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RUTLEDGE – Greeneville started the season slowly but the two-time defending state champions have been on a roll in the second half of the year and the Grainger Grizzlies found that out the hard way on Friday.

Freshman phenom Trey Thompson scored 27 points as the Greene Devils posted an impressive 80-47 win at The Den with Zaydyn Anderson adding 10 points. Greeneville improves to 15-10, 7-0 while Grainger falls to 12-12, 3-4. Drew Branson led the Grizzlies with 15 points.

The Greene Devils simply couldn’t miss in the first half as they opened a 26-6 lead in the first eight minutes and padded it to 41-12 midway through the second period. Brody Wells came in off the bench to stop some of the bleeding as he scored six points to get the deficit down to 46-21 at the half. Grainger head coach Adam Wolfenbarger said there were few answers for the way the Greene Devils were torching the nets. “They shot 75 percent from two and 65 percent from three so there just wasn’t a lot we could do. They were taking and making shots that we couldn’t do a lot about. We have to try to play better.”

Branson got things going for the Grizz in the third period as he was successful on three shots from behind the arc. In the fourth, Grainger found success by going inside to Brizen Solomon as he netted nine points in a row at one point. Greeneville closed the contest on an 11-2 run, however, to produce the 80-47 score.

The Grizzlies have a short turnaround as they host Cosby on Monday night and then play at Cherokee on Tuesday to wrap up district play. “It seems that games come fast and furious this time of year. We need to gel up and play together as a team as we go towards the tournament and get our mojo back,” Wolfenbarger said of next week’s games.