By Rob Patrick
MORRILTON — The Bryant Hornets freshman team finished with a 9-2 rush to make their 2010-11 season debut a success, 42-37, over the Morrilton Devil Pups on Monday, Nov. 8.
The surge was ignited by point guard C.J. Rainey who hit two free throws with 2:48 left to cut Morrilton’s lead to 35-34. He followed up with a driving layup to give the Hornets the lead with 1:57 showing.
Bryant forced a turnover that Chase Christie turned into points with a drive down the lane for a layup. After a pair of Morrilton misses, Hunter Holder converted both ends of a one-and-one opportunity at the free throw line to make it 40-35 with :38.2 showing.
Morrilton cut the margin to 3 with :15.3 to go but Rainey sealed it with a pair of free throws at the :13.3 mark.
The 2010-11 Bryant Hornets freshman team includes Phillip Barnett, Dakota Besancon, Chase Christie, Brandon Cranford, Cedarrian Crosby, Evan Davis, Trevor Ezell, Greyson Giles, T.J. Hall, Austin Hammonds, Hunter Holder, Matt Jernigan, Spencer Kilgore, Slade Lewis, Madre London, Dylan Masters, Davis Nossaman, Gray Orman, Garrett Phillips, C.J. Rainey, Brian Reed, Mitchell Scoggins, Caleb Strain and Christian Washington.[more]
Rainey led the Hornets with 10 points in the game. Madre London added 9, Greyson Giles 8 and Holder 5.
“We’ve got to become a lot more disciplined,” stated Hornets coach Steve Wilson, who has only had the full team for practice for about a week after football season concluded. “We tried to play one-on-one moves and didn’t really score off the offense much. The press hurt us. We didn’t really get anything set up to break the press.
“But that’s a week into the season,” he noted. “We haven’t had time to work on a lot of things. We’ve got to keep working and get better. The thing is, with all those things we did wrong, we were still able to win.”
The Hornets led for all but a moment in the first half and had built a lead of 28-19 in the third quarter before the Pups caught fire and finished the period with an 11-0 run that included a trio of 3-pointers including one with :20 left to give them a 30-28 lead going into the final period.
Orman tied it with a 12-foot jumper off a feed from Giles. After a Morrilton hoop, Raney hit a free throw and Strain followed up with a driving layup that gave the Hornets a 33-32 lead.
But another 3 had the Pups back on top with three minutes to go. Another free throw by Rainey as he continued to attack the basket, cut the margin to 1 and started Bryant’s closing surge.
Morrilton scored the first two points of the game on a pair of free throws but Bryant tied it on a bucket by London and took the lead on a drive by Rainey who made a steal. Giles hit the offensive glass to make it 6-2.
After the Pups cut the margin to 2, Giles beat the buzzer ending the first quarter with the first of his two 3-pointers, making it 9-4.
London hit a 3 early in the second quarter that had the Hornets up 12-6 but Morrilton answered with an 8-1 run that was interrupted only by a free throw by Rainey after he’d made a steal.
Trailing 14-13, the Hornets turned the ball over but Morrilton was unable to take advantage. At the other end, London canned a baseline jumper as Bryant regained the advantage. Scoggins, following his own miss, went to the line and converted twice then Giles ripped his second trey to pump the margin up to 20-13.
It was 21-17 at the half. A tip in by Christie started the third-quarter scoring and when London followed a Morrilton bucket with a baseline drive and Holder buried a triple from the corner, the Hornets had their largest lead at 28-19 before the Dogs got hot to end the period.
The Hornets get some time to practice a little more before they play again. They’re set to take on Little Rock J.A. Fair on Monday, Nov. 15, at 7:45 p.m., to open play in the Bryant Invitational Tournament.
JUNIOR HORNETS 42, DEVIL PUPS 37
Score by quarters
BRYANT 9 12 7 14 — 42
Morrilton 4 13 13 7 — 37
JUNIOR HORNETS 42
Ezell 0-1 0-0 0, Crosby 0-1 0-0 0, Christie 2-7 0-0 4, Scoggins 0-4 2-2 2, Holder 1-2 2-2 5, Orman 1-1 0-0 2, London 4-7 0-0 9, Besancon 0-0 0-0 0, Rainey 2-7 6-10 10, Giles 3-10 0-0 8, Nossaman 0-0 0-0 0, Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Jernigan 0-0 0-0 0, Strain 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 14-41 10-14 42.
DEVIL PUPS 37
Marc.Swinton 1-2 0-2 3, Polk 3-15 0-1 7, Foster 2-3 2-6 6, Donald 0-1 0-0 0, Brockman 2-7 2-2 6, Hawkins 1-2 0-0 2, Calvin 3-8 1-2 9, Criswell 1-1 0-0 2, Bingham 0-1 0-0 0, Cheek 0-0 0-0 0, Haynie 0-0 0-0 0, Marq.Swinton 1-2 0-0 2, Delph 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-42 5-13 37.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 4-8 (Giles 2-3, Holder 1-2, London 1-1, Christie 0-1, Rainey 0-1), Morrilton 4-12 (Calvin 2-3, Polk 1-4, Marc.Swinton 1-1, Brockman 0-3, Bingham 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 14, Morrilton 15. Rebounds: Bryant 30 (Christi 8, Scoggins 5), Morrilton 30 (Hawkins 6). Team fouls: Bryant 15, Morrilton 18. Fouled out: Bryant, Crosby.
