North Little Rock's Collin Moore shed a few tears prior to the start of Friday's home game against Fort Smith Northside, but it was the Grizzlies who experienced heartbreak in the end.
The hosts needed a huge fourth quarter rush to send the game into overtime and got timely shots from that point on to pull out a 65-64, 6A-Central Conference victory in their home finale at Charging Wildcats Arena.
"To battle and battle the way we did ... that says a whole lot about this group," North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice said. "We didn't play well, and [Northside] controlled the pace for most of the game. But we told the guys at halftime, we have to change the tempo.
"We missed free throws, weren't getting the 50-50 balls, but we just kept fighting. These seniors, in their final home game, they really led the way in this one, though."
North Little Rock (21-6, 9-3) had to play from behind for most of the game, but the Charging Wildcats found their footing just in time to run its winning streak over Northside to five games. Senior forward Shawn Fudge scored 17 points and grabbed 6 rebounds for the Charging Wildcats. His classmate, point guard Decorey Watkins, had 14 points while Moore, another senior, finished with 13 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists. It was Watkins' free throw with 6.5 seconds left in regulation that sent the game into overtime. The trio accounted for 29 of North Little Rock's 37 second-half points, including 24 in a row at one point.
"It was an emotional night for those guys," Rice said. "But what I love more than anything for them is that they care about the program, they care about each other. The gave it everything they had in this one, just left it all out there on the floor."
Despite their efforts, the Grizzlies still nearly left with a key road victory.
Northside trailed 65-62 when guard Jacob Joe was fouled on a three-point attempt with 0.4 seconds left in overtime. The sophomore missed the first free throw and hit the second to cut its deficit to one. He intentionally tried to miss the third one, but it went in anyway. North Little Rock was then able to get the ball inbounded quickly to win.
Junior center Jaylin Williams had 16 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks for Northside (16-10, 7-5), which led 33-28 at halftime and 49-39 two minutes into the fourth quarter before costly turnovers allowed North Little Rock to get back in it. Senior guards Javion Releford and Anthony Travis had 16 and 12 points, respectively.
"I thought we outplayed them the whole game, but we just didn't finish at the end," Northside Coach Eric Burnett said. "But I told the guys afterwards that I like where we're at. We've just gotta get better and finish these games out when we have teams down."
Sports on 02/16/2019