Hornets subdue Magnolia, 46-27
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
FOUKE — Bryant High School basketball coaches Leo Olberts and Chad Withers traveled all the way to Haynesville, La., to scout the Magnolia Panthers in advance of their game against them Tuesday at the Fouke Classic.
And it was worth it.
Olberts and Withers had the Hornets so well prepared that they knew about what the deliberate Panthers were trying to do offensively as soon as their head coach Marvin Lindsey called a play.
Bryant held Magnolia to just 11 points in the second half on the way to a 46-27 victory. The Hornets improved to 9-2 on the season, eclipsing their eight-win season in 1998-99.
“The key to the game was our defense,” Olberts stated. “We had a pretty good idea of what they were going to do. We knew what we had to take away and the guys did a great job of doing it. (Magnolia) has one guy (Ben Lindsey) that, as a general rule, scores about half their points. He usually has 25 or 30 points a game but we held him to 10 and he didn’t score in the second half.
“Most of the game, we played man-to-man,” Olberts noted. “Matt Brown was on (Lindsey) most of the ballgame. He did a really good job on defense and Matt also hit a couple of 3-pointers when things were close. He probably had his best game all year.”
Brown scored all 8 of his points in the third quarter when the Hornets created some separation. They had led just 10-8 after a quarter then 19-16 at the half. Midway through the third quarter, sparked by Brown, the Hornets surged ahead and took a 33-21 lead into the final period.
Magnolia rallied to within 13 late and had a chance to get closer, but the Hornets held on by hitting a few free throws that improved their numbers for the game to 9-of-20 from the line.
“Jared Thomas had one of his better games,” Olberts mentioned.
Thomas finished with 12 points and five rebounds. Matt Thornton and Nathan James each added 9 with James gathering a team-high six rebounds. Tad Beene, one of the Hornets’ top scorers for the season, was held to 5 points but Brown helped take up the slack. Ben Olberts added a bucket and Jermaine Smith contributed a free throw.
“It was a game where you didn’t get that many possessions,” Olberts said. “(Magnolia) really worked the ball. That’s why it was important for us to have the lead in the second half. With them, when you’re down by 6 or 7, it’s like being down 12 or 14 to most teams because they’ll just hang onto the ball and shorten the game.
The Hornets were guilty of only nine turnovers. Magnolia committed just six as both teams were efficient with the ball.
“We played man-to-man to try to force a little quicker tempo,” Olberts added. “We kind of knew what they were going to do against the man and we were able to take away their first and second options most of the time. I think it frustrated them a little bit. (Lindsey) had a hard time getting shots off and that was kind of frustrating.
“But they play really good defense, too,” the coach mentioned. “We had to be patient to get a good shot off. They switched up their defenses and a lot of times we weren’t really sure what they were playing. They changed about every time down the floor. It took us awhile to get going.”
The Hornets hardly took a break during the Christmas holiday. Olberts admitted that was tough, but added that he felt it was paying dividends.
“Our defense has really come along the last couple of weeks,” he noted. “That’s the one thing, I feel like, has become so much better than last year, is defense. We do a pretty good job of getting after people.”
The Hornets were set to travel to Arkadelphia Thursday before visiting Cabot on Tuesday, Jan. 4, for their final non-conference contest.
