A strong second-half performance propelled Greene County past Lake Oconee Academy on Jan. 25.
The Tigers led by one at the break and outscored the Titans 55-23 in the second half to win 81- 49.
Greene County coach Mark Wright was proud of his team’s adjustments in the second half.
“We knew they were making a lot of corner threes, and we had to change the momentum of the game,” Wright said. “We decided to shade one side to overload them, and they just didn’t seem to come up with anything to combat that. We took advantage of it and got out to open court. We put pressure on them with double teams [on the] strong side and got some easy buckets to create separation.”
Well, the adjustments worked in the second half. Greene was aggressive on both ends of the court.
The Tigers pressured the Titans defensively with double teams, forcing them to turn the ball over. Several players scored quick baskets, and at the 5:51 mark of the third quarter, the Tigers led by nine.
Lake Oconee Academy head coach Josiah Rechenbach was forced to call a timeout, but it didn’t help. Greene continued its dominant second-half performance, leading 56-39 going into the fourth quarter.
It seemed like Greene sophomore Corey Brown couldn’t miss in the second half. The 6-foot-4 guard scored 15 of his team-high 23 points in the final two quarters, leading the Tigers in the big win.
Braylen Hurt (14), Ryder Eschbach (13), and Ivan Porter (10) reached double digits behind Brown. Laryous Burt finished with nine points, while Jesse Broadus also contributed eight against LOA.
Wright is looking for consistency and felt he got it in the second half on Jan. 25.
“We have our lows like any other team, so we must find the best way to be the best version of ourselves,” Wright said. “When we do that consistently, I feel like we’re pretty good and are hard to beat.”
The first half was competitive and much different from the game’s final two quarters.
The Titans led 10-2 in the first few minutes. Freshman guard Canon Mullen hit two corner triples from the right side and added another basket off a jump shot before Torin Maddox nailed on a layup.
Greene responded with a 10-2 run of its own to lead briefly by two points. LOA countered and ended the first quarter with a quick 4-0 run. Keenan Parham hit a buzzer-beater to put the Titans back in front.
The first few minutes of the second quarter were back-and-forth, but LOA led 25-17 with 2:14 left. Greene dug deep and responded as it did in the first quarter with a 9-0 run to lead by one at the half.
The Titans just didn’t have an answer in the second half after the Tigers made some key adjustments at the break. Mullen scored a team-high 23 points, and Maddox contributed nine in the loss.
“Credit to LOA, they’re a great team,” Wright said.
With the win, Greene County improved to 13-7 and entered the week in first place in the region.
The Titans lost to Lincoln County on Tuesday while the Tigers were off. The two teams will face off again on Friday, Jan. 31, at Lake Oconee Academy’s Titan Center. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.