Big Second Half Propels Greyhounds to Win

The Greyhounds used a 50-point second half to overcome an 8-point halftime deficit in taking an 84-76 victory over the Northeast Mississippi Community College Tigers Saturday at The Dog House.

The Greyhounds struggled to score in the first half as the Tigers physical defense limited opportunities. With leading scorer Sam Smith on the bench with two fouls, Kevin Fulton and Kylon McCullough kept the Greyhounds close, combining for 20 points in the frame as ASU Mid-South trailed 42-34 at the half.

But in the second half, the Greyhounds jumped out quick in mounting their comeback, tying the game at 44 on a McCullough turnaround jumper with 17:04 to play. Then Sam Smith took over by scoring the next 10 points to give the Greyhounds a 54-47 lead with 14:12 remaining.

The Greyhounds maintained a 3-possession lead until Northeast cut it to 6 points on a transition three-pointer with 5:04 remaining. Then after trading possessions with no score, Smith went up and slammed home an emphatic putback dunk off a McCullough miss to give the Greyhounds a 74-66 lead with 3:39 left to play. And after getting a stop the next Tiger possession, the Greyhounds went back to Smith in the post where he was fouled and calmly sank two free throws for a 10-point lead with 2:57 remaining.

Northeast then got a putback layup off an offensive rebound on the next possession, but Monroe Carr knocked down a three-pointer with 2:29 left to play to give ASU Mid-South a 79-68 lead that never got closer than 7 points the rest of the way.

Sam Smith led the Greyhounds with 26 points on 9-of-10 shooting and 10 rebounds, Kevin Fulton finished with 15 points, and Kylon McCullough chipped in 11 points to go with a game-high 6 assists. Jacob Hudson finished with 7 points and 7 boards while J.T. Smith contributed 6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. ASU Mid-South shot 47.6% from the field and 40.0% from the three-point line while taking a  47-34 rebounding advantage.

ASU Mid-South (5-0), currently ranked #8 in the latest NJCAA National Rankings, next travels to Paragould, Arkansas, to take on Crowley's Ridge College JV Monday at 7:00pm before entering Region 2 play Saturday at home against North Arkansas College.