After three years of disappointing results, the Greenwood boys’ basketball program is riding high this season with a 12-10 overall record and 7-2 in conference play. They have a realistic chance to win as many games this season as the three previous teams combined.
The senior-laden Bulldogs are also hoping for a strong post-season showing and should earn a decent seeding in the upcoming 6A West conference tournament, though three West teams – Lake Hamilton, Benton, and Texarkana – all have better records than Greenwood.
Since winning at Russellville on January 23rd, the Bulldogs have gone 2-1 against Alma, Clarksville, and Farmington, all Class 5A teams in their blended 6A/5A-1 conference. They have three games remaining against Harrison, Siloam Springs, and Russellville
This past Tuesday’s home game with first place Harrison was moved to Wednesday due to the potential for bad weather, and the team will be off on Friday. They will travel to Siloam Springs next Tuesday and host the Cyclones on Friday on senior night.
The 6A West tournament begins on February 17th and continues through the 24th, with the higher seeded teams holding home court advantage. The top six teams will then move on to the state tournament in West Memphis starting February 28th.
Alma
Greenwood defeated the Airedales 53-41 to open league play on January 2nd, but the shoe was on the other foot at Alma’s Charles B. Dyer Arena 24 days later. The Airedales avenged their earlier loss with a big first half that led to a 40-25 advantage at the break and the eventual 73-58 win.
It’s debatable whether the visiting Bulldogs could have won the game all, considering that Alma shot almost 67% for the contest, highlighted by a 15-of-23 performance in the first half.
The Airedales hit eight three-pointers in the first half, and three more early in the third quarter to push their lead to 18 points at 49-31. A pair of Peyton Holt three-pointers ignited a 9-0 GHS run to close the quarter, but the comeback fell short. Alma led 19-8 after one period and 61-45 after three quarters.
The Bulldogs got a big game from senior guard Jordan Sheppard with 24 points, followed by Peyton Holt with 16. They were the only two GHS players in double figures with more than four points.
Clarksville
Jordan Shepard had another big game four days later on January 30th at Clarksville, pouring in 29 points in leading the Bulldogs to a 71-64 victory over the Panthers. Senior forward Easton Barrett did a nice job on the boards and contributed 14 points, while Zane Harmon added nine.
Greenwood had an even offensive performance throughout the game, scoring at least 16 points in every quarter, while Clarksville had to recover from a slow start, scoring just seven points in the opening eight minutes. The Bulldogs led 17-7 after one period, but the Panthers began chipping away at that lead in the second and third quarters.
Greenwood led 33-26 at the half and 49-44 after 24 minutes, as Clarksville stayed within striking distance, hoping for a fourth quarter run. But the Bulldogs held their own over the final eight minutes, hitting their free throws and winning the scoring battle, 22-20, for the seven-point victory.
“We jumped out on them early,” said Head Coach Greg Nichols, “but we lost our intensity after the first quarter.” Clarksville also began hitting three-points in the second quarter to aid its comeback.
Besides Sheppard’s 29, Barrett’s 14, and Harmon’s nine points, senior guard Ronin Stewart also had eight points and junior forward Jack Gaston chipped in with six points.
Farmington
Greenwood completed yet another season sweep of a conference opponent with a 54-43 win over the Farmington Cardinals last Friday night at H.B. Stewart Arena. It was also homecoming for Greenwood and the festivities were held during halftime of the boys’ game.
According to Coach Nichols, “We were just lucky to get a win tonight. With all the [homecoming] activities we had today, [the players] got out of their [normal] routine. [In the second half] we forgot about all the homecoming activities and remembered we had a basketball game.”
Indeed, the visiting Cardinals led 14-13 after one period and 24-22 at the break. But it was a different story in the second half as the Bulldogs slowing took the lead in the third quarter and put the game away in the fourth. The ‘Dogs scored 20 points in the final nine minutes for the win.
Farmington was within a point at 34-33, before Jordan Sheppard hit a free throw, Zane Harmon drove for a bucket, and Sheppard converted a fast-break layup off a Peyton Holt assist for a 5-0 run in the final minute of the third quarter. Greenwood led 39-33 at that point.
Early in the fourth period, Sheppard then had a rare four-point play for the Bulldogs after being fouled on a three-pointer, which he made from in front of the GHS bench. He also added the free throw for a 43-35 lead just over two minutes into the quarter.
“That may have been the turning point,” said Coach Nichols after the game. “That was a big basket for us. It got us a little fired up. We started doing some things at that point.”
But Farmington (6-16, 0-8) was still within two points at 45-43 with 2:22 left, before the Bulldogs hit several foul shots to spark a 9-0 scoring run that put the game away.
Sheppard and Harmon each had 17 points to pace the Bulldogs. Barrett had another good performance with 12 boards to go along with four points. Peyton Holt added five points and Jack Gaston had four points.
“They’re a good team,” Nichols said of the Cardinals. “I told my team that [Farmington is] extremely scrappy, and they came out and proved that. We kept trying to do things we’re not accustomed to doing; fancy shots, fancy passes. We just need to be a basic, fundamental ball team. That’s what we talked about at halftime. I thought we came out in the second half and did a little better.”