Bryant (11-4, 1-2 6A-Central) opened up a 22-8 lead after one quarter, then fought off a cold spell in the third quarter to hold on for a 60-47 road victory over Little Rock Catholic (10-6, 0-2) on Tuesday night.
The Hornets managed a 38-21 lead at the half, and the cushion was needed in the third quarter when they were outscored by the Rockets 18-9, allowing Catholic to trim the Bryant lead to 45-39 with six seconds left in the quarter.
"We didn't do as good a job in the third quarter," Bryant Coach Michael Abrahamson said. "They got a couple of threes, then got behind us and made a couple of baskets that way."
He said the Bryant offense started moving better as the Hornets extended the lead to 45-33 before Catholic added a three-pointer and a free throw after another field goal. Bryant added two free throws with 1.6 seconds left in the quarter for a 47-39 lead.
The Hornets had a 13-8 scoring advantage in the final quarter, but Bryant couldn't contain Charles Daniel, who scored all eight of Catholic's points in the final quarter.
"No. 1 [Daniel] is so hard to guard," Abrahamson said. "Some of it is on us, some of it is just good play by him. He's a good player, and it's hard to hold someone down for four quarters. We couldn't keep him out of the lane tonight."
Treylon Payne led the Hornets with 13 points. Daniel and Bryan Flanagan, who had eight points in the second quarter, led the Rockets with 12 points each.
Sports on 01/09/2019