LEBANON — The Spartans never led, but they certainly made things interesting. After losing the season opener at Abingdon, the Pioneers picked up a hard-fought 60-54 victory over Eastside on Friday at Charles C. Long Gymnasium.
“We had to grit it out,” stated Lebanon point guard Brody Wess. “We had a big lead and kind of lost it, but we ended up being able to get the win, and that’s all that matters.”
Wess was clutch in the win. With the score tied at 52-all, he sank a critical 3-pointer from out front to stop the Spartans surge and give the Pioneers the momentum.
“Coach [Scotty Boyd] told us whenever we get open looks, we have to take them,” Wess said. “Mike [Reece] was getting triple-teamed and found me open. I was able to knock it down.”
The shot likely saved the game for the Pioneers.
“It was a huge 3,” coach Boyd said. “We had drawn it up to get it to Mike in the post, and they tripled down on him, and he had a great kick out to Brody. It was a huge night for Brody, I don’t know where we would have been without him offensively. He carried us tonight.”
The contest was tied once early at two. Lebanon then pulled away to take a 17-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. They extended their advantage in the second quarter and were up 36-23 at the break.
They started the second half on an 8-2 run and had their biggest lead of the game, 44-25, after a short jumper from Wess with 5:34 to play in the third quarter.
Will Johnson hit a couple of treys for the Spartans to keep them in it. But they still trailed 47-35 going to the fourth quarter. Wess nailed a turn-around jumper and was fouled, converted the foul shot for a 52-40 lead with 6:40 left to play.
Eastside came storming back. Ben Sutherland and Peyton Adkins helped fuel a 12-0 sprint. When Noah Hamilton scored in the paint, the contest was tied for only the second time at 52, all with just over three minutes to play.
“Eastside is a well-coached team,” remarked Wess. “I have to respect their fight.”
After Wess dropped in the clutch 3, Reece added a jumper and a put-back. Caden Boyd contributed a foul shot for a 7-0 run to give the Pioneers some separation.
After tying it, the Spartans missed their next five shots. They didn’t score again until Sutherland had a stick-back just before the buzzer sounded, ending the game.
“Honestly, they were good shots, we got good looks,” Eastside coach Patrick Damron said. “I’m not going to lie, we’ve not done a lot of shooting in practice. We have to go back and work on shooting and free throws. We’ve been pouring heavily on defense and rebounding because we’re undersized.
“I did think our rebounding was pretty good, considering Lebanon’s a good ball club. Reece made those four straight points. He’s a good player, and he got loose for some stuff. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with this game.”
Johnson (14 points, 3 boards, two assists), Sutherland (11 points, five rebounds), and Adkins (10 points) led Eastside.
“Lebanon shot the ball well when they needed to hit shots, they made them,” commented Damron. “I have nothing but positive things to take away from this for our team. We’re working and trying to get better. Playing good teams like Lebanon gets us better. The kids kept battling.”
Wess poured in 21 points to lead all scorers, and Reece contributed 15 points in the win.
It was the first win as a high school basketball coach for Boyd, who had previously coached at Southwest Virginia Community College.
“I wished it felt better,” he said. “Once again, we got a big lead, and then we went four or five minutes without scoring. That happened in the scrimmages and the first game at Abingdon. The more we do that, the worse our defense gets, but tonight, we woke back up and made some big plays in the last couple of minutes.”
There’s a lot of basketball to be played. The Pioneers are talented and will be a tough matchup for their opponents, although they sometimes struggle.
“We have a long way to go, that’s for sure,” Wess said. “We have to get better on the defensive end, but we will put the work in. We have a lot of work to do before the end of the season.”