Fourth quarter rally earns Bulldogs the victory; GHS girls struggle against near perfect Vilonia
The Greenwood High School girls and boys returned to the friendly confines of H.B. Stewart Arena last Friday night for a 5A West basketball doubleheader against Vilonia. It was also homecoming night for Greenwood with senior Rebel Clay being honored as queen during halftime of the second game. She was selected by a vote of the boy's varsity basketball squad. On the court, the GHS girls were victimized by a near-perfect performance by the Lady Eagles in a 60-36 loss, while the Bulldogs used a strong finish to beat the Eagles 53-40. The twinbill split left both Greenwood teams at 3-2 in conference play.
Senior forward Spencer Harris won the opening tip for Greenwood in the second contest, though sophomore guard Ryan Lensing missed a three-pointer to start the game. But Lensing quickly redeemed himself by knocking down his next long-range attempt at the 7:12 mark to get the 'Dogs on the scoreboard. After Harris scored on a short jumper, Braden Suter hit the first of his six three-pointers to put Greenwood up 8-6 at the 3:10 mark of the first quarter. The Bulldogs led 13-8 after eight minutes.
A trey by senior guard Brandon Brewer opened the scoring for Greenwood in the second period, putting the home team up 16-11. Suter added another three-ball and an offensive rebound led to a stick back basket by Harris, putting Greenwood up 21-16. Another long ball by Suter was followed by a block from Harris that led to a Brandon Brewer trey on the other end of the court. Suddenly trailing 27-19, Vilonia signaled for a timeout with 1:43 remaining in the half. When play resumed, Harris scored inside with 35 seconds to go and Brewer drove to the free throw line and banked one off the glass at the buzzer, putting the Bulldogs up by double digits at the break, 31-21.
Halftime stats revealed that Greenwood benefited from half-a-dozen three-pointers in the first 16 minutes - three by Suter, two by Brewer, and one by Lensing. Vilonia scored about a third of its points at the free throw line, while the Bulldogs rarely reached the charity stripe in the opening two quarters. But after the unusually long halftime for homecoming festivities, the Bulldogs struggled through the third quarter, inviting the visitors back into the game. In fact, Vilonia actually had the lead after three periods.
Greenwood couldn't buy a basket for nearly five minutes, while Vilonia rallied to take a 32-31 lead halfway through the quarter. Spencer Harris had trouble scoring inside, with a couple of shots rimming out or bouncing off the rim from close range. Suter hit a three ball at the 4:00 mark, but was called for taking steps, erasing the basket. Finally, junior guard Shawn Hankins broke the scoring drought with a field goal at the 3:25 mark. Still, the Eagles managed to hang on to their narrow lead after 24 minutes, 37-36.
But the Bulldogs reasserted themselves in the opening minutes of the final period on the strength of the long ball. Ryan Lensing hit his second trey of the game at the 7:04 mark and Suter hit his last three-pointer with 5:35 left to play. In between, junior forward Billyjack Freeman scored off an offensive rebound, giving Greenwood a seven-point margin at 44-37.
Neither team scored for the next three minutes until a GHS free throw put the Bulldogs up 45-37 with 2:27 to play, prompting a Vilonia timeout. Greenwood then salted the game away at the charity stripe. Over the final two minutes, seniors Spencer Harris and Brandon Brewer combined for six consecutive free throws to build a 51-38 margin. Brewer then returned to the line with 11 seconds remaining to sink his fifth and six straight charity shots to seal the win, 53-40. Sophomore Braden Suter led the scoring for Greenwood with 18 points, all on shots beyond the arc. Brewer had 14 points and Harris added 11. The Bulldogs finished the contest with 10 three-pointers.
Following the game, GHS head coach Brian Martin was pleased that his Bulldogs had protected their home court and were right in the mix in the early conference race. "We didn't come out the way I wanted us to in the third quarter," said the coach. "But give Vilonia credit. They hit three big shots and we started slow, but we did stop the bleeding there toward the end of the third [quarter] and were down one going into the fourth. We did a great job in the fourth quarter of getting the shots we wanted, and I think we held them to one basket in the [period]. That's the way you finish games. Making those free throws at the end were huge. You've got to do that to go from a tight ballgame to securing the win. I'm just proud of my kids for hitting the shots and making their free throws. We shot the ball well, and it feels good to get a win at home. We had a good crowd too."
Asked to reflect on his team's 3-2 conference record and the early league standings, Martin said, "It's definitely early, but there were two 3-1 teams playing [each other] tonight, so one of them will be 4-1. It's still early, but we're there. We control our own destiny as far as being in the top four. It's a long season, but we talk about [having] short memories, and we want to build on this. We've got Harrison coming Tuesday night at home, and we're looking forward to another challenge."
Lady Bulldogs
If the GHS girls thought they had seen the best the 5A West had to offer in their earlier home loss to highly ranked Siloam Springs, they had their eyes opened a little wider Friday night after the Vilonia Lady Eagles played a nearly flawless game en route to an easy 60-36 victory. The win gave Vilonia an 18-1 record overall, 5-0 in conference play, and will keep them perched atop the state rankings as the best girls team in Class 5A. The Greenwood girls fell to 11-7 overall and 3-2 in league play.
Greenwood was held to single digits in each of the first three periods, scoring seven, seven, and nine points, respectively. Leading 37-14 at the half, the Lady Eagles cooled off in the third period, managing only 10 points for a 47-23 advantage heading into the final quarter of play. With both teams subbing liberally, they fought to a 13-13 draw over the last eight minutes. However, Vilonia did manage a brief 30-point lead near the four-minute mark that invoked the basketball equivalent of the mercy rule in football, and kept the clock moving even during stoppage of play, hastening the end of the game.
Sophomore forward Endsley Evans had 14 points for the Lady Bulldogs and was the only GHS player in double figures. Junior forward Jessicah Moudy added eight points. Vilonia had three players to reach double digits in scoring and a fourth that added nine points. GHS head coach Clay Reeves didn't have much to say to his team after the game and didn't want to dwell on the lopsided loss when speaking to the media, giving most of the credit to the Lady Eagles.
"Vilonia played really [well] tonight," said the coach. "They played perfect and we didn't play as [well] as we needed to. We didn't look as prepared as we needed to be, which is my fault. But Vilonia played as [well] as they could play, and we just played an average game, and that's what happened tonight. Defensively we didn't play as [well] as we needed to, but I thought we competed hard from start to finish. We could have played really [well] tonight, but as perfect as they played it probably still would have been a loss. But this was a learning experience. We're headed in the [right] direction. Obviously we'd like to be 5-0 instead of 3-2, but we take 'em one at a time, and our main focus right now is Harrison. But tonight we got beat and we'll learn from that and get better."