Greyhounds Race to Big Win

By Chuck Livingston
The Evening Times
Sports Editor
and MSCC Sports Information

Fresh off of a 2-0 appearance at the North Arkansas Tournament, the MSCC Greyhounds returned home for a rematch of one of their most thrilling games of the young season.

A lot has changed since that season-opening game against Mid-Continent, and the visiting Cougars were witness to that last night at The Dog House.

MSCC steamrolled their way to a dominating 94-56 win that was not even as close as the already-lopsided score may indicate.

In the Greyhounds' first game in The Dog House, they played host to Mid-Continent and MSCC held on for dear life to a 98-95 win.

A lot went right for the Greyhounds, but Head Coach Chris Parker touted his team's improved defensive play as the main reason for his squad's current three-game winning streak.

"The last couple of weeks, we've really focused on our defense. The defense that we run is a little more complex and it takes a little while to get used to it, but once we do, we're not bad," Parker said.

The game was tight early on as MSCC led just 8-6 early in the first half after a Jake Veasley steal and lay-up on the other end. "Veasley is such an unselfish guy with such big ability. He could easily go elsewhere and average 20 plus a night, but he's here and he's bought in and is totally into his role. There will be nights where we need him to go for 20 or more too," Parker said about his 6'2" Sophomore from Wynne.

MSCC then extended its lead to 27-21 after a Justin Harris dunk that electrified the crowd present at The Dog House. His dunk, two of his team-high 20 points, would be the first of many on the night for the Greyhounds.

The Greyhounds then turned up the defense and gave up only four points the rest of the half. Veasley canned a three-point shot to put the Greyhounds up 30-21 with 6:18 left in the first half, and T.J. Handley ran out for a dunk to put the Greyhounds up double digits with 5:14 left in the opening half.

Until that point, the Greyhounds had trouble generating offense independently of Veasley, but they finally got going late as they ended the half on a 12-2 run to take a 49-25 lead into the break.

Veasley scored 15 first-half points to pace the Greyhounds and Handley had six of his own, but the guy who really seemed to get the team going was freshman Joe'Randle Toliver, from Jonesboro.

"He's capable of doing a lot of good things on the court, and he has those long arms and knows how to play passing lanes. He's starting to realize the potential that he has," Parker said.

The second half was a Greyhound jam fest.

Handley ran the court and flushed three dunks, the last of which put MSCC up 57-29 with 14:27 left in the game.

Arthur Jackson hit a free throw to send MSCC's lead over 30 points for the first time at 63-32 with 13:44 remaining and a Jackson run-out and dunk gave the Greyhounds a mind-boggling 71-35 lead that forced a Mid-Continent timeout.

Parker was pleased with his team's effort, but realizes that there are a lot of games left to be played.

"I feel like we picked up where we left off in Harrison and came out and took care of business. It's great to get a win, but we have a lot of work left to do to get where we want to be," Parker said.

Devin McClain led Mid-Continent in scoring with 16 points.

The Greyhounds are back in action on Monday, November 25 on the road against Northwest Mississippi. They're back at The Dog House on Thursday, December 12 against Central Baptist University JV with the tipoff scheduled at 6:00 p.m. Both teams then return to action for a doubleheader on Monday, December 16, against Southwest Tennessee with the women starting the action at 5:00 p.m. followed by the men at 7:00 p.m.