Gallery by Karen Akers
Fairlea – Last weekend Shady Spring was knocking off Class AAAA foes Parkersburg South and Cabell Midland to win the championship at Battle for the Springhouse inside The Greenbrier.
Friday night the Tigers were back in Greenbrier County looking to complete the season sweep of AAAA No. 6 Greenbrier East.
It was business as usual for the top-ranked team in Class AAA.
Trailing only in the first quarter, Shady Spring placed four players in double figures to take down the Spartans, 65-51 in front of a packed house.
“Just a strong solid win tonight. I can’t say it was our offense or our defense. It was a strong, balanced win on both ends,” Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson said. “It was a great effort tonight and they were focused on winning this game. There are games that I feel like we should win, but this game I was worried about. It was a great crowd tonight and for us to come in and get a win was really great.”
The start was typical Shady Spring. Three long balls staked the Tigers to a 9-2 lead less than two minutes into the contest.
East responded immediately.
A bucket from Adam Seams preceded a 3-pointer from Monquelle Davis. A conventional 3-point play from Goose Gabbert gave the home team its first lead, much to the delight of the home crowd.
The lead bounced back and forth before Gabe Patton knocked down a 3-ball to give East a 16-14 advantage.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, that was their last lead of the night.
Back-to-back scores from Braden Chapman and Ammar Maxwell gave Shady an 18-16 lead after the first period.
A bucket from Cole Chapman pushed the lead to four points before Patton drilled another deep bomb to get back within one point.
“I don’t think we played bad, but we had some stalls at times on our offensive sets. That is something that we go over all of the time,” Greenbrier East head coach Jared Patton said. “When you play a team like Shady, they execute their stuff the whole game. Even though our lulls are getting smaller and smaller and we are getting better every single game, we still have some. You can’t do that against a team like Shady.”
The first dry spell for the home team came with Shady Spring leading 24-23. Going nearly four minutes without a point, the Spartans watched the Tigers run off eight points for a 32-23 lead.
A 3-pointer from Davis stopped the bleeding and pulled East back within six points where the game stood at halftime.
Excitement built amongst the home crowd to start the second half when Shady turned the ball over on four straight possession to allow East to pull within three points of the lead.
With his team struggling some, Cam Manns drilled two of his four long balls on the night before back-to-back scores from the Chapman brothers help Shady right the ship.
“I am proud of our team. We stepped up big, especially in a tough environment,” Braden Chapman said. “The crowd was talking, but we were just locked in all game.”
Suffering through another three-minute scoring drought, East was down 12 points before a bucket from Seams snapped the latest dry spell.
“That is where our defense kept us in it. Our offense kept us in the game in the first quarter because we were scoring. That is what a good team does,” Olson said. “You are going to have some lulls on offense. Our defense stepped up. We stayed the course and guarded. We knew eventually our offense would get going. That is what good teams do.”
A bucket from Manns to open the final quarter gave Shady an 11-point lead before Bryson Brammer nailed a 3-ball to get back within eight.
“We have been working on the defense since the (Independence) game. That wasn’t our best game, so coach was concerned about it,” Braden Chapman said. “We repped it all week in practice and today it showed.”
Another four minute scoring drought sealed the fate of the Spartans.
With East unable to score, a 7-0 run by the Tigers built a 55-40 lead and the game never returned to single digits.
“That is what this season has taught us. That is what winning a state championship has taught us. You can’t stop playing. Playing against the teams we play against all season, if you stop playing, you will get your head pounded in,” Olson said. “We may have to fix something or make an adjustment on the defensive end or the offensive end, but we don’t stop playing. Our effort and how we approach the game, we don’t have to worry about that.”
Manns led the Tigers with 20 points, while Braden Chapman scored 17. Maxwell added 11 and Cole Chapman scored 10.
Seams and Brammer led the Spartans with 10 points apiece.
Shady Spring (16-3) travels to Beckley Thursday night, while Greenbrier East visits Radford, Va. Saturday.
SS: 18 16 12 19 – 65
GE: 16 12 9 14 – 51
Shady Spring
Braden Chapman 17, Ammar Maxwell 11, Cole Chapman 10, Jaedan Holstein 5, Khi Olson 2, Cam Manns 20. Totals: 22 13-16 65.
Greenbrier East
Don Penn 1, Adam Seams 10, Monquelle Davis 9, Goose Gabbert 5, Hunter Humphreys 2, Gabe Patton 8, Chris Sinclair 2, Kaiden Huffman 4, Bryson Brammer 10. Totals: 19 6-10 51.
