SPRINGDALE - Van Buren mostly struggled until midway through the second half against Springdale Har-Ber on Friday.
That’s when Mitchell Smith took over.
Smith scored all 14 of his points in the second half to lead the Pointers to a 57-48 victory over the Wildcats in 7A/6A-West Conference action. Smith had only four points before he scored two baskets late in the third quarter.
Smith was then dominant in the fourth quarter when Van Buren outscored Har-Ber 15-3. The 6-foot-8 senior went over Har-Ber defenders for two dunks then found Bradley Eversole underneath for a basket after he drew the defense to him.
“Smith was awesome in the fourth quarter,” Van Buren coach Randy Lloyd said. “It was a physical game. They pushed our button a little bit and his, too. We talked about holding them to 10 points in the fourth quarter and they had three. It was a great job by our defense.”
Jason Harms scored 12 of his 15 points before halftime to give the Pointers a 31-28 lead. Ryan Pearson added 12 for the Pointers (17-4, 7-3), who beat Fayetteville on Tuesday to avoid a three-game losing streak.
Andrew Davis and Landan Jones each finished with eightpoints for Har-Ber, which trailed 49-47 after a layup by Rickey Jones in the fourth quarter. But the Wildcats faded badly at the end of the game after an unforced turnover and five consecutive misses from 3-point range.
“We have a hard time making plays down the stretch,” said Har-Ber coach Scott Bowlin, whose team lost a close game to Bentonville at home on Tuesday. “Everybody’s frustrated. Hopefully, one of these days, it’ll change.”
Har-Ber used 3-pointers by Mason Cline and Brandon Buccheri and two inside baskets by Jones to lead 43-35 in the third quarter. But Van Buren finished the quarter strong after Mitchell Smith backed in for a basket to cut the Har-Ber lead to 43-42.
Smith began the fourth quarter with a fastbreak dunk behind the defense and he passed to Bradley Eversole to put the Pointers ahead 49-45.
“He’s a difference-maker, obviously,” Bowlin said. “He’s 6-8 and he’s an athlete.”HOW THEY SCORED BOYS VAN BUREN 57
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 48
Van Buren 17 14 11 15 - 57
Har-Ber 15 13 17 3 - 48
VAN BUREN (17-4, 7-3): Harms
15, Smith 14, Pearson 12,
Eversole 7, Kursh 4, Kinney 3,
Martin 2.
HAR-BER (11-11, 3-7): Davis 9,
L. Jones 9, R. Jones 8, Brandon
6, Cline 5, Buccheri 5, Fox 4,
Anderson 2.
Sports, Pages 10 on 02/15/2014