The South Greene boys got into another physical battle with Cocke County on Saturday night, but led by their defense the Rebels pulled away in the fourth quarter to earn a 56-40 win.
“We had a really good fourth quarter and we beat a good team,” South Greene coach Terry Hoese said. “The first three quarters were pretty much even, but in the fourth quarter we took care of the ball and we took better shots. Defensively we did a much better job tonight, and we knocked down some shots. When you do that and you don’t turn it over it makes you look a lot better.”
Saturday marked the third time the Rebels have met Cocke County this season and with the win Rebels lead the series 2-1, but the Fighting Cocks will get a chance at revenge next week in Newport. South Greene has now won 10 games in a row, its last loss came on December 20 at the hands of Cocke County.
Through three quarters neither team led by more than five points and both defenses seemed to have an answer for what the other side wanted to do on offense. But once the fourth quarter began the Rebels started to build their lead.
The fourth quarter started with South Greene leading 34-32, but a triple by Gavin Dyer quickly stretched that. Jace Roderick then scored on a put back that pushed the advantage to 39-32, the Rebels’ first three-possession lead of the night.
Ethan Fine gave the Fighting Cocks a reprieve when he sank a trey from the left wing, but Chandler Gamble answered with a layup on the other end 20 seconds later.
A fourth-chance bucket by Roderick put South Greene on top 45-37, but a three-pointer by Eli Roberts kept Cocke County within striking distance at 45-40 with 3:10 left to play.
South Greene’s defense did not give up another basket, and over the course of the next minute Trey Gentry slashed through the lane for a lay in before Cayden Fillers sank a jumper from the top of the key.
South Greene’s lead grew at the free-throw line, and they finished with a 56-40 win.
Hoese is hopeful that his team can build on that fourth-quarter effort as they finish the season with tough tests against Dobyns-Bennett, David Crockett, North Greene, Cocke County again and Chuckey-Doak.
“We are going to have to have that from here on out. We don’t have anything easy left,” Hoese said. “We are going to work for everything we get. Four weeks from now anybody we play is going to be our size and our speed. They are going to be good defensively. We have to be able to play good offense and take time off the clock while getting good looks.”
Cocke County’s game plan early in Saturday’s contest was to make it hard for the Rebels to score inside, but the outside game got going and put the Rebels in front. Gamble made the first triple of the night and Dyer followed with three shots from behind the arc for a 12-7 lead.
“We don’t have a lot outside shooting, but Gavin gives us that. He makes people guard him, and that opens up things on the inside. He has earned that fifth starting spot, and as a sophomore he has grown up a lot,” Hoese said.
Fine struck from deep for Cocke County to close the gap to 12-10, and at the close of the first quarter South Greene led 14-12.
Gamble went to the bench with two fouls and South Greene’s offense struggled to get going without him, but Noah Wright entered the game and made sure there was no let up on the defensive end of the floor.
Fine hit from beyond the arc to give the Fighting Cocks the lead at 17-16, and then he made a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 19-16.
With 2:15 left in the second quarter Fillers delivered a good pass across the paint to Wright for a layup that evened the score at 19-19. It was South Greene’s first field goal of the period.
With three seconds left in the first half Roderick made one of two at the free-throw line to send South Greene to halftime leading 20-19.
The third quarter was largely spent trading buckets but Cocke County was able to tie things at 24-24 when Kyler Hayes made a pair of free throws.
Gentry came up with three points the hard way to put South Greene in front 30-26, and Gamble nailed a jump shot from the top of the key that made it 34-29.
On Cocke County’s final possession of the third quarter Fine struck from deep once more and closed the gap to 34-32.
Gamble led South Greene with 16 points in the contest. Dyer had 14 points and Gentry scored 10.
For Cocke County Fine led the way with 19 points.
