The Greenwood Bulldogs need a repeat of what happened last season – a four-game conference winning streak that put them in contention for a post-season berth. Head Coach Donnie Husband and his players are 2-4 so far against the 5A West with wins over Van Buren and Mountain Home and losses to Russellville, Vilonia, Siloam Springs, and most recently, Alma. Friday’s trip to Greenbrier will complete the first half of the conference schedule with seven more games remaining.
This past Tuesday night could have been a positive pivot point for the Dogs’, hosting Alma at H.B. Stewart Arena. A win over the Airedales would have evened Greenwood’s league record at 3-3 with a chance to finish the first half of the conference schedule over .500 with a follow-up victory at Greenbrier on Friday.
But the Airedales prevailed, holding off a late GHS charge in the final minutes for an eight-point victory, 61-53. Now Friday’s trip to face the Panthers looms even larger. The Bulldogs need a big win to bolster their confidence and set them up for the stretch run and a possible playoff slot.
Russellville
The 5A West opener at Russellville on January 7th wasn’t anything to write home about for the Bulldogs. Annually the Cyclones are among the best the conference has to offer, and 2022 doesn’t appear to be an exception. The home team jumped out to a 15-6 lead after one period and were up 29-19 at the half. Russellville also won the third (20-13) and fourth quarters (17-11) for the convincing 66-43 victory.
The Bulldogs got scoring from junior Aiden Kennon (11 points), sophomore Peyton Presson (10 points), and senior Sam Forbus (9 points), but only a combined 14 points from the rest of the squad in the losing effort.
Van Buren
The ‘Dogs rebounded four days later in their conference home opener, downing the Van Buren Pointers 47-44 at H.B. Stewart Arena for their first league victory. The contest was close throughout with several lead changes. The Pointers led 17-15 after the first eight minutes, but trailed 24-22 at the intermission.
Greenwood gave up the lead again after three periods, 37-34, but a strong defensive effort in the fourth quarter held Van Buren to just seven points, while the Bulldogs netted 13 points for the three-point victory.
Sam Forbus led the way offensively for Greenwood with 17 points, followed by Peyton Presson with 10 points, senior Jay Wright with six, and Aiden Kennon with five points.
Vilonia
The Bulldogs were unable to slow Vilonia’s consistent offense on the road January 14th, falling to the Eagles, 61-39. The home team reached double figures in scoring in all four quarters while holding Greenwood to single digits in both the first and second periods. Vilonia lead 15-9 after eight minutes and 28-13 at the half.
The Bulldogs were more productive offensively in the second half, scoring 11 and 15 points in each respective quarter, but the Eagles were even more prolific, netting 16 and 17 points to close out the 22-point victory.
Seven Greenwood players scored in the contest, led by Peyton Presson with 15 points, his best performance of the season, but the only GHS player to reach double digits. Sophomore guard Josh Ligon added eight points as well. Ligon is the son of Coach Husband.
Siloam Springs
Greenwood’s scoring woes continued January 18th at home against the Panthers, though neither team excelled offensively in the 42-29 Siloam Springs’ victory. The visitors led 7-5 after eight minutes, though the Bulldogs were up 13-12 at the break. But while the Panthers rallied offensively in the second half, scoring 30 points, the GHS boys got only a Sam Forbus field goal in the third quarter before finally breaking into double digits with 14 points in the last period.
Forbus led his teammates in scoring with 11 points, followed by Peyton Presson with seven points. The remainder of the team netted just 11 points in the loss.
Alma
Tuesday’s contest was a heartbreaker for the Bulldogs, not because they lost on a last-second shot, but because they let one slip away at home, a game they could have won and needed to win. But give Alma credit. The Airedales (4-10, 1-3) came into the game with a senior-laden lineup and 6-foot-7 Hunter McAlister in the post. They also probably played their best game of the season, according to Coach Husband, who had seen all their previous outings on film.
After some early lead changes, the Airedales began to take command midway through the second period. Greenwood trailed 9-8 after one quarter and its last lead was 14-11 following two Alma turnovers that led to a pair of layups by Sam Forbus. But the visitors scored 10 of the next 15 points to close out the half with a narrow 21-19 advantage.
However, a poor third quarter doomed the Bulldogs, who were outscored 10-0 coming out of the break before Sam Forbus connected on a three-pointer at the 3:20 mark. When the period ended the Airedales still maintained their seven-point margin, 38-31, with eight minutes remaining.
Alma continued to hold off the Bulldogs for most of the fourth quarter until under the three-minute mark. A Hunter McAlister dunk appeared to seal the deal for the visitors at 48-35, but suddenly Greenwood’s Jay Wright found the range on consecutive three-pointers followed by a trey from Sam Forbus to cut the GHS deficit to 50-44 and later 51-46 after a layup by Peyton Presson. But the window of opportunity closed quickly after misfiring on another three-pointer, allowing the Airedales to regroup with a 4-0 run.
Greenwood again trimmed the Alma lead to 55-50 with about a minute left to play, but Airedales’ free throws, nearly all of them by senior Stewart George, kept the Bulldogs at bay. Sam Forbus made an acrobatic off-balance trey from the top of the key with just over 10 seconds left, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the 61-53 Alma win.
After a slow start from beyond the arc, Forbus still led the home team in scoring with 25 points, followed by Jay Wright with 11 points. For Alma, McAlister and Stewart combined for 32 points, with Stewart hitting nine of his 10 free throws in the second half. Fellow senior Logan Taylor added 16 points as well.
"Their kids played well," said Coach Husband of Alma’s effort. "I have a great deal of respect for those three seniors – George, McAlister, and Taylor. Those guys are battlers. They love the game, you can tell. They came in to do a job, and they did it." Ironically, the victory was Alma’s first conference win of the season, despite the play of those three seniors.
Asked about the lack of early scoring and the offensive lull at the start of the second half, Coach Husband said, "It was huge. That's been a problem. We come out of the locker room and we don't get back into the game quickly. For whatever reason we haven’t played well in the third quarter. It's been a huge problem for us, and it was again.
“But I really think we missed the boat early in the game,” he continued. “Our defense was really good. We were getting stops and we just didn’t hit shots. We didn’t have good rhythm offensively. We ended up with a lot of 22-footers and we didn’t hit them. It was tough. We made a good run there at the end, and that was encouraging. It was a big ballgame for us and a big opportunity. It could have set us up going forward, but now we have to regroup and be ready Friday night.”
Upcoming
This coming Friday the Bulldogs travel to Greenbrier to close out the first half of their conference schedule. A win over the Panthers would put Greenwood at 4-3 in league play with seven games remaining. A repeat performance over the second half of the league slate would almost certainly earn the Bulldogs a playoff slot, something they have yet to accomplish under Coach Husband, falling one win short last season.
Next week the Dogs’ will have an open date on Tuesday before hosting Russellville on Friday, February 4th. Over the succeeding three weeks they will play at Van Buren, at home against Vilonia, at Siloam Springs, at home against Mountain Home, away at Alma, and at home against Greenbrier to close out the conference season on February 25th.