Jason Britton did what Jason Britton does on Friday night at the Huskies Den as he dug North Greene out of a 15-point hole before dropping in the game winner with just seconds left.
Britton, who has grown accustomed to knocking down big shots in his time at North Greene, did it again on Friday, this time against South Greene he dropped in runner with 1.9 seconds remaining to lift the Huskies to a 60-59 win.
“We had guys playing really hard and flying around, that was the difference in the fourth quarter,” North Greene coach Sam Tarlton said. “We knew coming in against a Terry Hoese team that we had to play tough and rebound, and we didn’t do enough of that in the first three quarters. But I was proud of these guys. Down 15 they could have laid down, but they didn’t. Then what about (Britton), he’s a freaking stud and he bailed us out again.”
The Huskies started the fourth quarter down 45-30, but things really got interesting with 59 seconds left when Lawson Davenport grabbed a rebound and found Britton open in the corner for three points to close the gap to 58-56.
South Greene got one of those back on the trip the other way with a free throw from T.J. Buckner, but then Dennis Malone came up big for the Huskies with a jumper in the paint with 18 seconds remaining that cut the Rebels’ lead to 59-58.
Before South Greene could get to mid court Sam English came up with a steal and North Greene called a timeout with 9.7 seconds left to set up the last play.
On the restart things were not going how Tarlton drew them up, but with five seconds remaining Britton took possession of the ball beyond the arc on the right wing. He took a few determined dribbles toward the rim before lifting up for an off-balance runner that found nothing but the twine for a North Greene victory.
“The play we called broke down so I just went and got the ball and knew I had to make a play,” Britton said. “It just felt great, we were down 15 to start the fourth quarter and came back. It’s a county a rival and it always feels good to beat them.”
Friday’s action started with North Greene scoring the first four points on layups from Britton and Bennett McLain, both set up by English.
On the other end of the floor South Greene was dinged with three offensive fouls and did not get a shot attempt up for almost three minutes. Jase Roderick was called for two of those fouls and sat the rest of the first half. For the night Roderick, the Rebels top guard, played less than five minutes before fouling out with three quick ones in the second half as well.
Britton came down the baseline twice for a pair of layups that gave the Huskies a 10-4 lead with 2:27 left in the first period.
South Greene responded with four points from Hunter Toth while Hayden Birdwell took a steal the other way as the quarter closed with North Greene leading 12-10.
With 6:10 left in the first half Conner Marshall made a turn-around jumper in the lane to put South Greene in front 14-12, and it would stay in front until Britton’s game winner fell through.
The lead grew to 20-12 when Andrew Thornburg came down the baseline and dropped a runner over the defense with 4:15 left to play.
The Huskies put together a brief comeback, and with 1:19 remaining Lance Carrico connected on a triple from the corner to cut the gap to 29-26.
Toth followed with four points for the Rebels and Thornburg closed the half by taking a steal the other way for a layup that put South Greene in front 35-28.
Not a lot of offense happened in the third quarter, but South Greene’s defense held Britton scoreless as it grew its lead.
The Rebels held North Greene to just two points in the quarter while Buckner, Marshall, Toth and Birdwell all scored around the rim to push the advantage to 45-30.
English got North Greene going in the fourth quarter with a jumper from the paint and followed it by finishing a steal by Britton at the rim.
English scored 13 points for North Greene on Friday, but more importantly he made some big plays on defense and made several skilled passes to set up his teammates that helped the Huskies come out on top.
“Sam was huge tonight,” Tarlton said. “We have Jason, and we know we have an All-State player in him, but we need a few All-Conference double-digit scorers. Sam was that, he was an All-League player tonight. If we can get that consistently out of him its only going to make us better.”
With 6:27 left in the game Britton knocked down a jumper from the top of the key that broke 11:19 personal scoring drought.
The Huskies kept chipping away and with 4:35 left Britton made a pair of free tosses to close the gap to 52-47.
The Rebels lead bounced between five and seven points until Britton’s triple with 59 seconds left closed the gap to 58-56.
Britton finished the night with 28 points, 14 of them coming in the fourth quarter.
Toth led South Greene with 18 points while Buckner, Birdwell and Thornburg all had 11 points.
South Greene 11 25 16 14 59
North Greene 12 16 2 30 60
South Greene: Toth 18, Buckner 11, Thornburg 11, Birdwell 11, Marshall 8
North Greene: Britton 28, English 13,Malone 6, Carrico 5, McLain 4, May 2, Vaught 2
