Boys Basketball - GCC vs Jeannette

January 11, 2022

GCC Boys Shut Down Jeannette in 2nd Half to Win 63-43

For two-and-a-half quarters, it looked like a typical Greensburg Central Catholic versus Jeannette classic in the making. The perennial rivals in all sports were locked up in another fierce battle, this time on the hardwood in a Class 2A Section 3 matchup. But then the pendulum swung permanently in the direction of GCC, as they outscored the Jayhawks 25-5 over the final 12 minutes to win 63-43 on Tuesday, January 11, at Greensburg Central Catholic's gymnasium in Carbon.

A near sellout crowd was loud and proud as they saw Jeannette set the pace from the opening tipoff, jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead before fans had a chance to sit down. Brevan Williams finally got GCC on the scoreboard with a putback underneath 3 minutes into the game. But Jeannette continued to outpace the Centurions and held a 17-10 advantage after one quarter.

The Centurions found their rhythm in the second quarter and began coming back, closing the gap to 33-30 at the half. Shane Micken scored 8 of Jeannette's 16 second quarter points.

GCC battled back to their first lead early in the third quarter, and the two teams exchanged the lead several times throughout the opening 4 minutes. Then Brevan Williams broke a 38-all deadlock with a layup, giving the Centurions a lead that they wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the game. While Tyree Turner got hot for GCC, scoring 13 of the Centurions' 20 third quarter points, Jeannette went ice cold, scoring only 1 point over the final four minutes of the third. GCC outscored Jeannette 20-6 in the quarter and led 50-39 with one quarter left to play.

The final quarter was more of the same. The Centurions outscored Jeannette 16-4 down the stretch, punctuated by a Williams breakaway dunk, to close out the Jayhawks with a final scored of 63-43.

Much of the scoring for both teams happened in the paint, as the Centurions had only 3 buckets from behind the 3-point arc to 2 for Jeannette. But for as fast and physical that the game was at times, neither team hit the team foul bonus threshold all night. Only 15 combined free throws were attempted, with GCC going 8-of-10 and Jeannette 3-of-5 from the charity stripe. Jeannette committed a total of 11 fouls to 10 for GCC.

GCC's Brevan Williams led all scoring with 26 points, followed by Tyree Turner with 20. Jeannette was led by Shane Mickens with 17 and Anton Good with 10.

Next on the schedule for GCC (7-1, 2-0) is a section game at home against Clairton on 1/14. Jeannette (6-3, 1-1) will have another tough section matchup when they host Winchester Thurston on 1/14.