The Greenwood Bulldogs lost a tough one this past Tuesday night in their season home debut at H.B. Stewart Arena. The opponent was Gentry, a Class 4A school, and the Pioneers overcame a double-digit deficit to score the winning bucket with two seconds left to pull off the 55-53 upset.
New GHS Head Coach Greg Nichols watched his team build an early lead, winning the first period by four points, 21-17, and the second quarter, 13-6. But their 34-23 halftime lead masked the loss of senior post player Dustin Lunsford, the team's leading scorer, to early foul trouble, forcing him to the bench for most of the game.
The Bulldogs built their first half lead by scoring in most of their points in transition, but not so in the second half as Gentry switched to a zone defense. Greenwood scored just eight points in the third quarter and 11 in the fourth, while the Pioneers tallied 32 points to overcome their earlier deficit.
Trailing 53-47 in the final two minutes, Gentry hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 53-all with 1:10 left to play. With 6.7 seconds remaining, Greenwood called timeout to set up a potential winning shot, but when play resumed the inbounds pass sailed into the backcourt and out-of-bounds. Not only did Gentry get the turnover, but because the ball was not touched, no time ran off the clock.
After another timeout, the Pioneers inbounded the ball and drove the length of the floor for a relatively uncontested lay-up. Two seconds remained, but the Bulldogs were unable to get the ball out of the front court for a decent shot, and lost 55-53.
Senior Chase Sanders led the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points. Teammate and fellow senior Blaise Loman added 11 points. The 6'5" Loman is a move-in from Cameron, Oklahoma, who should help the Bulldogs quite a bit this season. "Chase and Blaise played a great ball game," said Coach Nichols.
As for the loss, Nichols was visibly disappointed with how the game unfolded in the second half. He pointed out the loss of Lunsford to foul trouble, the lack of transition offense in the second half, and poor decisions and poor defense in the final moments of play.
"It just comes back to us [being] inexperienced," said the coach. "We lack that "killer instinct" and we just don't know how to win. We've got to fight through that and learn how to win."
The team will have three more chances to win this week as the Bulldogs play in a tournament at Russellville starting on Thursday. They will also play at Fort Smith Southside next Thursday and at Rogers next Friday. Their next home game will be January 12th against Siloam Springs.
In an interview conducted prior to the Gentry game, the coach talked about his expectations for the season and his team's potential. He also welcomed the addition of several new players to the squad with the end of football season. "I know of nine footballers for sure that are coming out," said Nichols. "We've got 11 on the squad right now, and those nine will give us 20 [players]."
Asked about his team's strengths and weaknesses, the coach said, "I think so far our biggest strength is that we're playing as a team. We're sharing the ball and making the extra pass. The biggest problem has been our depth.
"We've played three games so far and in every game we've been [outsized], and they're playing nine or 10 off the bench and I'm playing about two. It's been a little bit of a handicap, but it's done the kids good to get out there and get some experience. There's only about two of them with any varsity experience, and that's Dustin Lunsford and Alec Armstrong."
The veteran head coach has been pleased with the effort put out by his players in the early going. "They are playing extremely hard for me right now," he said. "They're doing what we ask, [but] we need to win a game to keep that momentum going. It's [difficult] to keep playing hard if you're losing. We're still making some mental mistakes," he added. "We've struggled, but we'll be alright."
With the addition of the football players, specifically Blaise Loman and Luke Hales, the Bulldogs will get significantly bigger inside. Loman is 6'5" and Hales is 6'3" and weighs about 225 pounds. Add that to Dustin Lunsford, who stands 6'6", and Chase Sanders at 6'3", and the Bulldogs have the potential for some decent inside play. Other football players who could contribute include junior Devin Gilbert (6'1"), junior Drew Dundee (6'0"), and sophomore Easton Barrett (6'3").
Early Results
The 'Dogs opened their season on November 24th at Springdale, losing 59-29. Alec Armstrong led the team with 11 points, followed by Lunsford and Sanders with seven and six points, respectively. After an additional week of practice, they then played in the Citizens Bank tournament at Van Buren.
In game one they lost to Fayetteville, 76-28, with Lunsford scoring 15 points to lead the team. The Purple Dogs are the top-ranked team in the state across all classifications.
Their second opponent in the tournament was Little Rock Christian, and the game was much more competitive, though the Bulldogs lost 47-32 after missing 10 free throws in the contest. Lunsford again led in scoring with 11 points.