Suggs, Greene Central hold off big run from Blake, First Flight
2 min readIt’s been an up and down season for Greene Central, but on Monday, the Rams picked up an important non-conference victory.
Greene Central took down First Flight 74-66 at the Farmville Central MLK showcase on Monday. Coach Blue Edwards’ team did just enough to stave off a great performance from Nighthawks senior guard Dylan Blake.
“We had to make sure to close out against their shooters,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to live with some of the shots they made and (Dylan Blake) hit some tough ones. Our team was able to make a lot of plays and showed some patience offensively.”
The Rams were down 6-0 early, but ended the first quarter up 20-13 after B.J. Corbitt got going. While he missed the home loss to Wilson Hunt, the senior guard has returned on a mission to lead his squad to the playoffs. Corbitt was coming off of a 38 point game against Ayden-Grifton last Friday.
“(Coach Edwards) told us to defend the three,” he said. “I think we did a good job for the most part. When we play together on both ends, we’ve had a lot of success.”
Greene Central went up by as many as 14 in the first half while First Flight struggled from the outside. Eventually, Blake and the Nighthawks caught fire from distance and in the second half, got the deficit down to one a couple of times.
In the final minutes, First Flight created a lot of turnovers but failed to capitalize in transition. On the Rams side, Kentrell Suggs scored and assisted at will to keep his team in front. Zakvil Smith’s dunk with just over a minute remaining put the Rams up five and First Flight wouldn’t get any closer after that.
Coach Edwards knew his team had to get this game and they got it by making plays in the fourth quarter. Now, they get back to conference play with two important games this week.
“We have a tough week ahead,” coach Edwards said. “I like the energy my team is playing with, but we still have work to do. These next two games won’t be easy, so we need to be at our best.”
Blake led all scorers with 40 points for the Nighthawks. Suggs had 24 points for the Rams while Corbitt added 12.
Greene Central will head on the road to face Washington Tuesday.
