Greenfield boys trounce Lawrence Academy, advance to NCISAA semis
Greenfield’s Kobe Edwards (1) drives to the basket during a 72-31 win over Lawrence Academy in the NCISAA 1-A quarterfinals.
Greenfield’s Quintin Blake (15) drives to the basket during a 72-31 win over Lawrence Academy in the NCISAA 1-A quarterfinals.
Greenfield’s Hampton Evans (35) goes for a layup during a 72-31 home playoff win over Lawrence Academy.
Greenfield’s Aaron Murphy (13) looks to attack the basket during a 72-31 win over Lawrence Academy in the NCISAA 1-A quarterfinals.
By Andrew Schnittker
aschnittker@wilsontimes.com | 252-265-7807 | Twitter: @aschnitt53
The Greenfield School boys basketball team took care of business in its first game of the 1-A NCISAA playoffs Saturday, picking up a 72-31 home win over Lawrence Academy in the quarterfinal round.
The Knights (25-5) jumped out to a 34-point lead at halftime and never relented as the team cruised into the semifinals.
“We know we were going to overpower them,” said Greenfield head coach Rob Salter. “Lawrence has had a really good year, congrats to them. But we knew it could be that type of game. We hadn’t played in a week, we just wanted to get back on the court. We’ve been ready to play. We’ve had a great week of practice, but we were a little sluggish to begin with. We’re focused and we’re ready to get to Tuesday. It’s a good win. … I’m proud of the boys. Getting to the final four is always a great accomplishment, but we’re not through yet.”
The Knights shut down the Warriors (19-10) on defense, forced turnovers and got out in transition and set up their 3-point shooting by driving into the paint and kicking out for open shots. You name it, the Knights were doing it.
“I just thought we overpowered them,” Salter said. “We got it into Hampton (Evans) and Aaron (Murphy) early. In transition, our tempo bothered them. I thought our bench came in and got the turnovers, got us going. I thought CJ (Alston), Micah (Sherrod), Bryson (Wall) and KJ (Peten) all came off the bench there in the first quarter, because they can really put pressure on the ball. What I like is we consistently put pressure on the ball. Most of the time, we don’t reach and get dumb fouls. We stay with it, which leads to them making bad decisions sometimes.”
Hampton Evans and Aaron Murphy led Greenfield with 14 points apiece, followed by Matt Kirby with 11.
“I feel like we got our energy back,” Evans said. “We hadn’t played in like a week, so we had to get our energy back. It’s been a while, so we had to get our energy back. We started off a little slow, but we started picking it up.”
The Knights stormed out of the gate in this one, building a 23-7 lead after one. The team smothered the Warriors defensively and hit shots from both inside and outside the arc on offense to build its early lead.
Greenfield continued to establish separation in the second quarter, outscoring the Warriors 23-5 to build a 46-12 lead at halftime. The team forced turnovers and got out in transition, and used its ability to work into the paint to kick out for open 3-point shots.
“That’s what we wanted to do,” Salter said. “We want to go to our guys inside. When they play zone, we want to pound it inside. We want to run the court and hit the open shot if it’s there. I thought we did that. I didn’t think we pressured the ball great early, but our bench got us going.”
The Knights at one point scored 21 straight points en route to building their 34-point halftime lead.
The Knights’ commanding second-half lead allowed Salter to rotate throughout some lineup, allowing some of the team’s younger players to gain valuable experience in a playoff game.
“It’s great,” Salter said. “We’ve got a lot of young talent, and it’s great for them to get in, get some of that and feel it a little bit, because you never know who’s going to step up in the next week. I always want them to get in the playoff games, because they’re going to be in many of them in their future. For kids like Kobe (Edwards), Trak (Godwin) and those guys to get a taste of it, it’s great. But they’ve been great for us in practice all year. So they’re ready. I don’t hesitate to put any of them in, because they’ve practiced that hard all year. Now we’re to the final four and the last week of the season, so we’ve got to come out ready to play.”
Greenfield will host 4-seed Crossroads Christian, which defeated Ridgecroft 82-34 in its quarterfinal matchup Tuesday as the Knights look to return to the state title game for the first time since winning it all in 2019.
LAWRENCE ACADEMY (31)
Lee 9, Larry 8, Mizelle 7, Spruill 4, Pippens 3.
GREENFIELD (72)
Murphy 14, Evans 14, Kirby 11, Blake 8, Alston 7, Sherrod 6, Godwin 5, Atkinson 5, Wall 2.
