The Greenwood Bulldogs varsity basketball season is now officially underway, but not without a caveat or two, the first and most important one being the absence of eight multi-sport athletes still playing football in search of the school’s 11th state championship since 2000. Those players will join the basketball team in one to two weeks. But the other issue is seasonal illness, and several available players missed time last week due to sickness, leaving the roster even more depleted.
“It’s just the nagging stuff you go through this time of year with the weather change. It’s allergies, pneumonia, a lot of virus stuff, and a lot of guys in and out. We were without [Sam] Forbus and [Chase] Beshears, two guys with a lot of experience, and Micah Lensing was injured in practice a couple weeks ago right after the benefit game. But he’ll be back soon.”
According to Head Coach Donnie Husband, his team had only nine to 11 healthy players available at times last week as the Bulldogs participated in a three-game festival at Clarksville, going 1-2 in that stretch. But the remaining Bulldogs persevered despite the absence of their most talented and experienced teammates, and some of them performed well enough to catch the eye of the coaching staff and perhaps earn important minutes off the bench as the season unfolds.
“Our guys did a good job,” said their coach. “I thought our guys stood up and really competed hard and did the best they could. I didn’t think we played great against Van Buren. That one could have gone a little bit better. We didn’t play well defensively, and we missed some opportunities offensively. It was a four-point game and could have [gone] either way, and it swung their way.
“The next night against Gravette we played really well defensively and responded to some adversity. We didn’t play well offensively the first half but had a great second half and shot the ball well. Joe Russell and Jay Wright had really good games.
“We came back against Clarksville on Thursday night, but Clarksville starts four seniors and are a pretty good team. They had more size than us, but I thought we battled them and had chances. We just couldn’t put the ball in the basket. We missed a lot of wide-open shots, and we didn’t get much [around] the basket. We started well but didn’t sustain it.”
The Bulldogs will be off two days for Thanksgiving. They practiced through Tuesday and will return to the practice floor on Saturday and Sunday. Their next live action will be Tuesday against Springdale, their first home contest of the season. Tip-off for the junior varsity game is set for 5 p.m.
Van Buren at Clarksville
The GHS boys began their 2021-22 campaign with their opening round game at Clarksville against Van Buren on November 15th. The Pointers play in the same conference as the Bulldogs, but did not qualify for the football playoffs, giving them a full complement of players in their game against Greenwood, a 10-point win for Van Buren, 50-40.
The Pointers built a 25-17 halftime lead, outscoring the Bulldogs 11-8 in the first quarter and 14-9 in the second period. But Greenwood trimmed that deficit slightly, winning the third stanza by two points, 13-11. Leading 36-30 with eight minutes remaining, Van Buren won the fourth quarter, 14-10, to account for the final margin of 10 points.
With Forbus, Beshears, and Lensing all out of commission, senior Joe Russell led the Bulldogs in scoring with 14 points, the only GHS player in double digits. He got nine of those points from beyond the three-point arc. But several others made offensive contributions, including senior Jay Wright with nine points. Juniors Dawson Holt and Gavin White had five points each, while sophomore Brenden Chick added four points in the post and senior Lance Marek scored three points.
Gravette at Clarksville
The next day the Bulldogs returned to Clarksville and defeated the Gravette Lions, 48-33, on the strength of their first and third quarter performances. Greenwood easily won the first eight minutes, leading 11-2 as the game moved into the second period. But neither team did much offensively before halftime, with Greenwood leading only 13-6 at the break.
But after their anemic scoring in the second period, the Bulldogs netted a much more respectable 16 points in the third stanza to lead 29-12 before Gravette won the final period, 21-19, as both teams picked up the scoring pace in the second half. In a balanced offensive effort, Greenwood have five players score at least six points in the game.
Jay Wright led the Bulldogs with 16 points, followed by post player Brenden Chick with nine points, Dawson Holt with seven points, while Joe Russell and Gavin White had six points each. It was the first of what the Bulldogs and their coaching staff hope will be many more wins this season once their full squad is assembled.
Greenwood at Clarksville
The Bulldogs’ third and final game of last week’s festival was against the host Clarksville Panthers last Thursday. Unlike Greenwood, the Panthers had their full roster available and have a strong winning tradition in basketball in Class 4A. The hosts won all four quarters offensively on their way to a 17-point win over the visitors, 49-32.
The ‘Dogs were outscored 12-10 in the opening period, but that was the only quarter in which Greenwood scored in double digits. Clarksville led 21-17 at the intermission and the Panthers increased their lead to 34-23 after three periods. The home team also controlled the final eight minutes, adding 15 points to their total while holding Greenwood to nine points.
No Bulldogs’ players reached double figures in scoring, though five players had at least five points in the game. Gavin White led the way offensively with eight points, followed by Jay Wright and Joe Russell with six points each. Dawson Holt and Lance Marek added five points each.
Upcoming schedule
After next Tuesday’s home opener against Springdale at H.B. Stewart Arena, the Greenwood boys will take part in a pre-Christmas tournament at Pea Ridge in Northwest Arkansas. They will play three games in three days, December 9-11. On the 14th they will play at Fort Smith Southside before returning home on the 17th to host Springdale Har-Ber. They host Nashville on December 21st in their final contest before Christmas.
Both GHS varsity teams, girls and boys, will participate in a tournament at Beebe to be played December 28-30. That will be the last action for the Lady Bulldogs before the start of league play on January 7th. The Bulldogs junior varsity team will host Fort Smith Northside on January 5th. Greenwood opens 5A West conference play at Russellville.