BAUXITE -- Two seniors for the Bauxite Miners were too much for the Mena Bearcats.
Guard Austin Green scored 18 points and forward Ben Madison scored 17 to lead Bauxite to a 55-20 victory over Mena at Bauxite on Friday night.
Bauxite (18-3, 8-2 7-4A) will play at Malvern on Tuesday with a share of first place on the line.
Bauxite Coach Andy Brakebill said he encouraged his players throughout the week to not look past Mena (3-14, 0-8).
It was clear from the start they had not. Three-pointers on consecutive possessions by Madison gave Bauxite a 16-3 lead midway through the first quarter.
"I've been preaching to my guys to not overlook this game to Tuesday," Brakebill said. "It's going to be a tough game at Malvern, but our guys came out with a lot of energy tonight. They focused on our game plan and they executed it really well. We played extremely hard from the start, and our defense was really good."
"Things didn't go our way early, and I think that affected us," Mena Coach Aaron O'Brien said.
Bauxite led 21-5 at the end of the first quarter, and after a free throw by Mena senior Sage Kesterson, the Miners scored the next 10 points to take a 31-6 lead on junior guard Dylan Melton's layup with a minute left in the first half.
Mena turned the ball over on eight of its final 12 possessions of the second quarter, trailed 31-8 at the half.
Madison spearheaded Bauxite's defensive effort.
"He [Madison] has the ability to really turn it on and play defense, because he's so long and athletic," Brakebill said. "There are times when he'll take a play off, but for the most part he's doing a very good job of buying in to what we're trying to do."
"His game tonight was typical of every game he plays," O'Brien said. "He can score inside. He can score outside. He's a great ball-handler. He's just an outstanding athlete."
Green took charge in the second half, hitting all five of his three-pointers in the third quarter to give Bauxite a 48-16 lead to invoke the mercy rule for the fourth quarter. According to Arkansas Activities Association rules, once a team leads by 30 or more points, the fourth-quarter clock runs nonstop except for timeouts called by game officials or either team.
MENA (20)
Sage 1 2-4 4, Posey 2 0-0 4, Twiliger 1 1-2 4, O'Brien 1 1-1 3, Jewell 0 0-0 0, Plunkett 2 0-0 4, Pasquinzo 0 0-0 0, Sims 0 0-0 0, Kennedy 0 0-0 0, Redding 0 1-2 1. Totals 7 5-9 20
BAUXITE (55)
Melton 3 0-0 6, Strong 2 0-0 4, Green 6 1-3 18, Madison 5 4-8 17, Cooper 2 0-0 4, Beam 0 0-0 0, Tollison 0 0-1 0, Baxley 1 1-1 3, York 0 0-0 0, Garcia 0 0-0 0, Stroud 0 0-0 0, Tipton 0 0-0 0, Rayburn 0 0-0 0, McCool 1 1-3 3. Totals 20 7-16 55
Mena;5 3 8 4 -- 20
Bauxite;21 10 17 7 -- 55
Three-point goals -- Mena 1 (Twiliger 1); Bauxite 8 (Green 5, Madison 3). Totals fouls -- Mena 16; Bauxite 13
GIRLS
BAUXITE 31, MENA 27
Holly Williamson scored 16 points to lead the Lady Miners to victory over the Lady Bearcats.
Macy Brotherton led Mena with 11 points.
Sports on 01/31/2015