CENTERTON -- Bentonville West's boys were just 2.5 seconds away from clinching their first Class 7A state tournament berth Friday night.
That was just enough time for Seth Stanley to spoil the Wolverines' hopes for the moment. Rogers Heritage's junior standout received some friendly bounces, and his 3-pointer fell in at the buzzer to give the War Eagles a 47-46 victory during 7A-West action in Wolverine Arena.
Boys
Rogers Heritage 47, Bentonville West 46
Heritage^4^18^12^13^—^47
West^8^15^8^15^—^46
Heritage (15-10, 7-5): Stanley 21, Peek 7, Breedlove 5, Olsen 4, Moss 4, Lowrey 4, Giesen 2.
West (11-14, 4-8): Muldrew 14, Collier Blackburn 14, Barron 9, Larsen 3, Ray 3, Rutherford 2.
Girls
Heritage^9^9^12^4^—^34
West^9^8^11^14^—^42
Heritage (6-19, 0-12): Kinnamon 14, Rohrbough 7, Lakis 5, Thompson 2, Combs 2, Richardson 2, Henke 2.
West (4-20, 2-10): Henry 12, Montgomery 11, Wilson 9, Dodd 3, Reid 3, Wood 2, Crowson 2.
"I took a couple of dribbles and knew I had to pull it from somewhere," Stanley said. "I pulled it, and it went off the right side of my hand a little bit.
"It felt like slow motion. It was crazy. I guess the basketball gods were with me."
Heritage (15-10, 7-5) called timeout after West (11-14, 4-8) missed the front end of a 1-and-1 that might have sealed the victory. The War Eagles had to go the length of the court, but Stanley caught Will Moss' inbounds pass in backcourt and quickly moved to his right toward his team's bench.
Stanley then launched the shot in front of Heritage coach Tom Olsen. The ball banked off the backboard and hit the front of the rim, then it hit the backboard again before it fell through the net.
"It's one of those things that we do a lot since I've been at Heritage because a lot of the games are close," Olsen said. "It's all a bunch of special situations. They executed with 2.5 seconds left -- perfectly.
"Will Moss made a great pass, which is difficult to do in that situation. Seth got a clean look at it. ... We got one up there, and it fell in. In a one-possession game, you hope to get a look, and we got a look. The good Lord smiled on us."
Cobe Muldrew, who scored 11 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, appeared to have West in good position when he hit two free throws with 8.8 seconds left and gave the Wolverines a 46-42 cushion. Heritage quickly raced into the frontcourt, then Bryce Breedlove scored and was fouled with 3.7 seconds on the clock.
Breedlove failed to draw iron on his intentionally missed free-throw attempt, giving West the ball in its backcourt. The Wolverines threw the ball into the frontcourt to Collier Blackburn, who was fouled and missed the front end of the 1-and-1 with 3.1 seconds remaining.
"I told our kids we won for 31 minutes, 58 seconds, and you get beat at the buzzer because you have two mental breakdowns," West coach Greg White said. "That's the second game we have lost on not making free throws
"But how good was Cobe Muldrew tonight? A sophomore point guard plays the best game of the season, led us, battled and did everything right. I hate it for our kids, but it's not who's ahead but who wins when the buzzer goes off. We couldn't do it, and that puts a lot of pressure on Tuesday night."
Blackburn also had 14 points for West, which needs a win Tuesday at Rogers High or a Springdale High loss to clinch a state tournament berth. Stanley finished with 21 and was the only Heritage player in double figures.
Girls
Bentonville West 42, Rogers Heritage 34
Ashaundi Henry had eight of her team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter as West enjoyed its first victory at home in school history.
Heritage (8-13, 0-14) led 30-28 to enter the fourth quarter, but the Lady Wolverines (4-20, 2-12) scored the next seven points for a 35-30 cushion on Henry's two free throws with 4 minutes, 50 seconds remaining. West preserved the win by holding the Lady War Eagles without a field goal.
Imani Montgomery added 11 and Shania Wilson 9 for West, while Sydney Kincannon led Heritage with 14.
Sports on 02/18/2017