By Matt Kellam

Anthony Smith scored his 1000th career point in the Greyhounds win over Big Spring.

If there were any lingering effects of the Saturday night loss to Waynesboro that saw their 14-game win streak snapped, the Shippensburg Greyhounds erased them early with an 81-45 win over rival Big Spring Thursday night in Shippensburg.

In the process, senior Anthony Smith became the latest Greyhound to score 1,000 points for his career.  Smith, who came into the game needing 20 points to reach the mark, scored a season high 29 to go along with 11 rebounds to lead the Shippensburg rout.

“I felt our kids would come out with good defensive intensity and that was the difference in the game,” said Greyhound head coach Ray Staver. “We had our shot blocking ability back tonight and that was good to see,” he added.

Shippensburg, (15-2, 12-1MPC), jumped to a 16-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter and increased that to 40-22 at the half. They put the game away by scoring 27 third quarter points including Smiths’ 1,000^th.

Smith, who came into the game needing 20 points, had 16 in the first half and scored the milestone points mid-way of the third quarter on an assist from the Greyhounds’ all-time leading scorer, Jayden Statum, who had 19 points himself.  Jeremy Thomas added 16 in the winning effort.

Coach Staver added about his three senior starters, “they’re very difficult to defend as a trio and our other kids do a nice job of facilitating what we like to do.”

Big Spring, which came into the game as the 13^th ranked team in District 3, 5A, finished the regular season at 14-8, 8-6MPC.  The top 16 teams will move into the playoffs.

They were led by freshman Aidan Sallie with 18 points and senior Matthew Ward who finished with 17.

Ward, the Bulldogs all-time leading scorer came into the game with 1,525 career points.

Shippensburg will host Boiling Springs Friday night in the regular season finale.  A win will mean Shippensburg and Waynesboro will finish tied for the Mid-Penn Colonial title.  The Greyhounds would likely move into the Mid-Penn conference play offs next week based on their higher overall rating.

Waynesboro lost to Carlisle Thursday night 68-53 to help the Greyhound cause.

NOTES:  Pairings for the District 3 playoffs should be announced Sunday and Shippensburg is currently ranked #3 behind West York and unbeaten Lampeter-Strasburg.

SHIPPENSBURG 81, BIG SPRING 45
BIG SPRING
Matthew Ward 6 3-5 17, Jake Knouse 2 0-0 5, Aidan Sallie 6 2-2 18, Jessie Burnhisel 0 1-4 1, Brexton Heckendorn 0 1-2 1, Seth Griffie 0 1-2 1. Totals: 14 8-15 45.
SHIPPENSBURG
Jayden Statum 8 1-2 19, Trae Kater 1 0-0 3, Jeremy Thomas 6 4-4 16, Graison Michaljuk 0 6-8 6, Anthony Smith 13 2-2 29, Carter Funk 1 1-1 3, Tyler Hall 1 0-1 2, Spencer Edey  0 1-1 1, Drew Chamberlin 1 0-0 2. Totals: 31 15-19 81.
BIG SPRING            7        15        18         5—45
SHIPPENSBURG   16       24        27        14—81
Three point shots: Big Spring 7 (Sallie 4, Ward 2, Knouse); Shippensburg 4 (Statum 2, Kater, Smith)