The West Greene boys were able to build a big enough lead on Monday night to hold off a furious comeback by South Greene and pick up an important 75-69 win on Rebel Hill.
“That was a fun. The environment tonight was crazy, and kind of what you expect from this kind of game. This was the first time some of the young guys have seen that,” West Greene coach Allen Tolliver said. “We lost our composure a little there in the fourth quarter, but our boys played hard. We had different guys step up at different times. I’m super proud of all of them, all of them brought effort and intensity.”
With the win West Greene wraps up league play with a 7-3 record and locks up the No.2 seed in District 1-2A Tournament. South Greene is now 5-4 and will meet Chuckey-Doak on Friday night with the No.3 seed on the line.
“We got closer to a complete effort tonight,” Tolliver said. “But we are still going to need to get better in the tournament. There won’t be too many nights where we can have this many turnovers and still beat a good team like South Greene.”
Things got wild late in Monday’s contest. After the Buffaloes built a 19-point lead with less than five minutes to play, South Greene came storming back and made it a two-point game before the magic ran out.
West Greene took its biggest lead of the night at 66-47 with 4:47 left to play when Parker Arnott nailed a triple and turned it into the ever rare four-point play.
Arnott came off the bench on Monday and put in 18 points. It is his career high with the Buffaloes after he gained eligibility in January. That effort became even more important after senior point guard Elijah Williams sat for most of the second half feeling ill.
“That was huge for Parker. He hasn’t played that many games yet and is still getting used to things,” Tolliver said. “This is first double-digit offensive game, but his defense was so important tonight. He is so smart on that end of the floor.”
South Greene’s comeback started with 3:03 left to play when Cayden Fillers put back a miss that closed the gap to 69-56. The Buffaloes were dinged with a travel in the backcourt and Gavin Dyer made it hurt by coming off a double screen to nail a triple.
Over the next minute Dyer hit from deep two more times. One was an off-balance bank shot, and the other a 25 footer that closed the gap to 71-67 with 1:51 on the clock.
With 1:11 left Noah Wright made a pair of free throws to make it 71-69, making it was a one-possession game for the first time since there was a 6:40 left in the second quarter.
The Buffaloes left the door open by going 4-of-14 at the free-throw line in the final 1:11, but Rebels could not get another shot to fall.
Monday’s first quarter was spent with the teams trading buckets on the way to a 19-19 tie. West Greene’s Josiah Dawson gave the lead to Buffaloes first when he started the night with a triple from the corner.
South Greene’s biggest lead came at 10-7 when Simon Burns dished a pass across the paint to Fillers for lay in.
Arnott answered that with a triple going the other way and the rest of the period was spent with the Rebels going in front before the Buffaloes tied it. The last tying shot came from Dawson with 32 seconds left when he nailed a three-pointer from the left wing.
The second quarter started with West Greene scoring the first seven points. Arnott got loose for a fast-break layup and Dawson shook a defender with a cross-over before knocking down a trey that made it 26-19.
For the next 19 minutes the Buffaloes controlled the contest.
“That start of the second quarter was huge,” Tolliver said. “I told them at the end of the first quarter that we couldn’t keep trading buckets. It was important to just get a stop and to build on that. I felt like once we got the lead the chemistry got better and our energy went through the roof.”
Two inside buckets by Fillers allowed South Greene to close the gap to 32-28, but going the other Williams pulled up for a triple from the left wing.
With 1:12 left in the first half West Greene’s lead grew to 40-30 when Williams nailed a three-pointer from the corner.
The first half ended with West Greene leading 41-32.
By the midway point of the third quarter West Greene led 51-38 after Dawson and Arnott sank consecutive triples.
Burns gave some life to South Greene by coming up with a pair of steals. The first turned into a breakaway layup for Jameson White and Burns took the second to the rim himself as the gap closed to 51-44.
West Greene’s Tytus Shelton followed by scoring on an offensive rebound. With 13 seconds left Dawson drove the length of the floor and dished to Carter Stills to give the Buffaloes a 58-44 lead.
Dawson led West Greene on Monday with 20 points, Arnott put in 18 and Shelton finished the day with 12 points.
Dyer led all scorers with 23 points, Fillers scored 13 and Wrigth put in 10 points for South Greene.
Both teams have busy weeks ahead of them with Rebels facing North Greene on Tuesday, David Crockett on Thursday and Chuckey-Doak on Friday.
West Greene will be at Cosby on Tuesday and at Hancock County on Thursday.
