NORTH LITTLE ROCK — After three quarters, the Bryant Blue Hornets eighth grade team of Bethel Middle School led the tough North Little Rock Gold team, 35-32, but they just couldn’t hold off North Little Rock’s fourth-quarter surge and wound up absorbing a 46-41 loss on Thursday night.
“I thought our kids played extremely hard,” said Bryant Blue coach Steve Wilson. “We were in the game up to the very end. I think this team has shown a lot of improvement.”
Brooks Edmonson had 4 points and Zach Foote 3 in the first quarter as the Hornets staked out a 13-11 lead going into the second period.
In the second quarter, Foote added 4 points and Isaac Devine hit a 3 as part of a 5-point quarter. But North Little Rock Gold surged to a 28-22 lead by the break.
The Hornets, however, held the Wildcats to just 4 points in the third quarter and pushed ahead. Demetrius Sanders pumped in 6 points in the quarter. Jaylen Williams scored 5 and Edmonson had another basket.
But Bryant Blue was held to 6 points in the final stanza as the Wildcats surged to victory.
Sanders finished with 11 points in the game. Foote added 9 and Williams 8. Edmonson pitched in with 6, Devine 5. Chase McCormick and Joshua Blackmon pitched in with 2 each.
The Hornets are set to return to action at Lake Hamilton on Thursday, Jan. 18.
