Sensational sophomore night
Sensational sophomore night
ASU Mid- South closes home schedule with a bang
Sports Editor It was a night of pomp and circumstance before the opening tip.
One of the bigger crowds of the season filled The Dog House to see five Arkansas State University Mid-South Greyhounds play at home for the final time.
When it was all over, the Greyhounds had won their 17th game of the season, a 129-93 rout against the Faith Prep Warriors.
It was ASU Mid-South’s (17-10 overall) second win against that team this season, the other being a 131-89 win on January 23, also at The Dog House.
“Great win on sophomore night,” stated ASU Mid-South head coach Chris Parker. “It was nice to see us come out and play with intensity to start the game and race out to a big lead. We got the ball to our bigs and then shot the ball well when they kicked it out. Overall, it was a great way to go out in our final game of the season at The Dog House.”
While ASU Mid-South scored plenty of points, the most significant stat may have come from long range, where the Greyhounds connected on 14 three-pointers in 32 attempts.
“We shot a lot of shots this week and really worked on moving the ball to the open shooter,” explained Parker. “It looks like it paid off since we hit 14 threes.”
The Greyhounds hit eight of those triples in the first half in building a 64-32 lead.
ASU Mid-South took its first lead of 10 points or more with 13:07 on a reverse layup for a 20-9 advantage.
The hosts would double up the visitors at 28-14 on a stickback by Teverette Cain, less than two minutes later.
Cain would put ASU Mid-South ahead by 20 points for the first time with a lay-up and 6:40 left in the half.
The Greyhounds didn’t cool off after the break, as the hosts went on to hit 26 of their 48 field goals, including six more three-pointers, as well as three dunks.
“I thought we did a good job racing the ball and getting transition points,” added Parker.
The game was the last appearance in The Dog House for sophomores Tasmania Jones, Tyler Armstrong, Tevin Brown, Trent Steen and Joe’Randle Toliver.
“Our community should be very proud that these young men wore the red and black,” Parker said of his sophomores. “We have been very fortunate to have this class of sophomores represent the first team from ASU Mid-South.
They are setting a standard that all future teams will have to work hard to achieve and it has been an honor and privilege to be on this journey with these young men.”
Jones scored a game-high 26 points while also nabbing six rebounds. Armstrong hit for 16, Brown added 11, Steen had 10 points and Toliver notched 15.
ASU Mid-South will play Central Baptist junior varsity on Monday night to conclude their regular season. The team will travel to Harrison to play North Arkansas College on Saturday, February 27 for the Region 2 championship.
By Chuck Livingston
