FAIRLEA, W.Va. — Greenbrier East struggled scoring for the entirety of the first quarter Thursday night in its Class AAA Region III contest against visiting Capital.
The Cougars failed to take full advantage, and when the Spartans found their offensive rhythm in the second quarter, they gained a one-point halftime lead before making enough plays throughout the second half to hold off the Cougars for a 55-52 victory.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight from the word go,” Greenbrier East head coach Jared Patton said. “They’re well-coached and those kids play with every ounce of energy they have. We had to bring it tonight.”
Capital (17-5) never led in the second half, but had a chance to do exactly that out of a timeout with 54 seconds left. Facing a one-point deficit, the Cougars called on guard Kahsi Morgan, who had the hot hand for much of the second half. But on this occasion, Morgan’s runner was off the mark, and after the Spartans came up with another pivotal rebound, that forced the Cougars to foul.
Brody Hamric’s two free throws with 12 seconds remaining made it a three-point margin, and with only one team foul, the Spartans (17-6) elected to give two more. Morgan got off a challenged three with time winding down that was no good, setting off a frenzied celebration for the home team.
“I have on the board the toughest team wins,” Patton said. “I don’t care where we play or where we’re going — the toughest team wins and these guys believe it.”
That the Spartans were afforded the luxury of staying at home was a contentious point throughout the week. Greenbrier East was one of four Region III schools (PikeView, Princeton and Shady Spring the others) to vote the Cougars last in regional seeding, leading to a team that won more than 80 percent of its regular season games to open the postseason away against a quality foe. The reasoning behind it was Capital didn’t play any of seven regional opponents throughout the season.
“At the end of the day, they played a great game, so don’t take that away from the kids,” Cougars’ head coach Cookie Miller said. “I’m not taking away anything from the kids and I want that to be understood. This has nothing to do with the game that was played, but the card we were dealt, I think it was a lot of under the table and going back and forth with three-ways calls trying to come up with schemes against kids. I don’t think that’s respect to the game. I went pretty far in this game and I love this game. This game has been good to me. The basketball Gods won’t let them continue on.”
Miller’s team was locked in defensively to start, effectively utilizing a half court zone with fairly steady traps to limit GEHS to 2-for-12 shooting and four points in the opening quarter. Isiah Scott banked in a triple for the final points of the frame, allowing CHS to double its lead to 10-4.
But just over a minute into the second quarter, the Spartans had a higher offensive output in that frame than what they produced throughout the first.
Morgan and Greenbrier East guard Darius Burns traded treys, before Burns made another from long range that had his team to within 18-16 with 4:30 remaining in the half.
Sam Hawver broke a 22-all tie with his first of two free throws to give the Spartans their first second-quarter lead at the 1:04 mark, though Capital countered with a Demajaih Spencer pull-up jumper and David Robinson’s layup to lead by two.
With time winding down in the half, Hamric made a three after getting free on an inbound play, allowing Greenbrier East to lead 27-26 at halftime.
“It was a great environment. Our games have been like this all season,” Miller said. “I’m glad our seniors and community got to experience something like this.”
The Spartans carried over that second-quarter execution into the second half and got a conventional three-point play from Hamric, along with a triple from Nathan Dixon to up their advantage to 35-28.
Consecutive buckets from Braylen Godfrey later in the third left GEHS with a 42-35 lead and after Burns connected from deep moments later, the Spartans had the game’s largest lead at 45-36.
Morgan’s triple for the final points of the third brought the Cougars to within five, and they were even 1 minute into the fourth when he ran off five straight points to start the frame.
“I don’t think I felt good this game until the buzzer sounded,” Patton said. “They’re too good of a team. Anything could have happened. We had a stretch where we built a little bit of a lead, and next thing you know, they’re right back in it. They’re tough.”
But the visitors could never gain a second-half lead, with Dixon banking in a midrange jumper for a 52-49 lead, before the Cougars tied it on one free throw from Camden Harris and a DeShaud Williams transition layup with 1:35 remaining.
Burns made 1-of-2 free throws to put the Spartans in front and Capital never scored again.
Having fouls to give down the stretch was advantageous.
“You play all these games, and whether you win or lose, you get to work on stuff and that’s one thing we’ve worked on in these in-game scenarios,” Patton said. “We knew we had two or three to give, and burned a little clock off.“
Burns led four Spartan double-figure scorers with 14, while Dixon and Godfrey followed with 13 and Hamric contributed 10.
Greenbrier East had a 31-24 rebounding advantage, including 20-11 in the first half.
“We said we had to have every rebound, because they’re too good to give them second chances,” Patton said.
The Spartans also made 12-of-17 free throws to the Cougars’ 3 for 10 effort from the line.
Morgan’s 17 points led all players. He accounted for five of his team’s seven treys.
The Spartans next play a Class AAA Region III co-final at Shady Spring on Tuesday for a spot in the state tournament.