Tigers Escape Greyhounds Attempt To Tame

The Tigers of Northeast Mississippi traveled to West Memphis in a rematch of the November 7th battle which saw the Tigers take a 86-68 victory.

"I couldn't be more proud of the way our guys competed from start to finish. Pregame I just asked for one thing and that they give me and themselves everything they have, and they did just that and more. We excuted at a very high rate, but unfortunately we just couldn't get our open looks to drop. It happens at times, but the growth that these guys have shown even over the last week or so to keep fighting and battling was able to give ourselves a chance. Northeast Mississippi is a really solid team, which they always are. Coach Wright and coach Morris do an outstanding job there year in and year out. For us to compete with a team right outside the top 25 in NJCAA Division 1, shows me just the type of team we have. I'm excited moving forward, and I can't wait to see how we respond this weekend at National Park's Classic." head coach Cody Hastings had to say after the game. 

Both teams would start out turning the ball over on their first possesions of the game before Northeast Mississippi's Josh Holman would get 2 offensive rebounds of his own misses before converting for the games first points. ASU Mid-South would get their scoring started after Jesse Washington chased down an offensive rebound in the corner before finding Je'Marion Westbrook cutting down the lane for the easy lay in. After both teams scoring possessions, both teams would go on to commit turnovers on their very next possessions. ASU Mid-South's Samuel Chapin would give the Greyhounds their first lead of the night of a baseline step back pull up with 17:30 remaining in the first half. Kyrin Dock of ASU Mid-South would pick up his 2nd foul in the first 4 minutes, where he would find himself sitting for majority of the rest of the half. Turnovers would cost the Greyhounds early and often as that resulted in multiple opportunites for the Tigers. Chris Martin would knock down a 3 after an offensive rebound kick out from Samuel Chapin as the Greyhounds would take a 17-7 lead halfway through the first half. The Greyhounds started to pick their offense up, as they took advantage of the Tigers press with Westbrook finding Wallace for an alley-oop with just over 8 minutes left pushing the lead to 11. Turnovers would be a big story with the last 5 minutes of the game as the Greyhounds 11 point lead would be cut to 5 going into the half with the Greyhounds leading 28-23.

Samuel Chapin would get the scoring started for the Greyhounds as he would hit a corner 3 off the pass from Dock as the shot clock was winding down. Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, those turnovers would come at the worst time, as the Tigers would soon tie the game up at 31. Chapin would go to the foul line shooting 3, making 2 giving the Greyhounds back the lead 33-31 with 16:40 remaining. Mid-South would continue to struggle offensively, as they only score 5 points in the first 9 minutes before Jesse Washington hit his first and only 3 of the night with 10:23 left in the game pulling the Greyhounds back within 5. Allen Hughes would hit a tough baseline jumper with 9:08 left in the second half to give the Tigers their largest lead of the night at 9. Hughes would be huge for the Tigers as he would score 23 points on 10-13 shooting from the field. Mid-South would tie the game on a half court skip pass from Dock to Chapin at 47 a piece with 6:30 to go. Darren Wallace would step up to the free throw line and hit 3 of 4 free throws after a loose ball foul on the Tigers, and a technical foul on the Tigers' Cam Collins giving the Greyhounds a 1 point lead with under 4 minutes to go in the game. Northeast Mississippi's leading scorer Caleb Parr would come up big for the Tigers as he would hit a big 3 with 53 seconds left to give his team a 61-53 advantage. ASU Mid-South would cut the lead to 4 with 23 seconds remaining on a Westbrook layup, but that would be the final points for the Greyhounds as the Tigers would go on to hit 2 more free throws for the games final score.

ASU Mid-South had 4 guys score in double figures led by Jesse Washington's 14, Samuel Chapin with 12, Darren Wallace with 11, and Je'Marion Westbrook with 10. The Greyhounds shot 32.8% from the field, and an horrid 20.7% from 3 including 20 turnovers.

The Greyhounds travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas Friday as they are participating in the National Park Christmas Classic. They will face Kansas City Kansas Community College at 5:00pm on Friday, and Allen County at 12:00pm on Saturday. All games will be hosted at The Kettle.