Gallery by Karen AkersĀ
Friday night the Goose was loose in Beckley and Woodrow Wilson could not contain him.
Scoring a game-high 23 points, Goose Gabbert sent Greenbrier East home a 59-58 winner drilling the game-winning 3-pointer with 9.1 seconds to play in the game.
“(Woodrow) missed the free-throw, so I ran down the court and Adam (Seams) always finds open people,” Gabbert said. “I saw we were down by two and they were all over Adam. I just ran and got the ball, let it go and it went in. It felt good. I started back-peddling after the shot. I felt like it was going in.”
Just over 40 seconds earlier, there looked to be no heroics available for the Spartans. After a 3-pointer from Beckley’s Elijah Redfern and two made free throws from Zyon Hawthorne, the Flying Eagles led 58-52 with just 50 seconds left in the contest.
A strong drive to the basket by Seams resulted in a pair of made fouls shots from the senior standout.
Still down four points, Greenbrier East was forced to foul again to send Beckley to the line for a 1-plus-1 opportunity.
Two times in a row, the Flying Eagles missed the first free throw to open the door for the Spartans who came crashing through.
“If we make some foul shots, the game is over. You have to want to go up to the foul line and make a shot,” Woodrow Wilson head coach Ron Kidd said. “Just make one of them. If you play for Beckley, you have to be ready to step to the line and make a foul shot. That was our game. Our kids can make foul shots. You have to step to the line with the mindset, thank you for fouling me. That is a free point for me.”
After the first miss, Beckley still had a chance to secure the game, but could not haul down the missed shot attempt by East. Kaiden Huffman secured the rebound and put it in with 28 seconds.
Following the second missed free-throw, East attacked looking for a tie or the go ahead 3-pointer.
“The way he shoots, he has the green light whenever,” Greenbrier East head coach Jared Patton said about Gabbert. “We work on those shots all the time. In the first quarter, when we were 0-for-7 from three, I told them they were settling. We started attacking and I think that is what got us into the game. (Goose) executed perfect at the end.”
“It was a heck of a shot. We knew it would be him or Seams,” Kidd said. “(Gabbert) shot it like he was shooting the ball to win the ball game.”
With 9.1 seconds on the clock, the home team still had one last chance to score, but Redfern’s attempt at a game-winning runner could not find the mark.
“It could have went either way at the end. They had a nice shot at the end, but our seniors stepped up today and played really well,” Patton said. “Down the stretch we had a handful of guys hits shots.”
After feeling the sting of numerous last second game-winners last year, Gabbert was hoping for some better fortune to start the season.
“Out of the timeout I was thinking please get a stop. Redfern is a really good player and I saw him take it up and I was thinking, no, not again,” Gabbert said. “Adam tipped it out and I ran and got it. That was the game.”
While a win looked bleak late, it also looked rough after the first quarter of play when Beckley raced out to a 22-10 lead.
“Coming over here, you have to be ready to play. They jumped on us early (and) we were down (12) at the end of the first quarter,” Patton said. “We won the second, third and fourth quarter and that was what we talked about. We try to win each quarter. (Woodrow) was ready for us and it took us a while to match the intensity.”
“I thought we slowed down,” Kidd said about his team’s lack of scoring over the final three quarters. “I want us to get out and run. It seemed like we paced ourselves. If we get out and go, we are going to get more shots with the shooters we have.”
Although Gabbert had eight points in the opening half, he had yet to hit a long ball. In the second half he nailed three bombs with two coming in the decisive fourth quarter.
“I get a lot of shots up and put a lot of work in. I wasn’t going to let missing some shots phase me,” Gabbert said. “I kept looking for the next shot. I had a couple of free throws go in and a layup. That got my confidence going.”
The win for East was the first time in school history that the Spartans had beat Beckley three consecutive times in the famed Armory.
“They got us the first game last year on a buzzer-beater at our place. It is nice to win one,” Patton said. “I enjoy coming over here and playing these guys. I have respect for the coaches and I know a lot of these kids. It is a fun environment to play in.”
Coming off a tough season last year, Kidd saw some good things from his team Friday night. However, it still ended in a loss and that is not the expectation for the Flying Eagles.
“We have some kids that are basketball players. That is the difference between this year and last year, but at crunch time, you have to prove you can play by making your foul shots,” Kidd said.
Seams finished with 13 points, but crucial 3-pointers from Gabe Patton, Jude Libby and two from Bryson Brammer were keys in the win for East.
Redfern led Beckley with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while freshman Coby Dillon scored 12, all from behind the arc. Jaylon Walton added 11 points and had 11 rebounds.
Beckley (0-1) hosts regional rival George Washington Tuesday, while Greenbrier East (2-1) travels to Princeton Tuesday.
GE: 10 15 16 18 – 59
WW: 22 9 13 14 – 58
Greenbrier East
Adam Seams 13, Monquelle Davis 3, Goose Gabbert 23, Gabe Patton 3, Chris Sinclair 4, Kaiden Huffman 4, Jude Libby 3, Bryson Brammer 6. Totals: 22 7-8 59.
Woodrow Wilson
Coby Dillon 12, Elijah Redfern 17, Zyon Hawthorne 10, Preston Clary 2, Brayden Hawthorne 6, Jaylen Walton 11. Totals: 22 7-13 58.
3-pointers – GE: 8 (Gabbert 3, Seams, Patton, Libby, Brammer 2); WW: 7 (Dillon 4, Redfern, Z. Hawthorne 2).