CENTERTON — Bentonville West’s boys refused to rest on the laurels of one good offensive run Friday night.
The Wolverines put together a string of points in each quarter and asserted themselves in the first-place logjam in the 7A-West Conference standings with an impressive 62-32 blowout of Rogers Heritage in Wolverine Arena.
“I told our guys I love them because they are an old-school team,” West coach Greg White said. “They let me coach them. There are times I’m nose-to-nose with Boston Barron, Gabe Horns-by and Collier Blackburn, and they take it and take coaching. They look me in the eyes, and it’s ‘yes sir.’
“We’re a mature team with a lot of seniors. Hayden (White) came in and gave us great minutes. Seth Stanley is one of the best players in the league, and we hold him to 14 points, attacking him like we did. We don’t take plays off. We coach and we play until the buzzer. We’re coaching them, whether we are up 30 or down 30, and we’ll continue to coach these kids.”
Stanley, whose 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Heritage a win on West’s home floor last year, hit a 3-pointer to give Heritage (13-4, 2-2) a 7-5 lead before West took control. The Wolverines scored 10 of the next 12 points and took the lead for good, with Hornsby’s two free throws making it a 17-9 game with a minute left in the first quarter.
Hornsby, who finished with a game-high 24 points, continued the attack when he scored six points in a 10-2 run to end the first half and extended West’s cushion to 29-18 at halftime. The Wolverines started the second half with another 8-1 spurt, then blew the game open when they scored the first nine points in the fourth quarter and eventually outscored Heritage 22-5 over the final 8 minutes.
“Gabe, he’s pretty good,” White said. “I think he’s an elite-level player, and he showed it.”
Hornsby was the only player to finish in double figures for West, who dedicated the game to starting sophomore point guard Dillon Bailey and reserve Dawson Bailey upon the death of their grandmother. Stanley finished with 14, all but one coming in the second half, while Ty Olsen added 11 for Heritage, which suffered its second straight loss in conference play.
FAYETTEVILLE 67, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 65
The Bulldogs knocked Har-Ber out of first place in the 7A-West and moved into a tie with a late fourth-quarter rally. Fayetteville (10-6, 3-1) trailed 62-55 with under 3 minutes left when Frank Morgan scored on a layup. That ignited a game-closing 12-3 run for the Bulldogs. Collin Cooper’s three-point play with 2:04 left tied the game at 62, and he added a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left to put the Bulldogs up by one, 66-65. Cooper finished with a game-high 28 points. Har-Ber (14-4, 3-1) had the ball with 22 seconds left and down by two, but could not get a clean shot off at the end as Tylor Perry forced up a shot with under five seconds left. Perry led Har-Ber with 24 points and Tyler Garrett, who fouled out with under a minute left, added 22.
BENTONVILLE 60, ROGERS 53
Bentonville (11-4, 2-2) staved off a Rogers’ comeback attempt to come away with the win and claim its share of first place in the league standings. The Tigers outscored Rogers (7-10, 0-4) in every quarter except the fourth, riding the backs of Michael Shanks and Asa Hutchinson who each had 17 points. But Rogers’ Drew Miller kept the Mountaineers in the game, scoring a game-high 24 points on eight 3-pointers. Miller hit four threes in the fourth quarter alone, which jump-started a run for the Mountaineers that got them close as close as five points. But Hutchinson kept them at bay, hitting a three and converting three of four from the free throw line.
SPRINGDALE HIGH 63, VAN BUREN 58
Sophomore Trentez Scales scored 23 points to lead Springdale (10-7, 1-3) to its first conference win. Jajuan Boyd added 16 points and Carl Fitch 14 for the Bulldogs, who led 26-21 at halftime and 41-35 after three quarters. Van Buren rallied to within 61-58 late but the Pointers could not surpass the Bulldogs. Scales opened the fourth quarter with two long 3-pointers during a 10-2 run by the Bulldogs. Jordan West finished with 27 points to lead Van Buren (10-7, 1-3).