Greyhounds Out-Muscle Central Baptist

By Chuck Livingston
The Evening Times Sports Editor
MSCC Sports Information

WEST MEMPHIS, Arkansas --- MSCC went with some power basketball during last night's win against Central Baptist JV at The Dog House.

The Greyhounds (4-3 overall) got 40 points combined from their big man rotation of DeShawn McGowan (16 points), Tasmania Jones (13 points) and Justin Harris (11 points) en route to a 113-84 win.

Those same bigs helped MSCC to a 61-28 rebounding margin against their smaller opponents.

"We knew we had a little bit of a size advantage," MSCC head coach Chris Parker said after his team's victory. "We know that Taz would be able to do some things inside against this team. We immediately went to him, and we were glad to see him respond."

Jones scored the Greyhounds first seven points of the contest to stake his team to an early 7-3 lead.

While MSCC controlled the glass, Central Baptist had a lot of success from distance. The visiting Mustangs were able to torch the Greyhounds for 12 three-point baskets in the contest, a fact that did not please Parker one bit.

"That's something we have to improve on," Parker said simply. "We have to get better at closing out a whole lot better, and limit opportunities. This is another team that is a very good catch-and-shoot team and we never made them put the ball on the floor. We just let them do what they do, but hopefully it's another learning opportunity and a chance get better."

The Greyhounds took their first double-digit lead with 11:51 left in the first half and surged ahead by 20 points, 40-20, when Joe Dye slashed to the rim for a lay-up before coasting into halftime with a 53-40 advantage, despite losing the turnover battle 9-7 in the opening period.

MSCC would go on a 23-10 run to open the second half, capped off by a Tyler Armstrong offensive rebound and lay-up to go ahead 76-50 with 13:21 left in regulation. That play would force a Central Baptist timeout.

The Mustangs would respond to the stoppage by ripping off an 11-4 surge that forced a Greyhound timeout of their own before one last run by the home team gave MSCC the final advantage.

MSCC put six different scorers into double figures. Freshman Kaylon Tappin led the Greyhounds in scoring with 18 points, Joe Dye poured in 15 and Armstrong would check in with 12, in addition to McGowan, Harris and Jones' efforts.

Armstrong would finish with a double-double after leading MSCC in rebounding with 11, including four on the offensive glass and Forrest City product Trent Steen would finish with nine rebounds off the bench, four offensive, in his first game of the season after recovering from an injury.

MSCC was paced in assists by Tevin Brown's four helpers, and Tony White had three in that department as well.

Central Baptist was led in scoring by Tony Brewster's 23 points and Teshawn Sims' 19.

MSCC travels to play St. Louis Community College on Friday night and will play Missouri Baptist junior varsity on Saturday before returning home to play Northwest Mississippi Community College on Monday, November 24 at 7:30 p.m.