The West Greene boys survived a defensive battle with Chuckey-Doak on Friday night, escaping with a 41-39 win that moves their District 1-2A record to 3-1.
The 41 points match a season low for the Buffaloes, but the win keeps them in the race for the top spot in the district with Hampton (4-0) and South Greene (3-1). Chuckey-Doak falls to 0-4 in league play.
“It’s a win, but it wasn’t pretty by any means,” West Greene coach Allen Tolliver said. “Chuckey-Doak had a good game plan and they executed it. Our guys battled even when things weren’t going well. I’m proud we found a way to win. I’m happy we won, but we don’t have any time to dwell on this one.”
Things will not get any easier for the Buffaloes as they go to North Greene on Saturday, host Unaka on Monday and then see Hampton in a key conference clash on Tuesday.
“There is no time to think about this one, and no time to look ahead. This is going to be a tough stretch,” Tolliver said. “We have big county game tomorrow. We have Unaka Monday and we have a crucial game Hampton on Tuesday with no time to practice. Our first prep for Hampton will probably be during shoot around on Tuesday.”
Not much happened in the first quarter as only a combined six shots fell through the iron and West Greene took a 10-6 lead.
Chuckey-Doak got triples from Dom Atchison and Ryland Grindstaff. For West Greene Elijah Williams hit from deep early. The Black Knights went with a zone defense in an effort to take away 6’6” center Ayden Lamons, but the Buffs’ final four points of the period came from the big man.
In the second quarter Atchison closed the gap to 11-10 when he sank a three-pointer from the top of the key. West Greene answered with a jumper in the paint by Conner Campbell and three-pointer from Tytus Shelton.
The Black Knights stayed locked in on defense and with 1:12 left in the first half Grindstaff blocked a three-pointer on one end and that led to Gavin Crum draining a triple on the other end of the floor. That gave Chuckey-Doak its first lead at 18-17.
West Greene went to halftime leading 19-18 after Lamons powered home a layup.
Points were hard to find early in the second half, but Chuckey-Doak regained the lead at 25-24 with 1:19 left when Crum hit Ben Palazzo going to the hoop on a pick and roll.
A three-pointer by Braden McCamey put West Greene back on top, and Campbell scored on a put back to push the advantage to 29-25.
In the fourth quarter a few offensive mishaps by West Greene left the door open for Chuckey-Doak and with 3:23 left Crum was left open in the corner for a three-pointer that put the Black Knights in front 36-35.
West Greene’s defense, which played strong all night, buckled down in the closing stretch and only gave up one more bucket.
With 2:15 left to play Lamons scored on an offensive rebound to give the lead back to West Greene. On the ensuing possession Chuckey-Doak burned over a minute off the clock but the Buffaloes’ defense kept the ball out of the hoop.
West Greene thought it had enough breathing room after three free throws by McCamey pushed the lead to 40-36 with 16 seconds left. Grindstaff had other plans and needed just six seconds to drain a running triple that narrowed the margin to 40-39.
Chuckey-Doak did get a shot from the lane before time expired, but Campbell grabbed the rebound to preserve West Greene’s win.
Crum led all scorers on Friday with 17 points, while Atchison and Grindstaff each had 10 points for Chuckey-Doak.
For West Greene Elijah Williams scored 13 points, McCamey had 10 points and Lamons scored eight.
