Greyhounds Get Past KCK in Pioneer Classic Opener

By Chuck Livingston
The Evening Times
Sports Editor
and MSCC Sports Information

The MSCC Greyhounds entered play in Harrison, Arkansas, at 1-2 after back-to-back tough losses. They did not intend on dropping a third.

Mission accomplished.

The Greyhounds out-executed against Kansas City Kansas Community College to pull out a 73-71 decision in a game that literally could have went either way.

"We saw several lead changes in the second half. They led very late, maybe about three minutes left in the game. We finally took the lead for good on two straight defensive plays. Berkeley Boston got a steal, then a block and then a rebound on consecutive possessions. On the other end, he assisted on two straight uncontested lay-ups to put us up," MSCC Head Coach Chris Parker said about his sophomore point guard.

Boston, a former Marion Patriot great, set a single game MSCC record for assists in the Kansas City Kansas game with 13, along with four points and four rebounds. He also had four steals in an outstanding all-around performance.

The Greyhounds were not out of the woods yet, however.

After Boston's heroics, Kansas City Kansas had a chance to win the game, but their last-ditch three-point attempt missed, as did a chance at a putback, and MSCC had survived their second wild finish of the season to improve to 2-2.

MSCC held Kansas City Kansas to 46% shooting on the night, including just 23% from three-point range on 5-22 shooting from distance. The Greyhounds also forced 18 turnovers defensively to nearly balance out their team total of 19.

MSCC was led in scoring by Thaddeus Handley with 20 points while Jake Veasley went for 16 points on 50% shooting from the field and a stellar 60% mark from three-point range.

Former West Memphis Blue Devil Arthur Jackson was next with 13 points, but he was a blistering 6/9 from the field. Jackson also posted three steals and four rebounds. Rodney Ollison had 12 points on 6/9 shooting himself along with seven rebounds to round out double-digit scorers for the Greyhounds.

MSCC got to .500 for the young season, but turns their attention quickly to get ready to play Saturday against MCC-Penn Valley.