In his third year at the helm of the GHS varsity boys basketball program, Head Coach Donnie Husband recently voiced his sincere hope that this newest crop of Bulldogs could get off to a good start, even without the presence of several key players still competing on the gridiron. The ‘Dogs opened their regular season last week with a trio of games against Gravette, Clarksville, and Mena, winning two of those contests in convincing fashion, at least partially fulfilling their coach’s desire.
“A little bit,” he said cautiously when interviewed on the Monday before Thanksgiving. “We weren’t very good the first game against Gravette. It was a poor performance. We did not shoot the ball well. We missed layups. We just did not play very well at all. It was very similar to last year. We missed a lot of easy shots and didn’t defend as well as we needed to, and didn’t pay attention to the details. It wasn’t anywhere near [how] we are capable of playing.
“But to their credit, we got on the bus the next night and [went] to Clarksville and had them down 27 points in the fourth quarter. So we bounced back and played really well on both ends of the floor. We had some early turnovers against their 1-3-1 defense, but then we finally got in the right places and started making the right plays. So that was very encouraging how we played on the road there,” said Husband.
“[Then] we came home and played Mena, that was missing some of their football players too. We took advantage of that and were able to get out to a big lead and kept [adding] on. We actually got a running clock (mercy rule) in the fourth quarter, and that’s never happened for us, so that was kind of neat. We had four kids in double figures and a little bit of consistency from one night to the next,” the coach added.
“All in all, there were a lot of encouraging things. [But] we’re not a finished product by any means, and the schedule is going to get a whole lot tougher going forward. We’ve got one more game without our other (football) players. It’s at [Rogers] Heritage, and it was a bad loss for us last year. It will be interesting to see how we handle that.”
The Bulldogs hosted Gravette on Monday, November 16th, losing a low-scoring affair, 46-38, to the Class 4A Lions. The game was played at H.B. Stewart Bulldog Arena with the appropriate precautions taken regarding masks and social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic. The GHS boys were outscored in each of the first three quarters.
The visitors led 8-3 after eight minutes and 19-11 at the half. Gravette doubled Greenwood in the third period, 12-6, before the Bulldogs rallied in the final eight minutes (21-15) to narrow their final deficit to just eight points. Junior guard Sam Forbus led Greenwood in scoring with 17 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Senior guard Caleb Ligon added 10 points.
At Clarksville the next evening, the Bulldogs faired much better against the Class 5A Panthers, charging out to a 33-19 halftime lead, adding to it in the second half for a 54-36 victory. Greenwood led 11-9 after one stanza and 47-23 after three periods. A 22-point second quarter made the difference for the visitors.
The Bulldogs were led in scoring by junior forward Chase Beshears with 16 points, followed by Sam Forbus with nine points, senior guard Evan Bartlett with seven points, and Caleb Ligon with five points.
Last Thursday the GHS boys hosted the Class 4A Mena Bearcats and for the first time under Coach Husband secured a mercy rule victory, winning big, 61-27. The Bulldogs reached double-digits in scoring in all four quarters. They led 16-5 after the first eight minutes, 36-14 at the half, and 49-23 after three periods.
Four GHS players, all guards, scored in double figures against Mena, including Caleb Ligon with 13 points, Sam Forbus and Jay Wright with 12 points each, and Evan Bartlett with 11.
“So far so good,” said Coach Husband when asked to assess his team’s performance in the early going. “I think the first night [against Gravette] everybody was trying to “do something” instead of letting it come. We did a pretty good job of being aggressive, but we’d get in the lane and force up a shot instead of kicking it to the open guy.
“We got behind early and [our] guys were trying to do it on their own instead of just trusting each other. There was just no flow to anything we were doing. It was herky-jerky. Shots were too quick, and we gave up three dunks to [Gravette],” said the coach candidly.
“But we were way more intense defensively the second two games,” he continued. “We were more active and alert. We contested shots better. Offensively, we found the open guy and shot the ball better and finished plays. Just better teamwork, better effort, and better intensity. I thought we were a little smoother offensively and a little more patient.”
Asked about the foul trouble that plagued the Bulldogs in their benefit game at Lavaca and again against Gravette, Husband indicated that the defense had improved without fouling. “We never put them in the one-in-one at Clarksville. We just moved our feet better. We didn’t reach. We did a much better job of not fouling. You’re not going to reach and hack as much if you are alert and moving your feet,” he said.
With the Thanksgiving break this week, the Bulldogs will get some well-deserved time off to spend time with their families and rest their legs. “We’ll take a couple of days off,” said the coach. “These guys have been here since the first day of school, so we’ll practice the next [few] days then take off [Thanksgiving] and the day after, then come back in Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and get ready for the game [next] Tuesday.
“Then we’ll be off ten days so [the football players] can have a few days to practice instead of trying to rush in and practice one day and play,” explained the coach. “This allows them to breathe for a little bit before we start putting pressure on them again. We’ll go back to practice and see where we are then,” he concluded.
Four football players are expected to have considerable impact on the Bulldogs’ success this season, including seniors Braden Stein and Jase Strozier, along with talented sophomores Hunter Houston and Aiden Kennon. At 6-6, 290, Stein will be the team’s starting post player. Strozier could share time at point guard while Houston and Kennon will play significant minutes off the bench or even compete for a starting role as they gain varsity experience.