Greyhounds Get By National Park for Second Region Win

In a game that went down to the wire, the Greyhounds were able to top National Park College 71-69 Saturday at The Dog House.

The Greyhounds found themselves down 10 points, 29-19, with 4:51 left in the first half before going on an 18-5 run to lead 37-34 at halftime. Then in the second half, neither team led by more than three points until Jeremiah Jones hit a layup and was fouled with 1:27 left, giving ASU Mid-South a 68-63 lead. But the Nighthawks got two free throws with 38.4 seconds left to pull within three points before Braxtyn McCuien sank two free throws to put the Greyhounds back ahead by 5. National Park then got a foul and sank the first of two free throws and converted an offensive rebound into a three-point basket to pull within 70-69 with 13.6 seconds left. But after McCuien hit 1-of-2 free throws on the ensuing foul, the Nighthawks 20-foot shot to tie fell short as the buzzer sounded.

ASU Mid-South shot just 38.8% from the field, was just 1-of-10 from the three-point line and committed 18 turnovers. But National Park was held to 38.6% shooting and lost the battle of the boards 51-34.

J.T. Smith led the Greyhounds with 16 points to go with 6 rebounds while Tim Johnson added 11 points. Sam Smith finished with 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, Caleb Allen scored 9 points, and Jeremiah Jones and O.J. Marrs chipped in 8 points each.

The Greyhounds move to 6-7 overall and 2-0 in NJCAA Region 2 play. With games being made up due to postponements, the next stretch of games will be a challenge with 7 games in 12 days beginning with a home contest Thursday vs. West Kentucky Community & Technical College and a Region 2 road game at UA Cossatot Saturday.