Stars Shoot Past Greyhounds
It was both teams first game back in a week as the the snowy weather had to postpone both teams previous game. The Stars came out hungry as they attacked the Greyhounds from start to finish earning the 89-78 win in front of their home crowd.
It was both teams first game back in a week as the the snowy weather had to postpone both teams previous game. The Stars came out hungry as they attacked the Greyhounds from start to finish earning the 89-78 win in front of their home crowd.
"It was good to be back playing after the weather had us postpone last Thursday's game due to the winter weather. Really sucked to come back from Christmas break and play 1 game then having to wait a week to play again, but can't argue with mother nature. But every team in Arkansas faced that same situation, so I'm sure the whole state was eager to get back to playing some basketball. Kudos to coach Cam over there at South Ark cause he had his guys ready to go. They came out and punched us in the mouth immediately. Was proud of how we responed and came back and took the lead. Just wish we would've kept it longer than what we did. We have to be more consistent in what we want to do. Too many times they made us do what they wanted us to do and we struggled. I should have made the adjustments a lot earlier, and there's no one to blame for that than myself. I was proud of how our guys came out and responded in the 2nd half and cut the lead to 1 with a chance to take the lead, but can't miss free throws in a critical situation. They did what any good team does and they rode the hot hands and man did they make some big time plays. Hats off to them, but we'll get back to work. These guys weren't happy with how this game played out and you could see it on their faces. I feel like we'll have a good 2 days of practice and get ready for National Park on Thursday." head coach Cody Hastings had to say after the game.
The Stars jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead before Jermaine Christopher broke the ice for the Greyhounds right before the shot clock buzzer went off. The Greyhounds would get themselves going and started to heat up as they would go on a 12-4 run to take their first lead of the game 12-11. The Stars would quickly take the lead back on a Lavion Owens put back off his own miss. From there the Stars would keep it a 2-3 possession game until Owens got a buzzer beater under hand floater to go as the final buzzer went off the end the first half. It gave the Stars a 42-31 lead heading into the half.
The 2nd half came out and it looked like a completely different ASU Mid-South team. They battled all the way back to get within 1 point in just the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half, and earned a trip to the line for 2 free throws for an opportunity to either tie, and or take the lead. Unfortunately, the Greyhounds went 0-2 from the line still trailing the Stars by 1. That swung the momentum back to the Stars and it was Owens again who would make 3 big time shots from deep to keep the Stars ahead and would guide them to the win.
South Arkansas was led by Lavion Owens 25 points and 10 rebounds and Braylon Haynes's 21 points and 10 rebounds. Jakourion Key had 22, and Jaden Ross scored 11.
ASU Mid-South was led by Jaxson Yancy who had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Jermaine Christopher scored 18 and dished out 4 assists. Davonta Tucker finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds. CJ Washington finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds and Santana Spivey scored 6 and had 9 rebounds. Hugh McFarland scored 8 and pulled down 9 rebounds to go with 4 assists and 3 steals.
With the loss, ASU Mid-South drops to 8-10 on the year and 3-2 in Region 2 play. The Greyhounds travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas Thursday, January 16 to face National Park College. Tip-off is set for 7:30.