B.J. Ross is heading into his third year as head coach for the Greenwood Bulldogs, but this season fielded a new group of starters on the floor in their November season opener on the road at Clarksville. Offensively, Coach Ross and assistant coach Dexter Pearcy have less than five points per game returning from last season, yet this new crop of Bulldogs managed to win in their season debut against the Panthers, 58-35, a convincing victory.
The Bulldogs dominated the court from the opening tip, leading 12-4 after one period and 30-14 at halftime. The home team played better in the second half, but the visitors still won the third and fourth quarters, 13-11 and 15-10, respectively. As one might expect, Greenwood led in most statistical categories, starting with a huge edge in shooting percentage, 40.7% to 26.4% for the Panthers. Included in that shooting percentage, the visitors hit six of 17 three-point shots while Clarksville went scoreless from behind the arc. Greenwood also won the battle of the boards, 43 to 36.
Individually, the Bulldogs’ scoring leader was senior Hudson Clark with 19 points, followed by sophomore Parker Thomas with 15 points. Senior Blake Christiansen contributed eight points while sophomore teammate Gavin Vonderheide added six points. Seniors Hudson Nichols and Jeremiah Dasher and sophomore Caden Mendenhall added two points each. Parker Thomas led the team in rebounding with 14 while Hudson Clark grabbed nine boards and Blake Christiansen eight.
Prior to Thanksgiving, Coach Ross talked about his team’s performance at Clarksville, admitting to being pleasantly surprised by what he saw. “We had all new faces on the floor,” said Ross. “[Senior] Hudson Clark was the only one who got any significant minutes last year in varsity [play]. We had Blake Christiansen, a senior, Micah Cowart, a junior, and two sophomores, Caden Mendenhall and Parker Thomas. We didn’t know what we were going to get, because we have 3.9 points per game coming back from last year. Defensively we knew we were going to get after it and play hard, but offensively we had no clue.
“There were some pretty bright spots,” Ross continued. “Hudson Clark led us in scoring with 19 [points] and Parker Thomas, the sophomore, had 15. He’s a big post kid who has a chance to be a really nice player. Blake Christiansen had eight points, which is more than he’s ever scored in a varsity game. Another sophomore, Gavin Vonderheide, had six points and hit two threes.” The coach also mentioned the defensive play of Mendenhall and the contributions of bench players like Jeremiah Dasher and Hudson Nichols, among others. “We played ten guys last night,” he added.
“We’re just trying to find the right mix,” said Ross, “because we just don’t know. But we were pleasantly surprised. I love starting with a victory, but we don’t know night in and night out yet. But it was a positive win, and it was on the road. These tenth graders don’t know they’re not supposed to win, and they’ve won their whole careers, and they’re a really good bunch. And the freshmen behind them are a really good bunch too. One thing we were pleased with was how well they played together. They were good teammates, sharing the basketball and on defense. We’ve got a long way to go, but we were pleased.”
As for this season’s style of play, nothing has really changed from the past two campaigns under Ross. “They’re going to [defend] and play extremely hard, and they’re going to try and push the basketball [offensively]. I told their parents to enjoy [their] kids, enjoy the season, and enjoy every night, because it’s going to be a rollercoaster. With all new faces, it’s going to be somebody different every game. It’s going to be fun. I’m going to enjoy the heck out of it.”
Including the footballers, the early 2025-26 roster for the Bulldogs lists seven seniors, four juniors, and 10 sophomores. The seniors are Hudson Clark, Blake Christiansen, Jeremiah Dasher, Sean Jackson, Kane Archer, Benton Hossley, and Cooper Bland. The juniors include Hudson Nichols, Ty Holt, Micah Cowart, and Noah Myers. Archer, Hossley, and Bland are all senior starters for the GHS football team, but their basketball status is still undetermined except for Archer, one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. He recently signed to play college football for the University of Utah and will likely enroll there in January. The gridiron season ended last Saturday with a heartbreaking 70-50 loss to Shiloh Christian in the state championship game.
Besides Hudson Clark, who led the team in scoring against Clarksville, Ross mentioned some other seniors he is counting on. “Hossley and Bland will bring over some toughness and leadership [from football], and Blake Christiansen is an unbelievable kid. He works hard, is a leader, and carries himself well on the floor,” said the coach.
The junior class is a bit light for Greenwood, with just four names on the list, and one of them is currently out with an injury. Hudson Nichols, Ty Holt, Micah Cowart, and Noah Myers make up the team’s quartet of eleventh graders, with Holt being the long returning starter among them, now out with an arm injury he suffered last spring in baseball as the team’s starting catcher. The injury to his left arm did not heal with rest and therapy and eventually required surgery in October. Coach Ross is hopeful of getting his #2 guard back in January sometime early in conference play.
