When Beckley and Greenbrier East met on the hardwood on March 25, 2021, Gabbert went off to lead East to victory.
William Gabbert that is.
Goose Gabbert, Williams’ younger brother also a starter on that team, broke his wrist in the first half of that game against the Flying Eagles and watched as his brother William scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to guide the undermanned Spartans to victory.
Two seasons later Goose, playing in the same venue where his sophomore season ended, played in another memorable game though this time for another reason. With 9.1 seconds to play last Friday against the Flying Eagles, the senior nailed a 3-pointer that delivered the Spartans a 59-58 win over their rivals.
In all he averaged 15.6 points per game while helping the Spartans to a 2-1 record during the first two weeks of the season. For his efforts, Gabbert has been named the Lootpress 2022-23 Week 1 Boys Basketball Player of the Week by the Lootpress sportswriters.
The award is sponsored by Bodyworks, the Law Offices of Brandon Steele and Mid-State Automotive.
“It meant a lot,” Gabbert said of the redeeming shot against Beckley. “Playing Woodrow you want to play well. I broke my wrist two years ago so that added to it. It was a big sectional game. It wasn’t any other game.”
For East head coach Jared Patton, Gabbert has played exactly as he expected. Coaching a senior-laden group, the second-year coach has allowed his players to play freely as long as they’re being smart and it’s worked early as they earn more opportunities based on their play.
“He’s playing like a senior and we talk about that all of the time,” Patton said. “You’re a senior, play like one. We’ve got eight seniors on the team and they’re starting to understand. Everybody on the team has a green light. I don’t restrict anybody. I want you to take a good shot though. If you get hot we’ll run stuff for you and that’s the makeup of what we do if we have a hot shooter like Goose. We want the ball in his hands towards the end of the game.”
Gabbert’s early showing hasn’t been a surprise to him. His older brother was a first-team all-stater two years ago and Gabbert earned a starting spot on that team as a sophomore transfer from George Washington.
Now he’s just hoping he can carry his hot start through the season and help deliver a state tournament berth. He doesn’t believe that will be an issue.
“I put in the work so it’s what I expect,” Gabbert said.
Gabbert will be honored at the Lootpress Spring Player of the Year banquet on date to be determined.
***
Montcalm’s Noah White won the fan vote with over 38 percent of the vote. In an effort to reward communities for their diligence in voting for their respective players, Lootpress will take the top vote getter each week that hasn’t already won the Community Choice poll and advance them to the pool of candidates for the newly created Community Choice Player of the Year. When the regular season concludes, the players that led in total votes their respective weeks will be grouped into a poll where everyone can vote on one player to win the award as well as the $500 scholarship that comes with it.
2022-23 Player of the Week Winners
Week 1: Goose Gabbert, Greenbrier East
2022-23 Community Choice Winners
Week 1: Noah White, Montcalm
