Wallace Hits 3 To Give Greyhounds The Win

The Greyhounds traveled to National Park College to compete in their Holiday Classic, where they would meet the Blue Devils of Kansas City Kansas. After a double digit lead vanished with 6 minutes to play, Darren Wallace hit a 3 with 4 seconds remaining to give the Greyhounds an 82-80 victory.

"Our guys are really starting to gel, and unfortunately now it's Christmas break. These guys battled all night against a really good Kansas City Kansas team and stuck with it all night. There was no quit in our team, and that just shows how much we're growing every day. After a tough loss Tuesday to Northeast, I'm very proud of these guys for battling and it getting the job done taking every second to do it. We'll enjoy it real briefly as we have another tough game tomorrow." head coach Cody Hastings had to say after the game.

Both teams started slow in the first game of National Park's Holiday Classic, but Darren Wallace would break start the scoring after getting fouled on a dunk attempt. Both teams started going back and forth in the first half. Dwayne Robinson would give the Blue Devils their first lead of the game with 13:49 remaining in the first half, and would push it to 3 before the Greyhounds Markese Bolden would tie it with a 3 of his own. The Blue Devils would take their largest lead of the game on a Reginald Morris 3 pointer with just over 5 minutes left in the first half, but ASU Mid-South's Jesse Washington would answer with a 3 of his own. Je'Marion Westbrook would go to the free throw line and knock both shots down to give the Greyhounds a lead they would eventually take into the half, but not before some exciting moments in the final few seconds. With the Greyhounds leading 35-32 with 13.3 seconds to go in the half, Jesse Washington would find Je'Marion Westbrook for the alley-oop, but KCK's Caleb Jones would quickly get the inbound pass and go 94 feet in just under 9 seconds. ASU Mid-South's Darren Wallace would quickly get the ball out of the net and get it to Je'Marion Westbrook who would take 3 dribbles before knocking down a 3 as the buzzer goes off to give the Greyhounds a 40-34 lead going into the half. 

KCK's Reginald Morris would get the 2nd half scoring started on a nice dribble pull up, which would soon be counter as the Greyhounds Samuel Chapin intercepts a Blue Devil inbound pass who would later find Jesse Washington on a layup plus the foul. Washington would go on to make the free throw. The Blue Devils would cut the Greyhounds lead to 1 as a pair of free throws by Cortez Howlett. Washington and Howlett would trade 3's on back to back possessions to keep the Greyhounds lead at 1 just under 16 minutes left in this exciting game. Reginald Morris would knock down another 3, as he would give the Blue Devils the 50-48 lead. The Greyhounds defense started to pick up as the Greyhounds would go on a 14-4 run to take an 8 point lead before Caleb Jones of Kansas City Kansas would hit a 3 to cut the lead to 5. The Greyhounds would take their largest lead of the game as Jesse Washington would find Davonta Tucker on a cut to the basket for the layup to give ASU Mid-South a 67-57 lead with just over 8 minutes remaining. Kansas City Kansas would get away with a clear backcourt violation which would lead Caleb Jones to find Reginald Morris who would hit another big 3 for the Blue Devils, this time tying the game at 77 with 2 minutes remaining in the game. After both teams had a couple of empty trips, it was KCK's own Reginald Morris who would hit yet another big time shot for his Blue Devil team this time giving them the 80-77 lead with just 15 seconds remaining. After a pair of Samuel Chapin free throws to cut the KCK lead to 1, and a couple of fouls to give it would be ASU Mid-South's time for some clutch shots of their own. Je'Marion Westbrook would get a deflection on Caleb Jones inbound pass, as Kyrin Dock jumped in the air to retrieve the loose ball, and would then find Darren Wallace wide open as he would hit the shot with 4.5 seconds remaining. KCK had one final shot at the basket as Reginald Morris had a decent look at it, but this time it did not go down for him giving the Greyhounds the win with a score of 82-80. 

The Greyhounds were led by sophomore's Jesse Washington and Je'Marion Westbrook who both had 23 points. Washington would add 7 a team high 7 assists, as Darren Wallace was the only other player to score in double digits with 11. Markese Bolden was big with 9 points shooting 3/3 from behind the arc.

The Greyhounds (7-7) will face Allen County tomorrow at 12:00pm at The Kettle in Hot Springs, Arkansas.