Greyhounds Fall in Overtime at National Park

Battling against tough odds on the road, the Greyhounds came up just short in dropping an 88-87 overtime decision to the National Park College Nighthawks Saturday at The Kettle in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

In a battle between the region's top two teams, National Park needed a win to claim a first-round tournament bye while the Greyhounds had already earned a tournament bye and were seeking an outright regular season title.

The game was a battle from the beginning as the Greyhounds' Braxtyn McCuien scored the Greyhounds' first seven points for an early lead. But with each team hitting six three-pointers in the first half, ASU Mid-South held a slim 41-40 lead at the break.

In the second half after the score was tied at 43-43, National Park went on a 10-0 run that wasn't broken until Christian Thompson managed a bucket in the paint. The Greyhounds spent the better part of the next 9 minutes battling back and eventually tied the game at 68-68 on a Jesse Washington layup with 5:35 left in regulation. The teams would then battle shot-for-shot until the Greyhounds broke a 75-75 tie with a Washington layup off an assist from McCuien with 35 seconds left to play. But Christian Thompson was called for a foul with 4.7 seconds on the clock to put Quinnez Grimes on the free throw line. Grimes missed both free throws, but the rebound was punched out of bounds and the official awarded the ball back to the Nighthawks. On the ensuing inbound, Thompson was called for yet another foul sending Nakaveion White to the line where he sank both free throws to tie the game, and the Greyhounds last-second shot was off the mark, sending the game to overtime.

In the overtime period, both teams again battled shot-for-shot with neither team leading by more than one possession at any time. The Greyhounds led by three points early in the overtime period, but White, who scored all 11 overtime points for National Park, got loose in transition and scored a traditional three-point play to give National Park an 88-85 lead with 1:42 left to play. But while the Greyhounds did not allow another score the rest of the way, they could only manage two McCuien free throws with 28.7 seconds left. After fouling to stop the clock, Ja'Bryant Hill missed a free throw giving the Greyhounds one last opportunity, but the Nighthawk defense did the job to preserve the one-point victory.

The Greyhounds shot 49.3% from the field and 42.1% from the three-point line while hitting 13-of-17 (76.5%) of their free throws to National Park's 45.5% shooting. But the Nighthawks hit 11-of-25 (44.0%) from the arc and 17-of-21 from the free throw line while taking advantage of 17 Greyhound turnovers and committing 14. The Greyhounds had a 41-31 rebounding advantage, but somehow gave up 4 more free throws despite committing three less fouls.

Braxtyn McCuien led the way for the Greyhounds with a double-double, scoring a team-high 25 points and pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds to go with 4 assists. Jesse Washington put in 19 points while Jailen Anderson scored 13 points to go with 6 rebounds and a game-high 8 assists. Christian Thompson was good for 12 points and 5 rebounds, and Chris Martin came off the bench to chip in 10 points and pull down 6 boards.

The Greyhounds (20-10, 7-3) still take the NJCAA Region 2 Tournament's top seed while National Park gets the #2 seed. Both teams earned a bye in the quarterfinals and will host semifinal games on Saturday, March 4, at 3:00pm with the Greyhounds playing the winner of Wednesday's South Arkansas at SAU Tech game. Semifinal winners advance to the championship game Monday, March 6, at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30pm.

2022-23 NJCAA Region 2 Men's Basketball Final Standings