FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville used a big fourth quarter Tuesday night to stay in a first-place tie in the 7A-West Conference.
The Purple Bulldogs held Rogers Heritage scoreless for almost seven minutes in the fourth quarter, but still had to hold on for a 49-46 win in Bulldog Arena.
Fayetteville (16-7, 9-2 7A-West) struggled from the free-throw line, but senior RJ Johnson hit two big ones with 5.7 seconds left to push his team’s lead to three. Heritage drew a foul, but missed the front end of a one-and-one and Fayetteville cleared the rebound and held it until time expired.
The Purple’Dogs went on a 12-0 fourth-quarter run to turn a six-point deficit to a six-point lead on Jon Conley’s fast-break layup with more than two minutes left. But Bryce Breedlove’s 3-pointer, Heritage’s first points of the quarter, pulled the War Eagles (17-7, 6-5) within 46-43 with 1:09 left.
Seth Stanley, who led all scorers with 19, pulled Heritage within 47-46 with a 3-pointer with seven seconds left, but the War Eagles would not score again.
Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams, who missed just his third game in 37 years last week because of illness, praised his team’s overall defense. The Purple’Dogs forced 17 Heritage turnovers that turned into 18 Fayetteville points.
“Hey, a win’s a win, we’ll take it,” Adams said. “Everybody that stepped out there did a really good job on the defensive end.”
Darius Bowers led a balanced scoring attack for Fayetteville with 14 point and a team-high nine rebounds., while Colin Cooper added 13. Dawson Peek and Bryce Breedlove added nine each for Heritage. Stanley also finished with a double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds.
Fayetteville finished 9 of 20 from the foul line for the game and just 6 of 14 in the fourth quarter, but that had no effect on other aspects of the game, Adams said.
“Sometimes it affects everything,” Adams said. “They kept their heads in it and knew what they had to do. It turned into a strategy game the last minute and a half or so and I thought our kids handled that really well. Those are situations we didn’t handle real well early in the conference season. Now, they can play and think, it’s not just play the same way all the time. I was proud of them for that.”
Rogers Heritage.. 13 11 16 6 — 46 Fayetteville........15 8 11 15 — 49 Rogers Heritage (17-7, 6-5): Stanley 19, Breedlove 9, Peek 9, Kimball 6, Olsen 3. Fayetteville (16-7, 9-2): Bowers 14, Cooper 13, Conley 6, Schach 6, Johnson 6, Morgan 2, Releford 2.
SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 70, BENTONVILLE WEST 55
Har-Ber set up Friday’s showdown with Fayetteville for first place in the league standings by holding West without a field goal for more than 8 minutes in the first half. The Wildcats (20-5, 9-2) had their early lead cut to 8-7 after a Gabe Hornsby 3-pointer with 3:06 left in the first quarter, but the Wolverines (15-9, 5-6) didn’t hit another field goal until Hornsby scored with 3 minutes before halftime. By that time, Har-Ber had gone on a 19-5 run and led 27-12 after Nick Buchanan’s bucket, and the Wildcats’ lead never dropped below nine points again. Tylor Perry led a trio of Har-Ber players in double figures with 21, followed by Austin Garrett with 19 and Nick Buchanan with 12, all in the first half. Hornsby had 13 and Boston Barron added 10 for West.
SPRINGDALE HIGH 55, BENTONVILLE 47
Sophomore Jajuan Boyd poured in 24 points to lead Springdale past the Tigers. Senior Carl Fitch added 17 points for Springdale (14-10, 5-6), including a dunk with seconds to play to punctuate the victory. Asa Hutchinson scored 15 to lead Bentonville (14-8, 6-5). Boyd and Fitch took turns scoring in the third quarter when Springdale took a 38-28 lead after trailing 22-21 at halftime. Fitch made four consecutive throws after Boyd fed him for an inside basket. Boyd then dribbled patiently around the perimeter before he pulled up and made a 3-pointer to give Springdale a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
VAN BUREN 47, ROGERS HIGH 45
Jordan West tucked his elbow and launched a shot from 3-point range that found nothing but the bottom of the net. And while West had been doing that all night — he scored a game-high 16, including nine from behind the arc — none were bigger than that final shot of the night, as it proved to be the game-winner for the Pointers. Rogers (7-17, 0-11) had its chance to win on its next possession, but Drew Miller’s open look from the corner for three bounced harmlessly off the front of the iron. Zane West scored 12 for the Pointers (13-11, 4-7) and KJ Stewart scored eight, including a couple of two-handed dunks in the first half. Miller, Garrett Dake and Baylor Lacewell each scored 8 to lead the Mountaineers.