FORT SMITH -- Little Rock Catholic junior Sam Hannah got the offense going early behind the three-point line, then the Rockets were able to hold on late Friday night at Kaundart-Grizzly Fieldhouse.
Hannah scored a team-high 17 points, including 5 three-pointers, for Catholic to help lead the way in a 55-50 victory against Fort Smith Northside in a 6A-Central Conference matchup.
"Winning on the road in the 6A-Central is hard to do against anybody," Catholic Coach Todd Ezzi said. "It is really hard here at Northside. They are a really good team. But luckily our guys hit some shots."
Catholic (10-6, 1-2) led 32-24 at the half.
"We didn't come in expecting to shoot that well," Ezzi said. "When they started to feel it, you could tell it was getting contagious."
Trailing 44-37 heading into the final quarter, Northside (11-6, 2-1) was finally able to get going offensively. The Grizzlies grabbed their first lead at 45-44 on Semonte Henderson's basket with 3:27 remaining. Catholic, however, scored 11 of the game's final 16 points.
Junior guard Charles Daniel, who finished with 13 points, scored five of the team's last six points.
A three-point basket from Josh Dawson gave the Rockets a 49-48 lead with 1:25 left. Daniel then hit a shot with 34 seconds remaining that put the Rockets on top 53-50 before two turnovers in the final 30 seconds ended the Grizzlies' hopes.
"I was really proud of the guys," Ezzi said. "It would've probably been easy for the guys after losing the first two conference games to step back. But our guys are tough. This is a display of that toughness and getting better. We are excited to continue conference play."
Northside was led by junior Jaylin Williams, who had a game-high 19 points.
Sports on 01/12/2019