Greyhounds Fall in Thriller at Jones

The Greyhounds missed a shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime after a frenetic second half before falling to the Jones College Bobcats 64-61 at A.B. Howard Gymnasium in Ellisville, Mississippi.

Trailing by as many as 9 points in the first half, the Greyhounds battled back and took a 31-28 lead at the half on a Markese Bolden three-pointer at the buzzer. But Jones began the second half with a 9-0 run before Jailen Anderson broke the streak with a three-pointer at the 16:53 mark and the Bobcats leading 37-34. Jones would extend the lead to 9, 49-40, at the 12-minute mark before the Greyhounds mounted yet another comeback with a 6-0 run highlighted by an off-the-backboard alley-oop from Jesse Washington to T.J. Stewart, but Washington's headband was partially knocked off during the play and he removed it and threw it off the court and was flagged with a technical foul for throwing his headband, giving Washington his third personal foul of the game. Jones hit the ensuing technical free throws to give the Bobcats a 51-46 lead with 8:54 remaining.

The Greyhounds battled back with a 7-0 run and took a 55-53 lead at the 4:44 mark on another three-pointer by Markese Bolden, but the Bobcats regained the lead with a three-pointer at the 3:12 mark to lead 58-57. The Greyhounds then got a bucket inside from T.J. Stewart to take the lead back, 59-58, with 2:57 remaining, but the Bobcats answered by hitting one of two free throws after the reversal of a charge call to tie the game at 59-59 with 2:45 left to play. Jones broke the tie after hitting 1-of-2 free throws when Washington was called for his fifth personal foul with 2:12 left in the game, and then got a putback dunk in transition to go up by three, 62-59. Christian Thompson then had a putback of his own to cut the lead to 62-61 with 1:35 to go. But the Greyhounds could not get another score and the Bobcats hit two more free throws for the final count before the Greyhounds' final attempt bounced off the back of the rim.

ASU Mid-South (0-1) shot 41.9% from the field but only 21.1% from the three-point while Jones was held to 39.3% shooting and 15.0% from the arc. The Greyhounds also won the battle of the boards, 44-32, but turned the ball over 21 times to only 14 for the Bobcats. But the biggest indicator seemed to be the Greyhounds' shooting only 8 free throws in the game - and none in the second half - while Jones (1-0) was 17-28 from the line, and 10-14 after the break. Jones is currently receiving votes in the NJCAA Division I Basketball national rankings.

Jailen Anderson led all scorers with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with 6 rebounds and a game-high 4 assists. O.J. Marrs scored 11 points to go with a game-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double, and Christian Thompson and T.J. Stewart scored 8 points each as Thompson also pulled down 8 boards to go with a game-high 3 blocked shots.

The Greyhounds next host the Greyhound Tipoff Classic Friday and Saturday, November 4-5. Games begin Friday at 5:00pm as National Park College plays Northwest Mississippi Community College before the Greyhounds host Parkland College (IL) at 7:00pm. Then on Saturday, National Park College takes on Parkland College at noon before the Greyhounds host Northwest Mississippi at 2:00pm. Tickets are available online for just $7.00 each by selecting the TICKETS link (https://www.asumidsouthsports.com/fans/tickets) or fans can pay $10.00 cash at the gate, and each ticket is good for both games. For fans who cannot make it to The Dog House, games will also be streamed with the first games each day on the Greyhound YouTube Channel, and Greyhound games will be streamed at https://www.asumidsouthsports.com/live featuring play-by-play by the Voice of the Greyhounds, Mark McClellan.