The Greenwood Bulldogs basketball team got some much-needed help earlier this month with the addition of three athletes from the GHS state championship football team. The Bulldogs won their ninth state gridiron title on December 1st by defeating Benton, 45-14.
Donnie Husband, in his first season at Greenwood after 30-plus years as a head coach in Oklahoma, recently won his 600th career game, his first victory with the Bulldogs. He is also tasked with rebuilding the GHS boys’ basketball program that lost all five starters from last season.
Through the first half-a-dozen games this fall the Bulldogs have been playing somewhat shorthanded, awaiting the end of football season and the arrival of reinforcements.
Their names are Aaron Ligon, Stone Lee, and Braden Stein. Ligon is a reserve running back, while Lee and Stein are offensive linemen, and they each bring something different to basketball.
Ligon is a 5’11” junior guard and the son of Coach Husband, who also has another son on the team, Caleb, a 6’0” sophomore guard. Lee is a 5’10” junior forward, while Stein is a 6’5” sophomore post player, the tallest athlete on the squad.
Of the three, Stein, though only a tenth-grader, may have the biggest and most immediate impact on the rest of the season for a team that desperately needs interior size, defense, and scoring.
“They will help us,” said the coach earlier this season. “They will make our practices better. Braden [Stein] will be our tallest guy, so he will give us some presence in the post.”
Farmington
Still rounding into basketball shape, both Stein and [Aaron] Ligon got important minutes in the second half against the visiting Cardinals last Tuesday, December 11th.
Farmington got off to a good start offensively, including a trio of first quarter three-pointers, grabbing the lead early and never gave it up.
When Greenwood junior Jayce Garnes scored at the 2:25 mark of the first quarter, the Bulldogs trailed 13-7. That deficit grew to 19-9 after eight minutes.
Trailing 22-9 midway through the second stanza, it was Garnes again who broke the scoring drought with a pair of free throws. Junior Cameron Hampton added a three-pointer and Garnes scored again and added a free throw at the end of the period. The Cardinals led 29-17 at the break.
The third period was nearly a draw. GHS senior James Christian scored the first basket off a feed from Garnes, and senior Jack Gaston scored the last bucket of the quarter.
Farmington led by 15 points, 39-24, in the final seconds before Gaston’s drive and basket beat the buzzer, making the score 39-26 after three periods.
But the game slipped away from Greenwood in the opening moments of the fourth quarter. The Cardinals scored the first seven points of the period and led 46-26 at the seven-minute mark.
Junior Steven Stone finally got Greenwood on the board with a three-pointer and started an 8-0 run by the Bulldogs, including a traditional three-point play by Braden Stein and a steal and reverse layup by Aaron Ligon, who also made a nice defensive play by drawing a charge.
Jayce Garnes scored inside and added a free throw to account for Greenwood’s final points, but Farmington ended the contest with a 9-0 scoring run for the 58-37 victory.
Cameron Hampton led the Bulldogs with 11 points, while Garnes added 10 points. After the game, Coach Husband talked about the loss.
“They’re a good team,” he said of the Cardinals, who had a definite size advantage over the Bulldogs, at least until Braden Stein came in the game for Greenwood in the second half.
“He just hasn’t been in the gym enough to be in the kind of shape he needs to be in,” said the coach of Stein. “He played in the [junior varsity] game and [did] pretty well, so we’ll keep working him in when we can, him and the other [football] guys. They’re not real sure about some of the stuff that’s going on.
“I thought there was improvement tonight in a lot of areas,” said Husband. “We just missed a lot of shots early that we’re capable of hitting and it put us behind the eight ball.
“We get behind [early] and we fight [back], but it takes so much energy out of [us]. What we’ve got to do is fight from the beginning. That’s where our inexperience and youth and lack of confidence gets us.”
Cyclone Classic
On December 5th the Bulldogs traveled to Russellville for the Cyclone Classic, opening against the Sylvan Hills Bears, who buried Greenwood beneath a barrage of three-pointers, hitting 10 in the game.
The ‘Dogs trailed 14-5 after one period and 37-24 at the half after an explosive second period by both teams, combining for 42 points.
The Bears kept up their offensive production in the third quarter, scoring 23 points to lead 60-38 after 24 minutes, adding 19 points in the fourth period, cruising to a 79-44 victory.
Jack Gaston led Greenwood in scoring with 11 points, followed by Caleb Ligon with nine points. Cameron Hampton added six points and James Christian five points.
Game two the next day was against Subiaco Academy, and again the long-distance shooting accuracy of the opposition was Greenwood’s downfall. The Trojans hit five treys in the first quarter and eight for the game. They led 21-9 after eight minutes and 33-22 at the half.
The Bulldogs held their own offensively in the third quarter, scoring 16 points to 17 for Subiaco, but the Trojans won the fourth period, 9-5, for the 59-43 win.
James Christian and Cameron Hampton led Greenwood in scoring with 12 points each, followed by Jayce Garnes with 10 points and Jack Gaston with six points.
“Sylvan Hills was really long and athletic,” said the coach. “They had three 6’4” or 6’5” kids that were quick, and if you pressure them and take away the threes, you’re going to give up dunks. It was kind of a catch-22 for us.”
Likewise, Subiaco Academy had two good shooting guards that hurt the Bulldogs from beyond the three-point line.
Looking ahead
Husband emphasized that his team needs to take full advantage of the extra practice time just before and during the Christmas break. The Bulldogs play at Dardenelle on Thursday this week then compete in the Spa City Classic in Hot Springs after Christmas.
“Somewhere [we’ve] got to build some confidence,” he said. “We’re going to tinker with lineups and make some adjustments offensively, but the biggest thing for us is just deciding that we can do this. Confidence is an amazing thing.
“These kids have worked their tails off from day one,” he added. “They’ve done as much as anybody could ask them to do. They’ve just got to figure out how to be more competitive on a consistent basis.
“We’ve got some more depth [now] and we’re just going to keep plugging away. The key is to keep their spirits up and get that one magical win.
“I wouldn’t put it past them, and I’m really proud of them,” said Husband. “They are great young men. They act right and handle themselves well.”