The first of three region games this week for the Greer Yellow Jackets took place at home on Monday night against the Daniel Lions, who were off to a 9-4 start in non-region play. Behind a monster scoring night from Amare Anderson, Greer pulled away in the second half to beat Daniel 78-40. Here are my five biggest takeaways from the game.
1-How could you not start with the play of star guard Amare Anderson? The Yellow Jackets leading scorer on Monday night was a violent attacker of the basket with soft touch around the rim. Anderson had an explosive 38 points in the win with two dunks, a three pointer, multiple and-ones, as well as strong defense on the other end.
2-Anderson plays even better with Mylan Hames and Isaiah Henry in the backcourt with him. Hames scored 11 on the night, fed his hot scorers and made the offense run. I was most impressed with Henry on the defensive end as he was tasked with guarding Daniel’s leading scorer the entire night and more than held his own.
3-There were points in the game where things got physical and scrappy, with Greer’s Chase Littlefield often in the middle of it. From where I sat, Littlefield never said a word and moved straight to his teammates to cool the temperature. But when play resumed he went straight back to setting a hard-nosed energy in the paint battling with often bigger Lions post players. He had 6 points, but did a lot more that impressed me by going toe to toe with Daniel and setting the tone early.
4-Greer has played a tough non-region schedule and was still able to grab a few wins against Spartanburg and Gaffney, and two wins in a San Diego holiday tournament. Its losses have come to two more California teams, Byrnes twice, and Powdersville, who both made it (or won) state championships last season. Especially if the Yellow Jackets take care of Seneca on Wednesday, Greer will already be in the driver’s seat for a region title.
5-Daniel’s go-to scorer was Tristyn Carrington, who went bucket for bucket with Anderson in the first half. Carrington cooled off after halftime, and the Lions were never able to find a second and third reliable scorer to keep up with the Greer onslaught. The Lions should still be in good position to finish in the top half of the region as a lot of other future opponents had weak non-region records
