The West Greene boys basketball team turned in the defensive effort it needed on Monday night, but too many mistakes on offense late proved to be their undoing in a 48-43 loss to Cherokee.
“This was probably our best defensive game of the season. We really played great on the defensive end, but there were spurts in the second half where things got away from us,” West Greene coach Allen Tolliver said. “The kids played hard, but basic things beat us. We didn’t take care of the ball at important times. It was our game to win, but we didn’t do the little things. We’ll get back to work because we don’t much time to cry about this one. We have tough games with North Greene and David Crockett coming up.”
The Buffaloes started the second half trailing 25-19, but quickly erased that deficit. Tytus Shelton got the quarter started with a three-pointer and with 5:50 left in the third quarter Ayden Lamons took an inbound pass and dropped in a short jump shot to give the Buffaloes a 26-25 lead.
West Greene stayed in front with a finger roll from Josiah Dawson and four more points from Shelton, but a traveling violation gave Cherokee a chance to get the lead back in the final seconds. Elijah Carmack closed the quarter with a triple. That sent the Chiefs into the fourth quarter leading 34-32.
In the fourth quarter Elijah Williams gave West Greene the lead on three occasion, the largest coming at 39-36 with 5:03 left to play after Lamons came up with an offensive rebound that set up the point guard for a straight-away trey.
West Greene’s last lead came with 4:02 left to play at 41-39 when Williams swiped possession at midcourt and took it the other way for a layup.
From there the Chiefs’ pressing and trapping defense gave the Buffaloes plenty of trouble and they did not hit another field goal the rest of the night.
“We just weren’t doing what we were supposed to do against the press break,” Tolliver said. “We stayed in the same spots and never attacked it. We let them sit there and pick our passing lanes. We are playing with two freshmen and two sophomores and maybe that is a consequence of having a young team.”
Using their extra possessions Cherokee took the lead at 44-43 when Isaiah Jones sank a free throw. After more empty opportunities Cherokee went in front 46-43 when Braxton Markham made two free tosses.
The Buffaloes last chance to tie came with 19 seconds left but Shelton’s three-pointer from the corner clanged off the rim.
The night started with West Greene controlling the first quarter. The Buffs jumped in front 13-4 behind five points from Williams and four Shelton while Lamons was a force on the inside and grabbed seemingly every rebounding opportunity.
In the final 1:28 of the quarter Cherokee’s Landon Jeffers sank a three-pointer and then Carmack took a steal the distance to close the gap to 13-9.
In the second quarter West Greene’s offense all but disappeared as it struggled to find good looks at the basket. Shelton did score on the first possession of the period, but then 6:45 elapsed before the next field goal fell.
At the same time Cherokee got triples from Branson Mowell, Markham, and Jones as they moved in front 25-19 at halftime.
Shelton finished the night with 15 points for West Greene while Williams put in 14 points.
For Cherokee Carmack scored 18 and Jones had 12 points.
The West Greene Buffaloes came up short in a back-and-forth slugfest against Cherokee High School, 48-43. #FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/am9bvVsCKy
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 2, 2025
West Greene let the game slip away late, falling to Cherokee, 48-43#FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/gZ3qoJ7lwP
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 2, 2025
GIRLS
Cherokee 63, West Greene 38
A talented Cherokee squad prove to be too much for the West Greene girls on Monday night and it left Mosheim with a 63-38 win.
The Lady Chiefs started fast and held a 19-2 lead after one quarter of action. Addie Lawson scored nine points in the period while Kenady Deal ran the floor for four points, and Rylee Sivert put in four points.
At the same time Cherokee played tough defense and made it challenging for West Greene to get shots off. Joie Shipley scored the Lady Buffaloes only points in the period.
The lead grew to 34-5 by the midway point of the third quarter after Deal went coast to coast in transition.
Cherokee’s biggest lead of the first half came at 49-10 when Lawson scored three points the old-fashioned way.
West Greene’s Payton Norton hit a three-pointer at the buzzer that cut the lead to 49-13 at halftime.
West Greene found more success in the second half, but the hole was too big to dig out of.
The Lady Chiefs’ biggest lead came with 2:07 left in the third quarter when Lawson converted another three-point play that made it 59-18.
West Greene scored the final five points of the third quarter with Emily Justis sinking a triple and Norton landing a runner from the baseline.
In the fourth quarter Cherokee relied on its reserves and West Greene scored the first 10 points of the period. Norton scored eight of those while sinking a pair of deep shots.
Norton scored 18 of West Greene’s 38 points on Monday to lead all scorers.
Lawson led Cherokee with 17 points, Deal scored 16 and Sivert had 16.
West Greene will be back in action on Thursday at North Greene.
The Lady Buffaloes couldn't get it going tonight vs. Cherokee, with a final of 63-38. #FirstHorizon pic.twitter.com/nFtGh6lrSB
— GreeneSportsZone (@GSportsZone) December 2, 2025
