BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — Coming off an impressive and emotional win one night earlier against tournament host Bridgeport, Greenbrier East was back at it some 16 hours later for Wednesday’s matchup with Lewis County in the Chris Johnson Christmas Classic at BHS.
While the Spartans weren’t as sharp throughout a second straight matchup with a Big 10 Conference foe, they were plenty good enough to claim a 63-48 victory over the Minutemen.
“We didn’t know until about 10 o’clock this morning whether we were even going to play today, because of the weather,” Spartans’ assistant coach David Austin said. “We played a really good game last night and tried to get the guys started early. We changed defenses often, but missed a lot of quality looks.”
GEHS (3-2) got 21 points from Nathan Dixon and 16 from Brody Hamric, who led all players with nine rebounds.
The Spartans never trailed, but struggled to create separation for much of the first half, particularly after an early 8-2 advantage.
A three-pointer from Lewis’ Kaleb Pascasio marked the final points of the first quarter and allowed the Minutemen (2-3) to trail 18-14 in what marked the final game for their veteran head coach Charles Simms, whose 17-year tenure concludes at the end of the 2025 calendar year when his retirement becomes effective.
Hamric opened the second-quarter scoring with a triple and a Dixon jumper moments later enabled Greenbrier East to hold its largest lead to that point at nine.
A jumper from the Spartans’ Brodrik Gunter made it 30-20 and a double-digit margin for the first time in the matchup before Jesse Kemper made two free throws to trim the LCHS deficit to eight at halftime.
“Our kids were drained,” Austin said. “We moved the ball pretty well and got up and down the floor in spots, but we missed a lot of assignments on defense, but all in all, a win is a win. We beat a good team the night before and we expected to play well against them, so hopefully it carries over”
The Spartans made a concerted effort to get the ball inside to start the second half, and it paid immediate dividends with 6-foot-4 Braylen Godfrey scoring two paint baskets in the first 40 seconds of the third quarter and Hamric adding two free throws 20 seconds later.
“We try to keep one inside at all times,” Austin said. “We have some size and we have to be able to rebound, but we always try to transition. We’re still a work in progress.”
Dixon’s triple at the 2:15 mark of the third upped the Spartans’ advantage to 46-29, and they settled for a 48-31 advantage through three frames.
LCHS got to within 11 in the fourth following a Kellen Bruffey trey and Kemper’s layup in transition, but the Spartans countered with consecutive close range buckets from Hamric and Godfrey to put to rest any thought of an improbable late rally.
Dixon added seven boards in the win, while Godfrey shot 5 for 5 and scored 10 points.
One day after pouring in 38 points to lead his team to a win over Keyser, Kemper paced the Minutemen with 21 points and seven boards.
“It’s been quite a ride,” Simms said, “but I look forward to stepping away and watching games as a fan.”
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In the final game of the Chris Johnson Christmas Classic later Wednesday, Bridgeport turned a tight contest for one half into a 57-41 victory against Keyser on the strength of a dominant third quarter.
The Indians outscored the Golden Tornado 21-9 in the third, allowing the host team to increase a 24-21 halftime advantage to 15 points ahead of the fourth.
Gavin Williams led BHS with 16 points and Anderson McDougal followed with 15.
Aryon Dodd scored 11 to give the Tribe three players in double figures.