Oak Hill – Greenbrier East and Oak Hill have had their share of fourth quarter woes this season. Both teams have held fourth quarter leads only to see victory slip through their fingers.
Wednesday night the two teams met at the Lilly Center and as could be expected, the game was again decided in the final stanza.
Scoring the first six points of the fourth period, Greenbrier East made that lead stand in a crucial 57-52 win over its sectional rival.
“We missed a few foul shots down the stretch, but for the most part I am really proud of them. This is a tough place to win for sure.” Greenbrier East head Jared Patton said. “We have let a couple of these games slip away. It was a tough atmosphere and a great team that we played. I am really glad to get the win on the road.”
Leading 27-22 at halftime, the visitors made it a nine-point advantage early in the third quarter.
Kaiden Huffman scored on a stickback before Adam Seams converted his steal into a coast-to-coast drive for a layup.
After scoring 16 points in the first half, Jacob Perdue hit a basket to spark the Red Devils.
“I feel like over the last three games that Jacob is playing some of his best basketball of the season. He kept us in the game early,” Oak Hill head coach Benitez Jackson said.
Ethan Vargo-Thomas drilled a corner 3-ball before Huffman converted two free throws for a momentary break in the Oak Hill surge.
Frustrating East with their zone defense, the Red Devils regained the momentum by running off six more points to tie the game.
Perdue knocked down two jumpers over the stretch and Vargo-Thomas scored off a steal from Omar Lewis.
“We didn’t turn the ball over as much as we did earlier in the game and we got some stops,” Jackson said about the third quarter surge. “Our zone seemed to slow them down a little bit and stopped them from driving.”
Goose Gabbert made a long 3 to give the lead back to the Spartans, but five in row by Oak Hill made it a 38-36 advantage for the home team.
It was the first lead of the game for the Red Devils since their 2-0 advantage to open the contest.
“(Oak Hill) went into a 2-3 (zone) defense and we weren’t really executing on offense the way we had all season. It was a good defense by them,” Patton said. “We called timeout and adjusted our setup on the offensive end and I think that gave them a little trouble.”
Gabbert’s second long ball of the quarter put East back in front before a free throw from Sammy Crist tied the game with eight minutes to play.
East struck first with a pair of free throws to open the quarter. A steal from Monquelle Davis ended with an assist to Seams streaking for a layup.
Davis then followed up a pass from Seams with a nice spin move in the lane to move East in front 45-39.
A pair of buckets by the Red Devils trimmed the lead back to two points, but a strong move inside by Aaron Griffith and two made free throws restored the six-point lead.
The lead never fell below four points in the final two minutes.
“I thought we had a lot of opportunities starting back in the first quarter. We rebounded the ball really well, but we just didn’t put them in the basket and we didn’t make layups,” Jackson said. “We missed some layups on drives, but I thought that was a credit to their defense. Turnovers hurt us trying to do too much going into the lane. When you play good teams, you have to capitalize on your opportunities. Otherwise you are going to lose games.”
One big key to the success for the Spartans was strong contributions from everyone that stepped on the floor.
Gabbert and Griffith scored 13 points each, while Seams added 11 points and Davis scored seven.
“I believe in every single kid that we have dressed on the bench every single night. I don’t know who is going to be hot and who will be locked in,” Patton said. “We were a little slim tonight, but we try to give everybody an opportunity to play. We average a 10-man rotation and I love it. They all know what they are doing and it’s fun to see.”
Perdue led Oak Hill with 23 points and Vargo-Thomas scored 15.
The road win was a strong statement by the Spartans in regards to sectional seeding which will be announced next week.
“We kind of knew what we had to do coming in. I told the guys to just do their jobs tonight and leave it all on the court,” Patton said. “I am hoping that beating a good team like Oak Hill a couple of times will put us where we need to be, but that is out of our hands. We played a really good game tonight and did what we needed to do.”
GE: 16 11 12 18 – 57
OH: 15 7 17 13 – 52
Greenbrier East
Adam Seams 11, Monquelle Davis 7, Goose Gabbert 13, Aaron Griffith 13, Kaiden Huffman 4, Jude Libby 2, Bryson Brammer 5. Totals: 19 12-19 57.
Oak Hill
Jacob Perdue 23, Omar Lewis 4, Sammy Crist 3, Ethan Vargo-Thomas 15, Jeremiah Jackson 1, Trevor Kelly 4. Totals: 21 5-9 52
3-pointers – GE: 5 (Gabbert 4, Brammer ); OH: 3 (Perdue 2, Vargo-Thomas)
