PREP BASKETBALL Springdale tops rival Har-Ber to end six-game skid

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Springdale's Tavari Eckwood (5) reaches to score past Har-Ber's Lawson Jenkins (23) Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, during the first half of play in Wildcat Arena in Springdale. Visit nwadg.com/photos to see more photographs from the games.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Springdale's Tavari Eckwood (5) reaches to score past Har-Ber's Lawson Jenkins (23) Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, during the first half of play in Wildcat Arena in Springdale. Visit nwadg.com/photos to see more photographs from the games.

SPRINGDALE -- Vincent Mason sliced through the lane and stretched his arms high above the crowd before he wrapped both hands around the basketball. Mason brought the ball down through the net with a thundering dunk that sent the Springdale High student section into a frenzy.

Mason's fourth-quarter slam off an offensive rebound was the exclamation point in the Bulldogs' 64-46 blowout of Springdale Har-Ber on Friday that ended Springdale's six-game losing skid in the process.

"This feels better than good, it feels great," Bulldogs coach Jeremy Price said. "We had kind of gotten away from who we are and who we are wanting to be. We had to have some interventions and just get back to the basics."

Back to the basics likely involved more sharing of the basketball and that was a key to the Bulldogs' success Friday night. Four players scored in double figures and Mason, who sat out the majority of the first half in foul trouble, finished with nine.

Springdale (10-11, 4-6 6A-West) was able to get Chops Sanders involved in the offense early, and his 15 points in the low post were huge. Sanders scored the game's first points, and he was instrumental in a big third-quarter surge.

"It's just taken a little while for him to shake the football off," Price said of Sanders, who signed a national letter of intent to play football at the Air Force Academy on Wednesday. "He's starting to become a basketball player for us, and as everybody could see tonight, he made a huge difference."

Har-Ber (8-12, 4-6) was coming off a road win Tuesday at Rogers Heritage and had played league-leaders Fayetteville and Bentonville close in the past two weeks. But against Springdale, the Wildcats started slowly, scoring just four points in the first quarter, then could not keep pace in the second half, getting outscored 40-26.

Springdale went up by 13 points, 36-23 when Mason hit a 3-pointer with 6:15 left, but Har-Ber rallied back, pulling within 36-29 when Nick Buchanan hit a floater. But the Bulldogs had an answer when Tavari Eckwood scored 5 straight points, including a three-point play to extend the lead to 45-29 and Springdale was never seriously threatened the rest of the way.

Brandon Henry scored 11 points for Springdale and Juajuan Boyd and Eckwood each scored 10.

Lawson Jenkins led the Wildcats with 17 points and Buchanan added 13.

"Anytime you win a rivalry game and beat the team that is just above you in the standings, it's nothing but momentum," Price said. "Now we've got some credibility and we've seen ourselves do it the way that we practice. But we have a tough road ahead, but I think if we stick to the plan we can make a little noise."

Springdale 9 17 22 16 -- 64

Har-Ber 4 16 14 12 -- 46

Springdale (10-11, 4-6): Sanders 15, Henry 11, Boyd 10, Eckwood 10, Mason 9, Hignite 7, James 2.

Har-Ber (8-12, 4-6): Jenkins 17, Buchanan 13, Seawood 6, Bockelman 4, Bishop 3, Woodard 3.

Rogers Heritage 35, Bentonville High 32

Roger Heritage's Logan Clines had been one of his team's go-to options on offense all night, but the junior didn't even know his 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in the game would be the deciding shot that knocked off the No. 2 team in the 6A-West.

"I saw an open shot, and I took it," Clines said. "I was like, 'You know, I'm either going to make it or miss it,' and luckily I made it."

Clines scored a team-high 10 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer in the last minute of the game, to lead Heritage (9-13, 4-6).

Heritage coach Tom Olsen's seemingly slow-and-steady approach to the game paid off as his team earned its fourth conference win

The team limited Bentonville's possessions by keeping the ball out of its playmakers' hands. The War Eagles took ample time off the clock each time the team came down the court on offense, refusing to rush a shot or force a pass that wasn't really there.

"We are a deliberate program, I'm not going to lie," Olsen said. "We always feel that if we have the ball, we have the advantage. Our guys did a great job in the first half that even though they weren't getting buckets, [Bentonville] had to play defense for a long time.

Ernesto Rodriguez, who is still recovering from an ACL tear, ran the Heritage offense during the game and helped orchestrate his team's comeback effort. The senior scored a layup to tie the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter, then hit a 3-pointer to cut Bentonville's lead to two after the Tigers went up by two possessions.

"We struggle to score when he's not out there," Olsen said.

Bentonville (18-5, 8-2) struggled from the free-throw line in the final minutes of the game, going 0-for-3. The Tigers had a chance to either tie or take the lead with 12 seconds left but missed two free throws.

