ASU Mid-South teams eliminated

ASU Mid-South teams eliminated

Sports Editor The Greyhounds and Lady Greyhounds of Arkansas State University Mid-South each saw their seasons end on Saturday afternoon in Harrison.

ASU Mid-South’s women tied a program record with nine wins, but fell to North Arkansas 94-66, their third loss to the Lady Pioneers this season.

In the nightcap, the Greyhounds also saw their season end against the Pioneers of North Arkansas College for the second consecutive season. ASU Mid-South fell 95-73. “I am proud of the progress we have made as a program,” said ASU Mid-South head coach and athletic director, Chris Parker. “This sophomore class won 36 games in their two years and set a standard for future teams to surpass. We are a much different program now than we were two years ago, and I’m proud of our young men for not only setting that standard, but doing it with class.”

ASU Mid-South got 14 points from sophomore Tasmania Jones, 13 from classmate Joe’Randle Toliver as well as 13 from freshman Cameron Ricks.

However, those offensive performances were not enough to overcome eight first-half three-pointers by North Arkansas in building a 51-41 lead at the break.

The Pioneers wouldn’t hit a shot from bonus range in the second half, but the damage was already done.

“We missed more shots around the rim too,” Parker says. “We talked about that at halftime and were committed not to get beat by the three. Unfortunately, they shot 36 second-half free throws to our 21 and we were not as disciplined offensively as we needed to be and did not shoot it well enough to win on this day.”

The Greyhounds beat the Pioneers at The Dog House in January for their first win against a ranked opponent in the history of the program, but they lost to North Arkansas in a onepoint thriller last week, before falling in the Region 2 title on Saturday.

“We just got beat by the better team that day,” says Parker. “Can we beat them? Obviously we can, because we did. They were just better when they needed to be.”

North Arkansas improved to 27-4 with the win against ASU Mid-South and will now play for the opportunity to advance to the NJCCA tournament this week. The Pioneers are ranked 12th in the country in the latest Division 2 poll.

“They have a very, very good team and are ranked 12th in the nation for a reason,” said Parker. “This is the best season North Ark has had in its history, so it’s easy to lose perspective when trying to compare our programs, which are in very different places. What is clear is that we are making very quick progress and serving a purpose in our community by moving guys to opportunities at the next level and that is the primary purpose of our program, to help kids.”

ASU Mid-South will see five sophomores leave their program and will return six familiar faces next season, including Marion High School graduate LaQuan Davie.

The Greyhounds finish their season 18-11 and the Lady Greyhounds are 9-14.

By Chuck Livingston