For the first time in six years, the Gruver Greyhounds are regional champions.
Gruver used aggressive defense, and timely offense, getting even from a defeat from New Home in the same round a year ago, to defeat the Leopards by a convincing 52-35 count during a UIL Region I-2A Division II championship game at the First United Bank Center on the campus of West Texas A&M on Thursday night.
The Greyhounds season-long roll continues, remaining unbeaten at 23-0 on the year and will now play Friday’s Lipan-Graford winner in the UIL state semifinals at a time and place to be determined.
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Getting back to the state semifinals is a very special achievement for head coach Brittin East. The Greyhounds last advanced to the state semifinals in 2020, however, were unable to finish their season due to the stoppage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is awesome,” East said. “We got that opportunity taken away from us, and that hit us hard. The last six years have been about being locked in and trying to get back to this point. We’re always trying to find ways to make our program better, and this group has done that. We have four players on this team that had brothers that played on that state tournament team during the COVID year, and that’s cool that they are the ones that are getting to play back in the state semifinals.”
Gruver senior Dax Conyers is one of those younger brothers, who watched his older brother, and Greyhound legend, Jalin, play on that state tournament team in 2020. Though Conyers has played in two state semifinals on the football field, it’s a unique experience to be able to play in a basketball state semifinal like his older brother.
“We were in sixth grade when that happened,” Conyers said. “It’s a really neat deal getting back to the state semifinals and being a part of this team. New Home beat us last year, and we were able to get them this year. My sister Callie (Conyers) played and won a state championship, my brother Jalin has played in San Antonio, and now my brothers (Quinn and Rylan) and I get to experience this.”
Both teams started slow from the floor with Gruver trailing 3-2 at the three minute mark of the first quarter. The Greyhounds finally started heating up, when Quinn Conyers knocked down a 3-pointer, putting Gruver up 6-3 with 2:17 left in the opening stanza. From there, Brock Butler caught fire with a layup, followed by a 3-pointer, then Mason Lankford closed the quarter with a transition bucket as Gruver closed the first quarter on a 14-0 run, to go up 14-3.
“We started the game well, we just couldn’t make anything,” East said. “We were missing layups and bricking shots. The opportunities were there, and we finally believed those shots would start falling. Brock (Butler) is so awesome and he played huge for us, especially in that first quarter.”
Senior Brock Butler agreed with East’s comments.
“That run was huge in the first quarter,” Butler said. “We were able to settle down, and start making shots. It gave us a lot of confidence, and then we knew we could win this game.”
New Home (26-10) had chipped away in the second quarter, cutting the lead at 19-14 thanks to an 8-0 run in the middle of the second quarter. Fortunately for Gruver, they answered that push with a quick 4-0 spirt thanks to a Dax Conyers bucket in the paint and a Butler 3-pointer as the Greyhounds went into the break up 28-20.
The Leopards made one more rally at Gruver, getting the advantage down to 30-27 with five minutes left in the third quarter, but once more, Gruver picked the tempo back up. Mason Lankford hit a nice pass to Dax Conyers for a score, Lankford then made a free-throw along with a runner in the lane, making it 36-28.
The dagger then came in the fourth when Jett Pittman buried a long 3-pointer, giving Gruver its biggest lead at 48-32 with 4:22 to play.
“When adversity strikes we do our best to respond,” Gruver guard Briggs Satterfield said. “We haven’t had much adversity so far this year, but when it happens, we just want to respond, and that’s what we did.”
The Gruver defense locked down New Home, especially in the second half. Butler was a force the entire night, forcing four deflections, getting a steal on top of his team-high 14 points.
“We preach hustle in every sport, and everyday in practice,” Butler said. “We hustle to the ball, and we felt like we were able to fluster New Home. They have great players, but we were better on this night and able to move on.”
Though Lankford didn’t shoot his best, the sophomore finished with seven points, dished out nine assists and grabbed 10 rebounds. Dax Conyers tallied 10 points with four boards, and Satterfield registered 11 points with five rebounds.
New Home’s Kwade Stewart scored a team-high 11 points.