolliver said. “We didn’t give up straight-line drives. We had both feet in the paint, we were helping, and we doing the things we have really focused on since the Unicoi game. To see that come from practice to the game was nice to see.”
Heck put back a miss in the final seconds of the first quarter to push West Greene’s lead to 22-9.
Midway through the second quarter the lead reached 29-9 when Lamons found Williams open for a three-pointer from the corner.
On the next possession Avery Jones scored Johnson County’s first points of the period, and West Greene responded with a 9-0 run. Williams capped that run with another corner three that Heck set up with a steal.
At the buzzer Dawson hit from deep along the right wing to give the Buffaloes a 43-14 halftime lead.
In the third quarter the Buffs took their foot off the gas and the Longhorns were able to narrow the gap. Five different Johnson County players scored in the early portion of the frame, and when Ethan Smith hit from beyond the arc the lead was reduced to 47-25.
Lamons got West Greene going with a turnaround jumper from the right block. He went on to score five points in the final 2:21 of the quarter and West Greene went into the fourth period holding a 55-27 lead.
The Longhorns were able to put a dent in the lead in the fourth quarter, but the Buffaloes’ advantage was too much to overcome. Smith scored six points while Carson Jennings and Landin Lipford each connected from beyond the arc to close the gap to 60-43.
West Greene did all of its scoring inside in the final period with Shelton putting in three points, and Lamons adding six points to his total.
Johnson County’s final points came on a three-pointer from Smith that narrowed the final margin to 64-52.
Smith led the Longhorns with 16 points, Lipford had 14 and Jennings 10.
With the win West Greene stays in second place in District 1-2A with a 5-3 record, but South Greene and Chuckey-Doak are both close behind at 4-3. Unicoi County leads the league at 7-0.
GIRLS
Johnson County 51, West Greene 35
A rough fourth quarter was the undoing of the West Greene girls on Thursday night as they fell to Johnson County 51-35.
The Lady Buffaloes battled back in the third quarter and with 8:45 left in the contest things were tied at 32-32. Then West Greene was outscored 17-3 in the final frame.
Thursday’s second half started with Johnson County leading 26-20, and that lead grew to 30-20 when C.J. Lipford sank a midrange jumper.
West Greene began its rally with Joie Shipley finding Payton Norton open the corner for a three-pointer. Norton followed that by nailing a jump shot from the top of the key on an inbound play that made it 30-26.
With 2:09 left in the period Madison Wagner connected on a jumper from the short corner that closed the gap to 32-30. Erica Davis then landed a runner from the left block to even the score at 32-32 with 45 seconds on the clock.
Just before the horn Johnson County’s Aubrey Shaw went under the rim for a reverse that gave the lead back to the Lady Longhorns.
Johnson County center Izzy Thompson stunned the Lady Buffaloes with a pair of triples to start the fourth quarter and Shaw followed with three points the hard way as the lead quickly grew to 43-32 in less than two minutes.
On the other end of the floor West Greene struggled to get the ball inside and their outside shots would not go in as they managed just three points in the final period. Norton came up with those three points with 4:30 left to play to cut Johnson County’s lead to 43-35.
Thompson scored four more points in the closing stretch as the Lady Longhorns’ lead grew to 51-35.
Thursday’s action started with Johnson County jumping in front 10-2, but the Lady Buffs answered with nine straight points. Norton started run with a jumper in the paint and followed it with triple from the right wing.
West Greene went in front 11-10 when Emily Justis pulled up from elbow.
Johnson Couty went to the second quarter leading 14-11.
In the second quarter Johnson County’s lead reached 23-13 when Ella Icenhour dropped in a jumper from the lane.
Norton finished the first half with a pair of three-pointers that cut the lead down to 26-20.