The sophomore class has two players who are 6’3” and another at 6’4”, giving Coach Ross something he hasn’t had the past two years, and that’s size. Bronson James is the tallest of the three with Caden Mendenhall and Parker Thomas both coming in at 6’3”. As 15-year-olds, they all have time to grow a few more inches over the next couple of seasons, boding well for the future. The other sophomores include Braxton Canada, Archer Colley, Gavin Vonderheide, Carter Koch, William Rye, Daniel Nguyen, and Brylen Austin. Canada and Rye are both key players on the gridiron and have the ability to make significant contributions on the hard court as well, assuming they report for duty as expected.
“They’re a good mix, athletic, big, and strong,” said the coach of his tenth-grade class. “This year will be really good for them to learn what it’s like to play senior high [basketball], because junior high is different. They will come in and give good minutes and good help and their athleticism is huge.”
The Bulldogs won just a handful of games for Ross in his first season at Greenwood, but earned 14 victories in year two, showing sizable improvement. But now most all those starters are gone and the cards in his hands are new and, in some cases, still unknown. Does the coach see the upward trajectory of his program continuing this season?
“It’s too soon to say,” he admitted. “A lot of times when you’re building something you have a quick spike, then you plateau, then you take off, and that’s the way it looks here. I think we’re building [with] the right pieces. But I don’t know with this group. It’s so early. I think it’s going to take us about 10 games before we really know who we are. We have a gap until December 11th, then we play five games in eight days. That’s where we’ll see where we’re at,” said Ross.
The coach was referring to the revival of the Bulldog Classic tournament, taking place this weekend at H.B. Stewart Arena. The Bulldogs are hosting Searcy, Paris, and Hugo (OK) while the Lady Bulldogs are hosting Fayetteville, Tulsa Union (OK), and Springdale Har-Ber. The GHS boys will play Searcy Friday night at 6:15 then take on Hugo, OK Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. The Lady Bulldogs will also play both days right after the boys’ contests. But before engaging in tournament play, the GHS boys also hosted the Waldron Bulldogs on Thursday night, notching their second win of the season. See next week’s tournament article for details.
Following tournament play this weekend, the Bulldogs will also host the Beebe Badgers next Tuesday at 7 p.m. before traveling to Rogers Heritage next Friday. They will take a break from live competition for over two weeks starting on the 20th through the holidays until opening 5A West conference play at Van Buren on January 6. Those will be two very important weeks of practice and could go a long way toward shaping the rest of the season for Greenwood.
Ty Holt should be back by mid-January, and his return will be a huge boost for the Bulldogs. “He was shooting it really well in the pre-season,” said Ross of Holt. “He was shooting the heck out of it, so we had some high hopes for him early in the year.” Another key player for Ross and the Bulldogs will be senior Hudson Clark, who will handle the basketball at the point this season.
“He does a good job. He’s worked at it,” said Ross. “He’s a senior and he can handle it, but it’s a lot of work on a kid. Hudson is the type of player we can run off a lot of screens. He creates [offensively] and he’s really crafty.” But the coach did admit to some worry about Clark having to handle the point and be one of the team’s top scorers, especially after having never started before on the varsity level.
Ross also sees Clark as one of his best outside shooters, along with Micah Cowart, Ty Holt, and possibly Braxton Canada. Parker Thomas has tremendous potential in the paint also, says the coach. But Ross is concerned about rebounding. “I think we’ve got two players who are going to battle, but they will be going up against 6’5” and 6’6” players. Our other guys are just going to have to scrap and go get it, because we’re going to be significantly shorter at those other positions.” The coach did point out that rebounding was a concern going into last season as well, but that Bulldogs’ squad were beasts on the boards.
As for the league race, Ross sees Farmington as the team to beat. “I think they start four Fayetteville kids this year,” he said with a laugh. “They’re getting that Fayetteville pipeline going, and we’ll see how that goes. Van Buren is young, but the couple seniors they do have [are good]. One of them is 6’5” and an animal. Who knows about Alma? They’ll start two good sophomores. Russellville is supposed to have an exchange student who is a good player. Harrison’s best player moved to Fayetteville after leading the conference in scoring last year. Mountain Home’s players are going to be all around six feet, fast, and shoot it all over the place.
“Our league is not as strong as it was last year, but it’s going to be really competitive because everybody is about the same. After Farmington, teams two-through-eight are going to be different every night. That’s my opinion, anyway, but everybody is an injury away from being pretty average,” admitted the coach. Last season’s top four teams in the 5A West were Harrison, Farmington, Alma, and Russellville, but all those teams lost in the first round of the state tournament.
“We’re excited,” said Ross. “We love this group. They work and get after it. We don’t ever have to make them go. They do it themselves. And everything is falling into place the way we’re setting things up and building what we want to build.” The coach then touted the strength and talent of his junior high program, including a really large and “electric” group of seventh graders, who recently ran out to a 33-0 lead against one opponent.
He also praised the efforts of assistant coach Dexter Pearcy and other volunteer coaches who have taken the time to coach youth travel teams during the offseason, helping develop the fundamentals and skills needed for junior high and varsity basketball. Those investments in time and teaching will pay big dividends down the road, just as it has for the ultra-successful Lady Bulldogs. “All our guys with the youth teams have done a good job not putting winning first but teaching fundamentals. I think we’re going in the right direction.”