Georgetown’s Noah Pack buries a shot in the paint during the G-Men’s Dec. 2 win at Ripley.

 

By Wade Linville – 

The Georgetown G-Men started off their 2017-18 court campaign on Dec. 2 with a 63-52 victory at Ripley, but suffered a 53-48 loss while hosting the Hillsboro Indians in their second game of the season on Dec. 5.
Georgetown junior Noah Pack has recorded a double-double in both of the G-Men’s first two games of the season. The 6’7” floor general led the G-Men in scoring against Hillsboro with 19 points while also leading the team in rebounding with 14 boards.
In the season opener win at Ripley, Pack led the G-Men with 27 points and 18 rebounds, bringing his season average to 23 points per game and 16 rebounds per contest.
Georgetown senior Logan Doss also put up double figures in scoring in the G-Men’s first two games of the season, firing for 12 points against Hillsboro and 10 points at Ripley.
Another G-Man averaging double figures in scoring in the early season is senior Luke Gast, who shot for 12 points in the win at Ripley and finished with 11 points in the Dec. 5 home game against Hillsboro.
“We’re happy to come down here (to Ripley) for the first game of the season and get a win,” said Georgetown head coach Doug Williams following the win at Ripley.
“Everybody’s game plan is going to be on Noah (Pack) and he’s still going to score,” Williams added. “What Noah does really well that colleges are seeing is that he also passes, handles, and just takes care of the ball. Besides him getting rebounds and scoring points, he’s basically our floor general and he’s not the point guard. It makes for a strange team, but I think our kids are starting to learn that if you give it (the ball) to him, you’re probably going to get it back. Our kids are learning that, and we did a good job of spacing the floor in the runs that we went on. Spacing the floor gave Logan Doss some lanes to drive and gave Jonny Strickland a chance to spot up and shoot the ball, and Luke Gast, a senior, came off the bench for us today and did a tremendous job.”
The Jays struggled to find their rhythm in Saturday’s non-league contest against the G-Men, displaying a bit of fatigue early on after opening their season with a 73-56 league victory over the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs in a game held at Southern State Community College in Hillsboro the night prior. But deserving much credit is the Georgetown defense that executed well for the majority of the contest.
Providing the most offensive production for the Blue Jays in Saturday’s bout against the G-Men was junior Jaki Royal with 11 points and three assists. Ripley sophomore Peyton Fyffe finished with nine points to go along with five rebounds.
Royal kicked off scoring for the evening, knocking down a step-back three-pointer to give the Jays a 3-0 lead. The G-Men answered quick, cutting the Ripley lead to 3-2 with junior forward Tanner Ellis draining a shot.
Doss went to the foul line after being fouled on a shot with just over five minutes remaining in the first period, sinking one-of-two attempts to tie the game at three apiece. Then it was Pack grabbing a steal and taking it down the court to knock down an easy shot, lifting the G-Men to a 5-3 lead.
An old fashioned three-point play by Doss that gave the G-Men a 9-5 lead sparked a Georgetown run late in the first quarter. The G-Men expanded their lead to 11-5 as Pack pulled down an offensive rebound and buried the put-back.
Keeping the G-Men run going was senior Jonathan Strickland, who rifled in a three-pointer to put the G-Men up 14-5 with just under two minutes to go in the first period.
It was a three-pointer by Ripley senior Ryan Harney that stifled the Georgetown run, narrowing the margin to 14-8.
Not a Jay could hold Pack down one-on-one, and with 1:09 to go in the first quarter it was Pack rebounding his own missed shot and draining the put-back to give the G-Men a 16-8 advantage.
As tempers began to rise on the court, leading to a technical on Pack after he was fouled by a Ripley player while going up for a shot and retaliated when the Ripley player grabbed his face.
Pack buried both free throws awarded to him after being fouled, and sinking the technical shots from the charity stripe for the Jays was junior guard Landon Rigdon.
With the first quarter winding down, it was Royal displaying his ball-handling skills to break free from a Georgetown defender and then hitting his second step-back three-pointer on the night to slice the G-Men’s lead to 18-13.
The G-Men stretched their lead to seven, 24-17, with just under five minutes to go in the second quarter, but the Jays refused to back down. A three-pointer by Ripley senior Brian Dunn cut the Georgetown lead to 24-20 with 3:54 to go in the second quarter.
A bucket by Georgetown senior Luke Gast expanded the Georgetown lead to six, but it was a steal and score on transition by Harney that left the Jays trailing by just four.
An offensive rebound and put-back by Ripley senior Josiah Staggs cut the Georgetown lead to 28-24, but it was an assist by Pack for a field goal by Gast that ended scoring in the second quarter, and with one half of play in the books it was the G-Men leading 30-24.
The Jays came off halftime break to slice the Georgetown lead to as little as one point in the third quarter, going on to outscore the G-Men 16-15 in the frame. Entering the fourth quarter of play, it was Georgetown clinging tight to a narrow 45-40 lead.
With a big fourth quarter by Pack, the G-Men were able to outscore the Jays 18-12 in the final frame to seal an 11-point victory, starting off their 2017-18 court campaign at 1-0.

GHS 18 12 15 18 – 63
RULH 13 11 16 12 – 52

Ripley (52): Jaki Royal 4 1-5 11, Dearing 2 2-7 6, Dunn 2 0-0 5, Harney 2 0-0 5, Staggs 4 0-0 8, Fyffe 4 1-3 9, Rigdon 1 4-4 6, King 1 0-0 2. Three-pointers: Royal 2, Dearing 2, Dunn 1, Harney 1, Fyffe 1. Team: 20 5-9 52.

Georgetown (63): Pack 9 9-11 27, Gast 4 3-4 12, Doss 3 3-5 10, Strickland 2 2-2 7, Ellis 3 0-0 6, Brookbank 1 1-2 1. Three-pointers: Doss 1, Strickland 1, Gast 1. Team: 21 18-24 63.