It was quite fitting for two of Greenwood's top seniors to put an exclamation point on this Senior Night victory.
The final points in the Bulldogs' 65-52 win over Yazoo County Tuesday night at GHS came on Justin Childs' alley-oop slam dunk served up by point guard Jeffery Simmons.
"It was just our time to shine. We gave the crowd a jolt heading into next week," said Childs.
Needing to win by eight points or more to secure first place in Region 3-4A, the Bulldogs held off a furious third-quarter charge by the Panthers and then dominated the fourth period to end the regular season at 20-6 overall, 8-2 in league play.
GHS will be the No. 1 seed in next week's Region 3-4A Tournament and also the host team. The Bulldogs will have a first-round bye in the tournament, which starts Tuesday.
"These seniors have never done this before, so this is a great feeling for all of us," senior guard Jeremy Collins said of the regular-season district title. "We didn't execute at all last time we played Yazoo County, but we went out and took this one."
With a handful of college coaches looking on, Childs put on a show - pouring in a game-high 24 points while pulling down seven rebounds, grabbing three steals and dishing out two assists.
Senior guard Terrence Hudson added 14 points and four steals, while Simmons had 11 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Collins chipped in with 10 points and three rebounds.
Greenwood jumped out to a 13-0 advantage early and the led the entire game, but the Panthers made a strong rally in the third to pull within two heading into the final period.
Sparked by intense defensive pressure and the hustle of Hudson, the Bulldogs opened the fourth period with an 8-0 run. Hudson had one steal and three layups during the scoring spurt that put GHS up 54-44 with three minutes to play.
Yazoo County pulled within seven, 58-51, on a 3-pointer by Justin Wyatt with 1:20 to play. That, however, was as close as the Panthers could get as Collins Greenwood's next five points to put the game on ice.
- GIRLS: Things didn't go so well for the Lady Bulldogs, who were completely overmatched by the Lady Panthers.
GHS lost 43-18 to fall to 8-18 overall, 5-5 in the division standings.
Keteria Jones led the Lady Bulldogs with six points, while Kiera Anderson paced Yazoo County with 16.
