ALMA -- In a battle for early supremacy in the boys' 5A-West Conference, Greenbrier rallied from an early deficit Friday night to upend host Alma 80-73.
Both teams came in tied with Russellville atop the conference standings. Junior Kobe Dunlap made sure the Panthers (14-4, 4-1) would remain there, pouring in a game-high 26 points, with four 3-pointers, and answering the Airedales all night long.
"They were denying, so I just had to come off screens hard to get open, and I tried to help my teammates get open when they were denying me." said Dunlap, who kept Greenbrier afloat early with 10 first-quarter points. "This was a tough game for us on the road, so it was great for us to come in here and battle it out for the win."
Alma (12-3, 3-2) jumped out to a 17-6 lead midway through the first quarter, but Dunlap hit two treys to end the quarter, cutting the lead to 19-14.
Senior Tanner Shelton paced the Airedales with 22, including nine in the second quarter. A three by Cejay Mann boosted the lead to 35-28 late in the first half, but Greenbrier got a three from Juwaun Clifton and a tip-in from Dunlap at the buzzer to cut the halftime deficit to 35-33.
"We knew they would come out at home fired up and ready to play," Greenbrier coach Mike Simmons said. "I was just hoping we could withstand them early and settle into our game. We were able to shoot the ball well enough to withstand it."
The Panthers darted out of the gates to start the third quarter on a 9-0 run, including a three from AJ Matthews and a nifty spin move in the lane from Dunlap, jumping to a 42-35 lead less than two minutes in.
"We went on that run to start the second half, and getting that lead was huge for us," Simmons said.
Mann sank another triple to tie it at 47-47 midway through the period, but Greenbrier finished the quarter on a 14-5 run.
A driving layup by Chole Linn gave the Panthers their biggest lead at 70-56 with 5:42 left in the game. But the Airedales responded with an 11-2 run, cutting the margin back to five on a layup by Taelon Peter with 2:30 remaining.
Greenbrier made 6 of 7 free throws in the final 1:39 to ice the game away -- despite two more threes from Mann in the final 30 seconds.
Mann made five threes on the night to finish with 18 points. Peter added 17 for the Airedales.
Clifton scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half for the Panthers.
"Any road win in this conference is just a big, big checkmark for us," Simmons said. "And Alma is definitely one of the toughest places to play."
Greenbrier 14 19 28 19 -- 80
Alma 19 16 17 21 -- 73
Greenbrier (14-4, 4-1): Dunlap 26, Clifton 20, Linn 10, A. Matthews 10, Dillon 9, Bickers 3, M. Matthews 2.
Alma (12-3, 3-2): Shelton 22, Mann 18, Peter 17, Cluck 7, George 6, Whalen 2, Winfrey 1.
Girls
Alma 51, Greenbrier 41
Sophomore Ariel Towns-Robinson scored nine of her team-high 18 points in the decisive third quarter Friday night, as the Alma girls basketball team halted a five-game losing streak.
Alma (7-8, 1-4) held the Panthers without a field goal until 3:30 remained in the first half. The Airedales led 7-2 after the first quarter, before going into the half with a 21-12 advantage.
"Definitely, breaking that losing streak and winning a game in the conference is huge for our program," Alma coach Codey Mann said. "We are a very young team right now, and being that young can create some eventful games, which we saw tonight. Our girls really stepped up tonight, and I couldn't be prouder of them."
Towns-Robinson scored nine of her points in the third period. Her driving layup and subsequent 3-pointer late in the quarter boosted the lead to 40-21.
Greenbrier (4-14, 0-4) battled back to outscore Alma 20-9 in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to nine on a 3-pointer from Arden Naylor with 2:42 remaining. Naylor finished with 14 points, including four threes.
Hannah Donham led the Panthers with 18 points, with 14 coming down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
Loryn Kelley had 11 for Alma, with Zoie Mcghee chipping in 10.
Greenbrier 2 10 9 20 -- 41
Alma 7 14 21 9 -- 51
Greenbrier (4-14, 0-4): Donham 18, Naylor 14, Harmon 5, Seyller 3, Griffin 1.
Alma (7-8, 1-4): Towns-Robinson 18, Kelley 11, Mcghee 10, Mata 7, Dowdy 5.
Preps Sports on 01/19/2019