PONTOTOC - Greenwood survived a wild finish and is now one win away from a trip to the Big House.
Thanks to a driving layup in heavy traffic with four seconds from Jeffery Simmons, the Bulldogs defeated Houston 66-64 here Thursday night in the North 4A Tournament quarterfinals.
Simmons, a senior point guard, had one word to describe the game-winning play - "clutch."
"I just had to get that basket. It was tough, but I got through there," said Simmons, who scored seven of his 11 points in the final quarter.
The Bulldogs (23-6) advance to face host Pontotoc at 7:30 tonight in the semifinals. Pontotoc beat Lewisburg 77-58 Thursday.
The GHS-Pontotoc winner advances to Saturday's 7:30 p.m. championship game to take on the winner of the Center Hill-Rosa Fort contest.
"Our guys settled down a little in the second half and did a better job of executing," Greenwood coach James Cole said. "But we've got to play better than we did against an aggressive Pontotoc team that shoots well from 3-point range."
With only the top two teams advancing to the state tournament, a win tonight would guarantee the Bulldogs their first trip to the Big House since 2000.
Houston, which finishes its season at 14-8, led 51-49 to start the fourth period. Less than a minute into the fourth, Greenwood took its first lead since the first quarter on a layup by Simmons.
That play was the first of five lead changes in the final eight minutes. There were also four ties in the back-and-forth fourth quarter.
Houston went 1-for-6 from the foul line in the final three minutes.
Despite their free-throw woes late, the Hilltoppers tied the game at 64 with 13 seconds on a layup by Thomas Hill, who then missed a foul shot that would have given him a 3-point play.
Simmons took the inbounds pass, drove the length of the court and weaved his way through a couple of Hilltoppers for the game-winning shot.
The Bulldogs, who trailed by as many as eight in the first quarter, were down 37-32 at the half. Senior Justin Childs, recently named the Region 3 MVP, was held scoreless in the first half.
Childs continued to struggle with his outside shot in the second half, but he did manage to finish with eight points.
Senior guard Terrance Hudson paced GHS with 20 points.
Backup guard Stacy Regular was next with 14 points.
With Childs held scoreless and Simmons managing just two points in the first half, Regular came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers to help keep the Bulldogs in it.
DeVante Pulliam led Houston with 18 points, and Kirby Jones added 17. Both of them did most of their damage in the first half.
"I thought we did a better job defensively in the second half against their top two guys," Cole said. "It's all about defense at this point of the season. We've got to step it up to continue to keep advancing."
