It's been a difficult season for the undersized Greenwood Bulldogs. In fact, it's been a tough three years dating back to the 2014-15 season. The GHS boys have notched just 15 wins in that stretch, but none was bigger than last Tuesday's road win at Siloam Springs.
The 63-52 victory in the consolation bracket of the 6A West conference tournament kept their season alive and earned them a state playoff berth for the first time since early in 2014. Greenwood will continue to play in the league tournament, traveling to Sheridan on Saturday. The state tournament in Lake Hamilton begins next week.
Siloam Springs
With both teams needing a win to continue their season, it was the visiting Bulldogs who from the outset appeared to be the loosest, most relaxed and confident of the two squads. For the first time this season, the GHS boys led the game from wire to wire, never once trailing.
Despite being at a height disadvantage and playing on the opposition's home floor, the Bulldogs managed to build a 22-15 halftime lead, partly on the superb play of junior guard Zane Harmon, who had nine points and six rebounds after two periods.
With the Panthers double-teaming GHS junior guard Jordan Sheppard, who scored 23 points against them a week earlier, Harmon was able to go wild in the second half, eventually finishing with a game high and career high 35 points.
The Bulldogs took charge of the game early in the second half, scoring the first eight points of the third quarter for a 30-15 lead. Ahead 40-27 after three periods, Greenwood never allowed Siloam Springs to make a run, playing great defense and aggressively assaulting the basket on offense.
Greenwood's biggest lead of the game was 18 points late in the third quarter, and the Panthers were never able to get their deficit below double digits in the fourth period.
The 'Dogs were led in scoring by Harmon with 35 points, and he also grabbed 11 rebounds, most of them on the offensive end. Sheppard added 10 points, hitting six of seven free throws. Junior Ronin Stewart scored eight points and senior Alec Armstrong had four points and three rebounds.
After the big win, GHS Head Coach Greg Nichols offered the following comments: "The whole team played extremely hard tonight. Siloam Springs was doubling on Jordan Sheppard, and the rest of the team picked up the slack, especially Zane [Harmon]," said Nichols.
"The thing that I'm proud of is the defense that we played tonight. I feel like we contested most shots taken by [the Panthers] and did a great job on the boards against a much taller team," he added.
Texarkana
Before facing the Panthers, the Bulldogs traveled to Texarkana last Saturday for the first time in school history to play the Arkansas High Razorbacks, and for the first quarter the scrappy Greenwood boys held their own against a big, talented Texarkana squad.
But in the second period the Razorbacks forced several GHS turnovers that led to easy points on the other end of the floor. Texarkana led by 11 points at the intermission before cruising to a 72-42 win in the opening round of the 6A West conference tournament.
Texarkana, which is having a great season, was seeded second on the bracket, while Greenwood was seeded seventh in the double elimination affair.
"Their quickness and height hurt us," said Greenwood Head Coach Greg Nichols. "We can't simulate that in practice. We don't have any one of those two things, so we had to learn [on the] go. You can't make lazy passes against Texarkana, and you've got to block out at the free-throw line because they're so tall.
"So it was a tough deal for us," he continued. "But I'm proud of my kids. They played hard. As long as they play really hard and do what we ask of them, we're pretty proud of them."
The Bulldogs didn't back down from the challenge, however, and even led 17-13 after Ronin Stewart converted a three-point play, followed by Sheppard's three-pointer. But Texarkana hit back-to-back treys in the final 30 seconds, putting the Razorbacks ahead, 19-17 after one period.
To start the second quarter, Texarkana (20-6) forced three GHS turnovers, converting each of those into points as the Razorbacks increased their lead to 26-17. Texarkana led by as many as 13 points in the second period.
The visitors were able to get within single digits (47-38) late in the third quarter after a basket inside from Zane Harmon. But the Razorbacks held Greenwood to just one field goal the rest of the way, ending the game with a resounding 25-4 run.
Sheppard and Harmon finished with 11 points each to lead the Bulldogs. Sheppard had a trio of three-pointers. Stewart added 10 points as well.
Russellville
The struggling Russellville Cyclones snapped a five-game losing streak last Thursday at home, defeating the Bulldogs 55-51 on senior night. Despite a 7-0 second quarter scoring run, Russellville trailed 19-16 by halftime. The two teams were tied at nine-all after one period.
After Russellville's 7-0 run, the Bulldogs responded with a 6-0 run of their own to close out the second quarter, leading by three at the half. Greenwood went up 22-16 early in the third period, but an 11-0 run by the Cyclones put the home team up to stay, leading 27-22.
The Cyclones maintained their lead around 10 points throughout most of the fourth quarter. Late in the game the Bulldogs had to resort to the three-pointer and were able to trim the final margin to four points.
Siloam Springs
The Bulldogs honored their four seniors, Alec Armstrong, Dylan Hughes, Austin Dority and Devin Gilbert before taking on the Siloam Springs Panthers at H.B. Stewart Arena on Valentine's Day. Sadly, those seniors will likely remember the game as one of the most improbable and crushing losses of the 2016-17 season.
Within a matter of two seconds at the end of the game, the Bulldogs watched as the thrill of victory was transformed into a heartbreaking defeat, 40-39.
The Bulldogs rode the hot hand of Jordan Sheppard to an 11-8 first quarter lead. The junior guard hit a pair of three-pointers and completed an old-fashioned three-point play to account for nine of the team's 11 points.
The game slowed considerably in the second quarter, with the Bulldogs taking their time on offense. Sheppard scored again to put Greenwood up 13-8, but the 'Dogs led only 17-15 at the half as both teams combined for a measly 13 points.
But the offensive pace quickened in the third quarter, though it was Siloam Springs that benefited most from the faster play, outscoring Greenwood 14-6 to lead 29-23 after three periods.
The Panthers went up by nine points (36-27) midway through the fourth stanza, but the patient Bulldogs used defensive pressure to climb back into the game, tying the score at 37-all after a 10-1 run.
Sheppard made it a 12-1 run, scoring what appeared to be the winning bucket on a baseline drive as time expired and the buzzer sounded. Greenwood in-bounded the ball with about 10 seconds left and Sheppard appeared to release the ball with about two seconds remaining.
But while the GHS players and bench were celebrating, one of the officials indicated that the Siloam Springs' bench had signaled for a timeout before the clock ran out. Subsequently, one second was put back on the clock and the game continued.
Still, the Panthers had to go the length of the floor and get a shot off in one second before the buzzer sounded – nearly an impossible feat, or so everyone thought.
Amazingly, the visitors succeeded in throwing a 70-foot pass from underneath the GHS basket, and somehow a Panthers' player (senior Noah Karp) caught the ball in front of the visitor's bench and managed to throw up a desperation three-pointer that banked off the glass and into the basket for the winner, all in one second.
Jordan Sheppard led the heartbroken Bulldogs with 23 points. The improbable victory completed a regular season series sweep of the Bulldogs by the Panthers. But the Bulldogs would get their revenge in the conference tournament.