ROGERS -- Rogers Heritage struggled from the free-throw line Friday night, but that's about the only thing the War Eagles didn't do well.
Senior Chris Coover poured in a game-high 18 points in his first varsity start and junior Lexus Hobbs added 13 of his 15 in the fourth quarter as Heritage held on for a 55-52 victory in War Eagle Arena.
How They Scored
Girls
Fayetteville 49, Rogers Heritage 30
Fayetteville^7^16^7^19^—^49
Heritage^6^7^6^11^—^30
Fayetteville (13-5, 5-0): Coulter 11, Schuldt 10, B. Jones 8, Crockett 6, Gray 4, P. Jones, 4, King 2, Mayberry 2, Morgan 2.
Rogers Heritage (9-9, 2-3): Giesen 12, Tiles 7, Scudder 4, Seiler 3, Jobst 2, Thompson 4.
Boys
Rogers Heritage 55, Fayetteville 52
Fayetteville^11^13^16^12^—^52
Heritage^17^9^10^19^—^55
Fayetteville (14-4, 2-3): Willis 15, Breathitt 12, Scott 9, Paslay 8, O’Grady 6, Wymer 2.
Rogers Heritage (13-5, 4-1): Coover 18, Hobbs 15, Hirsh 9, Breedlove 6, Olsen 6, Menendez 1.
The War Eagles, who trailed by four entering the fourth quarter, maintained their hold on second place in the 7A-West, improving to 13-5 overall and 4-1 in the league, despite making only 4 of 8 from the foul line in the final 1:23 of the game.
However, Heritage was able to celebrate when Payton Willis' contested 3-pointer from the corner banged off the rim and the War Eagles cleared the rebound at the buzzer.
Heritage coach Tom Olsen said his team just gutted out a huge victory and got contributions from lots of players. His team also overcame a sub-par night at the free-throw line, making just 13 of 23 for the game.
"I'm so proud of my guys, they just played their guts out," Olsen said. "They just had a will that they were going to win. The last four minutes of the game you should have seen the look in their eye. If I had some money to bet, I would've bet it on us because they just had that look in their eye that they were going to dig in and find a way to win."
But Coover, who got the start because regular starter, Marcus Breedlove, was slowed by the flu, stood out.
"Oh my gosh, just a spectacular performance by Chris," Olsen said. "He plays with so much passion, so much heart. We threw him in the starting lineup tonight because Marcus had the flu. Just played with so much energy, he really sparked us."
Willis, who finished with a team-high 15, hit a 3-pointer to pull Fayetteville (14-4, 2-3) within 54-52 with 12 seconds left, but Connor Hirsh hit 1-of-2 foul shots to push the lead to three and Heritage held on.
Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said Heritage was the better team Friday.
"We got out-played, out-coached the whole works tonight," Adams said. "We didn't play our best, but they did a lot of things that took us away from doing our best. Bottom line is we're not sharing the basketball very good. We've just got to get better."
Josh Breathitt was also in double figures for the Purple Bulldogs with 12.
Girls
Fayetteville 49, Rogers Heritage 30
The league-leading Lady Purple Bulldogs wore down the Lady War Eagles.
Fayetteville (13-5, 5-0 7A-West) limited Heritage to just 34 percent shooting (11 of 32) and got offensive contributions all around, despite missing sophomore Lauren Holmes.
Holmes missed the game with a back injury, but sophomore Kylee Coulter led the way with a team-high 11 points and 6-2 senior Lauren Schuldt added 10.
Fayetteville took control with a 14-3 second-quarter run to lead 23-13 at halftime. The Lady Purple'Dogs opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 spurt for a 39-21 lead to essentially put the game away.
Sara Giesen led all scorers with 12 points for Heritage (9-9, 2-3).
Rogers High travels to Fayetteville hosts Rogers High on Tuesday, while Heritage plays host to Bentonville.
Paul Boyd can be reached at pboyd@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAPaulB
Sports on 01/24/2015