Greyhounds Fall In Region Semifinals

ASU Mid-South and National Park College met at Rhodes-Reaves Fieldhouse on the campus of Harding University for the first of two region 2 semifinal matchups. The Nighthawks have defeated the Greyhounds both times in their previous two matchups. The third and final matchup would be no different as the Nighthawks end the Greyhounds season winning 93-77.

"It hurts. Knowing everything these guys gave to our program day in and day out, there's nothing more that we could ask of them. They just continued to battle and fight no matter what, and as a coach I could not be prouder than I am. The final games always hurt worse knowing that this group will never be together again. I just hope these guys were able to learn as much from us as I was able to learn from each of them. I'm excited about the future of our program, and I'm excited to see the bright futures that each and every one of these guys have in front of them." Head coach Cody Hastings had to say after the season finale.

Kyrin Dock got the scoring started as he would knock down a pull up jumper. NPC's Nakavieon White, the Region 2 Player of the Year in back to back seasons would get going and lead his team to a quick lead. Both teams would continue trading baskets, but it was as if the Greyhounds were just playing catch up majority of the game. Dock would find freshman Samuel Chapin for a cross court pass that would lead to Chapin giving the Greyhounds an 18-15 lead. Following an NPC timeout, the Nighthawks came storming back on a 9-0 run themselves. Mid-South did any and everything they could to slow down the Nighthawks, but it was White again hitting two very tough shots to end the half giving the Nighthawks a 43-34 lead going into halftime.

Dock started off the scoring again in the 2nd half as he would knock down the 3 at the top of the key cutting the lead to 6. NPC would soon start to go to their 6'11 big man in Taylor Harrell. Harrell would score 19 of his 25 points in the 2nd half, as there was nothing the Greyhounds could do to slow the big man down. Harrell would punish the Greyhounds in the low post and on the boards. The Nighthawks would take a 19 point lead, their largest lead of the game with just over 6 minutes remanining. The Greyhounds started to pick up their defensive pressure and would force the Nighthawks into some costly turnovers. Unfortunately, the closest the Greyhounds would find themselves was cutting the lead to just 12. The Nighthawks would put the finishing touches on the game, advancing them to the championship game on Sunday.

Jesse Washington led to Greyhounds with 20 points and 8 rebounds. Washington would finish his Greyhound career scoring a total of 1,144 points in two seasons just 28 points behind the all-time leading scorer assistant coach Jalen Lynn. Kyrin Dock finished the game with 17 points and 9 assists. With his 9 assists, Dock became the schools season high assist leader with 181. Darren Wallace rounded out the double figure scoring for the Greyhounds scoring 12 and grabbing 9 rebounds. Samuel Chapin and Je'Marion Westbrook both had 9 respectively, with Westbrook also grabbing 8 rebounds. 

ASU Mid-South wraps up their first season under head coach Cody Hastings with a 17-15 record.