Scott Bowlin, Springdale Har-Ber's veteran boys basketball coach, is dealing with anything but seasoned players this year.
The Wildcats listed seven seniors on last year's team, which finished 23-7 and reached the state quarterfinals. They also lost last season's leading scorer Tylor Perry, a 5-11 guard who moved to Oklahoma for his senior year.
Replacing them is youth, and lots of it.
"I've been coaching for more than 30 years, and this is the most inexperienced team I've ever had," Bowlin said. "They're young and they're tall, but they're sophomores."
Bowlin can point the finger at his team's inexperience for tonight's unfavorable draw at the Barry Pruitt Hurricane Classic in Jonesboro. The Wildcats play the host team in the first round.
"We knew this was coming," Bowlin said. "When you're young you can expect to get put in situations like this."
Bowlin said the Wildcats will ride the efforts of Nick Buchanan, a 5-10 junior.
Har-Ber opened the season with a 78-60 victory at Clarksville on Nov. 13.
"We had some guys still playing football at that time, but I wanted to play one game to see where we were at as a team," Bowlin said. "Do I like waiting that long between games, no. But you have to be strategic with the way you play your games."
WEST MEMPHIS
Moore shines in loss
Chris Moore, last season's All-Arkansas Preps Sophomore of the Year, had an impressive showing in Tuesday's 64-62 overtime loss at Little Rock Parkview.
With University of Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson among those watching, Moore scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
He had been relatively quiet in the Blue Devils' first two outings -- scoring a combined 25 points in victories over El Dorado and Mills -- but the 6-6 junior forward has been more productive since.
"They were double-teaming him, but we missed getting the ball to him a lot because we have other agendas," said West Memphis Coach Marcus Brown, whose team fell to 4-1. "Until we start playing together as a team, it's going to stay that way."
Parkview Coach Al Flanigan said Moore is a man among boys.
"At his size, he can get away with what he's doing right now," Flanigan said. "At the next level, he's going to have to develop a 10-foot jumper and learn how to play outside the lane because he's going to be playing against guys who can look him eye to eye. But I like him."
LR PARKVIEW
Comeback victory
Little Rock Parkview overcame an eight-point, second-half deficit for Tuesday's victory, which came just four nights after the Patriots suffered a 71-58 loss at home to Marion.
Auburn signee Allen Flanigan scored 27 points and collected nine rebounds against West Memphis, including a desperation three-pointer at the end of the third quarter and another key three-pointer in overtime.
Abilene Christian signee Airion Simmons added 14 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists for the Patriots (2-1). Simmons is averaging 10.7 rebounds a game through Parkview's first three games.
Ryan Gordon and Keighland Young scored eight points each for Parkview.
West Memphis missed two free throws with 0.9 seconds left in regulation. The Blue Devils also missed two three-pointers in the final 16 seconds of overtime.
"Turnovers killed us in the first half," Coach Flanigan said. "We need some games under our belt to help our young guys out. We played good enough defensively to win, but we've got to do a better job of taking care of that ball."
HALL
Second in the Rumble
Little Rock Hall has made five trips to the Rumble on the Ridge. Last week's runner-up finish was the first time the Warriors had advanced to the championship game.
"It was a great learning experience for us," Hall Coach Jon Coleman said. "The competition was solid, and I think we came out a better team than when we started."
Unbeaten Bartlett, Tenn., (7-0) defeated Hall 47-33 in the title game. Bartlett is ranked No. 13 nationally by MaxPreps.com.
"They mirrored us a lot," Coleman said. "They have 12 seniors and we have eight, so we were both two very experienced teams. The difference was that they were more organized than us."
Senior Kevon Cooper averaged 22 points a game for the Warriors and was named as a first-team all-tournament selection. Senior Jonathan Coleman averaged 13 points and 7 assists, and senior Greg Johnson averaged 14 points.
Hall plays Cardinal Ritter College Prep of St. Louis on Saturday at Hall in the Battle of the Border.
Last-second shots
Norfork senior Whitlee Layne scored her 3,000th career point in the Lady Panthers' 80-51 victory over Calico Rock Tuesday night. ... Valley View junior Andrew Hunt scored all 30 of his points from three-point range in an 80-45 victory over Batesville in Tuesday's game at the Searcy Bank Classic. Hunt hit nine of his three-pointers in the first half. ... First-round pairings for next month's Jammin for Jackets Tournament are Fair vs. McClellan, Parkview vs. Episcopal, Central vs. Mills and Baptist Prep vs. Hall. That tournament will be held Dec. 6-8 at Hall.
Sports on 11/29/2018