Greyhounds Season Ends in Region Championship Game

For the first time in five years the Greyhounds are not Region Champions as they fell 82-66 at SAU Tech Saturday at Rocket Arena in the NJCAA Region 2 Championship game.

Playing their second game in a row without leading scorer and rebounder Sam Smith, the Greyhounds looked poised for the upset as they led 40-31 at the half behind Kylon McCullough's 18 points.

But the Rockets would not be kept at bay as they exploded for 51 second-half points and the Greyhounds committed most of their 16 turnovers in the second half. ASU Mid-South also managed only 26 points in the final frame which dropped their field goal percentage to 38.5%, and they further hurt their cause with a 46.2% effort from the free throw line.

Kylon McCullough finished with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, going 5-of-9 from long-range, to go with 5 rebounds. J.T. Smith hit for 10 points and dished out 3 assists while Jacob Hudson scored 9 points and collected 10 boards, and Kevin Fulton chipped in 8 points and 4 rebounds.

Entering the region tournament as the #2 seed, the Greyhounds defeated #3-seed UA Cossatot in the semifinals while #1-seed SAU Tech beat #5-seed North Arkansas in the other semifinal. But since this year's region tournament was forced to be played at home sites due to a scheduling conflict at Harding University, the Greyhounds had to travel to East Camden to take on the Rockets.

The Greyhounds (16-5) end their season ranked #18 in the nation in the final NJCAA National Rankings after being ranked as high as #2 the first week of February. This is the fourth season in a row ASU Mid-South has held a spot in the Top 20 National Rankings.