Score by quarters:
LA 7 5 15 4 — 31
GF 23 16 23 10 — 72
Greenfield’s Kobe Edwards (1) drives to the basket during a 72-31 win over Lawrence Academy in the NCISAA 1-A quarterfinals.
Greenfield’s Quintin Blake (15) drives to the basket during a 72-31 win over Lawrence Academy in the NCISAA 1-A quarterfinals.
Greenfield’s Hampton Evans (35) goes for a layup during a 72-31 home playoff win over Lawrence Academy.
Greenfield’s Aaron Murphy (13) looks to attack the basket during a 72-31 win over Lawrence Academy in the NCISAA 1-A quarterfinals.
By Andrew Schnittker
aschnittker@wilsontimes.com | 252-265-7807 | Twitter: @aschnitt53
The Greenfield School boys basketball team took care of business in its first game of the 1-A NCISAA playoffs Saturday, picking up a 72-31 home win over Lawrence Academy in the quarterfinal round.
The Knights (25-5) jumped out to a 34-point lead at halftime and never relented as the team cruised into the semifinals.
“We know we were going to overpower them,” said Greenfield head coach Rob Salter. “Lawrence has had a really good year, congrats to them. But we knew it could be that type of game. We hadn’t played in a week, we just wanted to get back on the court. We’ve been ready to play. We’ve had a great week of practice, but we were a little sluggish to begin with. We’re focused and we’re ready to get to Tuesday. It’s a good win. … I’m proud of the boys. Getting to the final four is always a great accomplishment, but we’re not through yet.”
The Knights shut down the Warriors (19-10) on defense, forced turnovers and got out in transition and set up their 3-point shooting by driving into the paint and kicking out for open shots. You name it, the Knights were doing it.
“I just thought we overpowered them,” Salter said. “We got it into Hampton (Evans) and Aaron (Murphy) early. In transition, our tempo bothered them. I thought our bench came in and got the turnovers, got us going. I thought CJ (Alston), Micah (Sherrod), Bryson (Wall) and KJ (Peten) all came off the bench there in the first quarter, because they can really put pressure on the ball. What I like is we consistently put pressure on the ball. Most of the time, we don’t reach and get dumb fouls. We stay with it, which leads to them making bad decisions sometimes.”
Hampton Evans and Aaron Murphy led Greenfield with 14 points apiece, followed by Matt Kirby with 11.
“I feel like we got our energy back,” Evans said. “We hadn’t played in like a week, so we had to get our energy back. It’s been a while, so we had to get our energy back. We started off a little slow, but we started picking it up.”
The Knights stormed out of the gate in this one, building a 23-7 lead after one. The team smothered the Warriors defensively and hit shots from both inside and outside the arc on offense to build its early lead.
Greenfield continued to establish separation in the second quarter, outscoring the Warriors 23-5 to build a 46-12 lead at halftime. The team forced turnovers and got out in transition, and used its ability to work into the paint to kick out for open 3-point shots.
“That’s what we wanted to do,” Salter said. “We want to go to our guys inside. When they play zone, we want to pound it inside. We want to run the court and hit the open shot if it’s there. I thought we did that. I didn’t think we pressured the ball great early, but our bench got us going.”
The Knights at one point scored 21 straight points en route to building their 34-point halftime lead.
The Knights’ commanding second-half lead allowed Salter to rotate throughout some lineup, allowing some of the team’s younger players to gain valuable experience in a playoff game.
“It’s great,” Salter said. “We’ve got a lot of young talent, and it’s great for them to get in, get some of that and feel it a little bit, because you never know who’s going to step up in the next week. I always want them to get in the playoff games, because they’re going to be in many of them in their future. For kids like Kobe (Edwards), Trak (Godwin) and those guys to get a taste of it, it’s great. But they’ve been great for us in practice all year. So they’re ready. I don’t hesitate to put any of them in, because they’ve practiced that hard all year. Now we’re to the final four and the last week of the season, so we’ve got to come out ready to play.”
Greenfield will host 4-seed Crossroads Christian, which defeated Ridgecroft 82-34 in its quarterfinal matchup Tuesday as the Knights look to return to the state title game for the first time since winning it all in 2019.
LAWRENCE ACADEMY (31)
Lee 9, Larry 8, Mizelle 7, Spruill 4, Pippens 3.
GREENFIELD (72)
Murphy 14, Evans 14, Kirby 11, Blake 8, Alston 7, Sherrod 6, Godwin 5, Atkinson 5, Wall 2.
Score by quarters:
LA 7 5 15 4 — 31
GF 23 16 23 10 — 72