"They kind of broke down a little bit, we got some open looks and were lucky enough to make them," Olsen said.

Rodriguez corralled the rebound off the second missed shot, forcing Bentonville to foul immediately. The Tigers would have to foul Heritage six more times before the War Eagles were in the bonus, which ran crucial time off the clock.

After the fourth foul, Clines broke free of his defender and scored a wide-open layup as time expired.

Bentonville had three players score for the team with Connor Deffebaugh leading the Tigers with 13 points and Colton Simmons knocked in three 3-pointers on his way to 10 points.

Heritage held Bentonville to its lowest scoring total of the season. The Tiger's previous low came in a 39-29 win against Craigmont on Dec. 29.

-- Alex Nicoll • Special to the NWA Democrat-Gazette

Rogers Heritage 8 4 13 10 -- 35

Bentonville 8 9 10 5 -- 32

Rogers Heritage (9-13, 4-6): Clines 10, Kimball 8, Quintanilla 7, Carpenter 4, Furuseth 3, Ingram 3

Bentonville (18-5, 8-2): Deffebaugh 13, Simmons 10, Freeman 9.

Bentonville West 62, Rogers High 49

Brothers Dawson and Dillon Bailey combined for 46 points as West led from start to finish and upset Rogers in King Arena.

Dawson Bailey had seven points as West (9-14, 3-7) took a quick 9-2 lead in the first 4½ minutes and finished with a game-high 23 points. Dillon Bailey scored six straight points to help the Wolverines pull away after Rogers (16-6, 6-4) had pulled with 54-49 on Drew Miller's three-point play with 1:45 remaining.

"My guys are playing inspired," West coach Greg White said. "For whatever reason, they've turned things around, and I can't be more proud of them.

"It feels like our program again. It's guys who are doing their role and doing what they are supposed to do. Dawson's had great games; Dillon had a great game. But we had minutes from everybody. We had guys come in and give us 3 seconds of defense, but the best 3 seconds they could give us."

West led 24-17 at halftime, then scored 14 straight points for a 38-18 lead with 2:03 left in the third quarter. The Wolverines entered the fourth quarter with a 41-24 cushion, but Rogers (16-6, 6-4) picked up a rare four-point play by Elliot Paschal before Miller's three-point play made things close.

Dillon Bailey finished with 21 for West, while Austin Conner added 13. Miller had 14 to lead Rogers before he fouled out, and Paschal chipped in 11.

-- Henry Apple • @nwahenry

West 12 12 17 21 -- 62

Rogers 5 12 7 25 -- 49

West (9-14, 3-7): Da. Bailey 23, Di. Bailey 21, Conner 13, White 3, Swoboda 2.

Rogers (16-6, 6-4): Miller 14, Paschall 11, Hobbs 8, Voigt 6, Rhame 4, Park 3, Uecker 3.

Fayetteville 59, Van Buren 42

Fayetteville (19-3, 10-0) endured a battle from Van Buren in the first quarter Friday night, then turned up the defensive pressure to win going away, keeping their 6A-West Conference record unblemished.

"We finally started making some shots and were able to get some offense out of our defense," Bulldogs coach Kyle Adams said. "That first quarter Ithoughth Van Buren did a good job of coming out and hitting us in the mouth, Coach (Austin) Trembly does a great job and had their kids ready to play.

"But I think our depth started wearing on them a little bit."

Junior Mari Newton scored 10 of his team-high 14 points for the Pointers in the first quarter, giving Van Buren a 19-17 lead.

After a layup by Brayden Gilmore put the Pointers up 23-22 midway through the second quarter, freshman Isaiah Releford spurred Fayetteville on a 12-2 run to end the first half, giving the Bulldogs a 34-25 lead at the intermission.

Releford scored 15 of his game-high 22 in the first half.

"I thought Isaiah really stepped up well when n one else was really shooting it well in the second quarter," Adams said. "But I though our kids really responded with our defense, particularly in the half-court. We guarded really well tonight."

Sophomore Tamaury Releford scored back-to-back buckets to start the second half, scoring six of his 10 points in the third quarter.

Senior Collin Cooper added 14 points for Fayetteville.

-- Steve Andrews • Special to the NWA Democrat-Gazette

Fayetteville 17 17 16 9 -- 59

Van Buren 19 6 9 8 -- 42

Fayetteville (19-3, 10-0): I. Releford 22, Cooper 14, T. Releford 10, Bowers 6, Garrett 4, Barnett 2, Askew 1

Van Buren (5-17, 1-9): Newton 14, Gilmore 13, Phillips 7, Brothers 5, Ball 3.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Springdale's Chops Sanders (10) looks to move around Har-Ber's Cole Bishop (14) Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, during the first half of play in Wildcat Arena in Springdale. Visit nwadg.com/photos to see more photographs from the games.

Sports on 02/09/2019

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