The GHS boys’ basketball team got some much-needed help this month with the arrival of four football athletes, including starting center Braden Stein, as the program continues to battle its way to respectability.
Jayden Jasna and Jase Strozier joined Stein – all juniors – along with senior Aaron Ligon, the son of Head Coach Donnie Husband, in his second year at the helm of the Bulldogs.
However, Ligon is nursing a foot injury. When healthy, he is projected as a starting guard. He is currently restricted in what he can do on the basketball court and is on a limited training schedule. He likely won’t be available to play until January, says his dad.
While Stein was almost immediately thrown into the mix, Jasna and Strozier haven’t played basketball since junior high, so they are behind in their skill sets and are learning Coach Husband’s offensive and defensive schemes. But they are good athletes and could provide help and depth during the conference season.
“They can help us down the road,” said the coach. “They’re good athletes and great kids, and they’ve been a welcome addition. We’ve just got to get them up-to-speed. I’m excited to have them and excited about what they could do.”
After hosting the H.B. Stewart Classic before Thanksgiving, the Class 5A Bulldogs have played four games since, all against a gauntlet of 6A competition, including Rogers-Heritage, Bentonville, Van Buren, and Springdale.
But after getting blown out by Rogers-Heritage on December 3rd, the ‘Dogs acquitted themselves well against the last three opponents, keeping the final score within 10 points in each case.
Heritage
The month opened for Greenwood with a lopsided 67-30 loss at home to the War Eagles. But the game started out well for the Bulldogs, who trailed by only two points at the end of the first period, 13-11.
But that was followed by a disastrous second quarter in which the visiting War Eagles outscored Greenwood, 25-3, to lead 38-14 at the intermission. Heritage was helped by eight GHS turnovers in the period.
“I thought we had weathered the storm in the first quarter, because we didn’t play very well, and to be tied, I was real happy,” said Husband.
“It’s so hard to defend when you don’t score,” said the coach. “When you turn it over – when you make a defensive mistake – it just rains on top of you, and it keeps on raining. When you don’t have a lot of confidence to start with, it kind of becomes an avalanche.”
The ‘Dogs were three-for-three beyond the three-point arc in the first period, keeping themselves in the game against a much taller opponent. But Greenwood went cold in the second quarter, hitting just one of eight shots from the floor.
Heritage won the third quarter (22-12) and the fourth (7-4) as both teams rested their starters in favor of letting junior varsity players gain some experience.
In the scoring column, not surprisingly Greenwood had no one in double digits. Junior Evan Bartlett led with nine points, followed by senior Jayce Garnes with seven points. Braden Stein added five points and three others – Caleb Ligon, Hunter Hesslen, and Sam Forbus – all had three points each.
Bentonville
The Tigers outscored Greenwood 17-8 after the Bulldogs pulled into a 24-24 tie midway through the third quarter, holding off the feisty ‘Dogs for the 41-32 victory.
Bentonville scored the game’s first 11 points and held a 19-6 cushion after one period. Rallying, the Bulldogs battled back to make it a 22-17 game at halftime, before tying the score early in the third stanza.
But the Tigers bounced back to grab a 30-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter and gradually built it into a nine-point margin of victory.
Junior guard Caleb Ligon had 10 points to pace Greenwood, followed by sophomore Micah Lensing with eight points, Jayce Garnes with seven, Sam Forbus with four, and Hunter Hesslen with three points.
Van Buren
The next close call for the Bulldogs was a December 10th date with the Pointers at H.B. Stewart Arena, a game Caleb Ligon won’t soon forget. The junior guard and son of Coach Husband poured in five three-pointers and led the team in scoring with a career-high 21 points.
“He got some open looks and hit some threes, and that really helped us,” said his dad. “We were able to score some early inside and that kind of opened it up for him. We had a good inside-outside combination working, but we didn’t really carry that forward [against Springdale].”
Despite Ligon’s performance, the ‘Dogs lost the game, 62-53, while scoring in double figures in all four quarters. Van Buren led 14-11 after one period, 32-22 at the half, and 45-37 after three quarters.
“That would be nice all the time,” said Husband of his team’s even double-digit scoring against the Pointers. “Especially 30 points in the second half. That was an explosion for us. But we’re getting better shots in every game than we did last year, we just didn’t hit them. Hopefully, going forward we will knock some of those down.”
Two other GHS players also reached double-digits in scoring. Jayce Garnes had 13 points and Braden Stein contributed 10 points.
Springdale
Last Friday the GHS boys hosted their Bulldog counterparts from Northwest Arkansas, narrowly losing 43-38. Greenwood led for much of the game, but only by a few points, giving up the lead for good in the fourth quarter.
The hometown ‘Dogs led 10-6 after eight minutes and 18-15 at the end of a low-scoring first half. Springdale then cut its deficit to one point (29-28) after 24 minutes, putting the visitors in position to steal the victory in the final minutes.
“They played at a little slower pace,” said the coach, “and we really couldn’t speed them up. They were a lot quicker than we were, so we weren’t going to chase them.
“Our defense made it tough for them to score at times. But we had some empty possessions where we didn’t hit some shots. We were tied with a couple of minutes to go,” he said, “and we had some opportunities.
“It was a good effort. We put ourselves in position [to win] but didn’t get the job done at the end of the game. We missed some of the same shots we made on Tuesday [against Van Buren].
Husband was asked about the recent contribution of center Braden Stein, the tallest player on the team at 6’5” who also starts on the offensive line for the Bulldogs’ football team.
“He and Jayce [Garnes] – we’ve tweaked our offense a little to get those guys working together high and low. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s coming along.
“Braden is averaging about eight or nine points a game, though his conditioning is not what it will be later. But he’s doing a good job and has kind of picked up where he left off this past summer,” said the coach. “If we can get Aaron [Ligon] back out there, I think that’s really going to help us. The trainers are working with him and I think he’s pretty close.”
Up Next
This week the Bulldogs start tournament play on Thursday at Sperry, Oklahoma, against Home School Hoops for Christ.
“They just played some high-level competition in Oklahoma last week,” explained Husband. “They will be a handful.
“They’re one of those traveling basketball teams with a couple of really good players, so they are going to be a load. They will be much different than the teams we’ve played to this point. I hope we can compete with them.
“There are some other 5A Oklahoma schools in the tournament, so it’s going to be good for us to enter [the holiday] break with a good tournament, then get a few days off. We’ve been working hard, so we’ll take time off for Christmas then come back and get ready for conference play [in January],” he added.