Greeneville holds off Johnson County to take region title
Published 8:31 am Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Longhorns Blake Atwood (11) finishes a fastbreak with a layup down the lane.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Longhorns Zach Eller (5) slides down the lane for a layup as Greeneville’s Conner Debusk (2) flies past.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Johnson County’s Blake Atwood (11) is fouled from behind by the Greene Devils Jordan Gillespie (4) as he lays in a basket in the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders A blocking foul is call on the Greene Devils Conner DeBusk (2) as Johnson County’s Lucas Phillips (12) drives in for a layup.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Johnson County’s Zach Eller (5) floats down the lane for two in the third quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Johnson County’s Michael Oxentine (21) goes back up strong with a rebound and is fouled by the Greene Devils Tyler Marsh (33) in the fourth quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Johnson County’s Blake Atwood (11) flies by three Greene Devil defenders on his way to the basket early in the third quarter.
A packed Bayless gymnasium saw a tight defensive Region 1-AA boys basketball game as number one seed Greeneville took on three seed Johnson County.
Greeneville fought off several Longhorn runs and held on for a 61-58 victory which will see the Devils host Austin-East in the sectional round.
Johnson County traveled to Knoxville to play top seed Fulton in the sectional on Monday.
“Fulton plays the best man-to-man defense in the state,” commented Longhorns head coach Austin Atwood. “We had 15 turnovers, and Fulton will try to do the same thing. Greeneville defended Blake well, and we’ll see what type of player he is and see how he responds and how well he can rally his teammates.”
There were more turnovers than points in the first quarter of Friday’s Region 1-AA championship contest at Bayless gymnasium for Johnson County as they faced Greeneville. Looking like the moment may have been too big for them the Longhorns (26-6) soon settled down and took an 8-6 first-period advantage.
The Greene Devils (22-10) rallied to a 21-20 halftime lead behind eight first-half points from sophomore guard Connor Debusk. Senior forward and Mr. Basketball candidate Blake Atwood had a game-high nine first-half points for the ‘Horns and finished with a game-high 27 points.
The teams slugged their way through a dead heat in the third period as Greeneville maintained its one-point lead at 37-36 going into the final stanza. The Devils got buckets from Reid Satterfield and Javon Gillespie to open a 41-36 lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
Atwood answered with a trey, and Michael Oxendine hit one-for-two from the line to make it a 41-40 contest. Greeneville led 51-44 after a 3-ball from Bryce Buchanan at the 3:35 mark, but Gavin Reece was good for two from the line to make it a 51-46 contest.
The Devils got a trey from Debusk for a 56-48 lead, but Johnson County made it a 58-52 game with 49 ticks on the clock. Atwood and Reece each dropped in late trey’s to cut the gap to three points with two seconds left.
Gillespie rad the way for Greeneville with 21 points and Devils head coach Brad Woolsey said of his star guard, “When the fourth quarter started my assistants said, we got to get the ball to Javon, and he transferred his energy to penetration and getting to the basket. This is a close-knit team, a family really, and I hope they continue to work hard and be great teammates.”
Region 1AA championship
Bayless gymnasium
Greeneville 61-58
Johnson Co. (58)
Eller 12, Atwood 27, Phillips 4, Reece 8, Arnold 2, Oxendine 6.
Greeneville (61)
Debusk 12, Crumley 2, Buchanan 6, Jo. Gillespie 4, Satterfield 7, Loven 2, Je. Gillespie 21, Marsh 4.
Johnson Co. 8 12 16 23 – 58
Greeneville 6 15 16 24 – 61
3-point goals : G 5 (Buchanan 2, Debusk 2, Satterfield 1), JC 8 (Atwood 4, Eller 2, Reece 2)
All tournament team
E – Eric Wilson
S – Ben Diamond
JC – Blake Atwood, Gavin Reece, Zach Eller
G – Connor Debusk, Reid Satterfield, Tyler Marsh, Bryce Buchanan
MVP – Javon Gillespie
