By Rob Patrick
Photos by Rick Nation and Kevin Nagle
Juniors Jordan Griffin and Brantley Cozart are the primary ball-handlers for the Bryant Hornets. They’re also the team’s leading scorers and they provide[more] the first line of defense against the opponent’s guards.
When they’re both on the floor — and they are most of the time — they can give each other a breather with the ball-handling. And when one of them needs a rest or gets into a little foul trouble, the other one can take over for a while which keeps them fresh at the end.
Cozart was coming off a 24-point performance in a close loss to 7A/6A-Central rival Cabot on Friday and had started the Hornets’ game at home against the North Little Rock Charging Wildcats with 11 points including 3 of 5 shooting from 3-point range going into the final two minutes of the first half.
But, on a steal by North Little Rock’s Josh Laster, Cozart sprinted back to try to contest a layup and went sailing into the all-too-close bleachers on the north end of the Hornets Nest, banging the ribs on his left side. He was forced to leave the game and, though he tried twice in the second half to come back, he wound up leaving the game both times clutching his side in pain.
That left Griffin to handle the ball under the pressure man-to-man defense by North Little Rock. And to his and the Hornets’ credit, they took North Little Rock, the second-place team in the league, to the hilt.
With :15.5 to play, Griffin, no doubt weary and having missed a pair of front ends earlier in the quarter, bore down and connected on two free throws to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 44-43. With :12.6 showing, Reggie Bryles converted a pair at the line for North Little Rock to make it a 3-point game and the Hornets worked the ball to get an open look from 3-point range. Using an effective screen by teammate Quinton Motto, Griffin got a look from the top of the key catching the Wildcats in a switch.
The shot looked golden but it rimmed out.
Jalen Green added a free throw and the Wildcats had escaped with a 47-43 win.
“I’m proud of my guys, playing hard and hanging in there,” stated Bryant head coach Mike Abrahamson. “Not having Brantley really hurt us. And I’m proud of him. He tried. He really wanted to be in there. There’s no question about his toughness and will to play. The kid dove head-first into the bleachers. He’s got to go get x-rays and he still tried to come back. But it definitely hurt us not having him. We made some turnovers down the stretch and we couldn’t quite execute some things because one of our best players was not around.
“They were really keying in on Jordan and we really wanted the ball in his hands,” he added. “That again is where Brantley really would’ve helped. We had a couple of possessions down the stretch where we couldn’t score, couldn’t get a good shot. We had to foul them. I still thought Jordan got a good look there at the end of the game, much better than at Russellville. He had an open shot and I’d take it again.”
And while the Russellville game came down to the end (a 33-31 road loss for the Hornets), playing well enough to have a chance to beat North Little Rock is further proof that the Hornets are continuing to improve as they continue to search for their first conference win.
“It’s just one of those things where we’re still trying to get over the hump,” Abrahamson said. “But I’m real proud of their effort, real proud of the way they played the game. That’s a very athletic team and impressive. Some of those kids look like men and play like men. And we hung with them.”
The Hornets got a big lift from sophomore Marcus Wilson who’s looking more and more comfortable in the starting lineup with each game. He was 4 of 6 from 3-pointer range, finishing with 13 points to go with Griffin’s 14 and Cozart’s 11.
North Little Rock, however, just got so many more opportunities. The Cats forced 18 turnovers and out-rebounded Bryant 31-24 with 15 of those 31 boards on the offensive end including some big ones in the late stages of the game.
In fact, the Hornets had a 36-32 lead with 3:58 to go. Wilson had put them up with a 3 and, after Bryles missed on a 3-point try, Griffin was fouled. Though he missed the front end, Logan Trudell made a steal for the Hornets and Houston Garner was fouled on a drive to the rack. He converted both shots to produce that 36-32 lead.
Laster hit a 3 but Griffin hit two free throws so Bryant held a 38-35 lead when North Little Rock’s Donovan Coleman grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled with 3:06 to go.
Coleman knocked down the first shot but missed the second only to have teammate Chris Campbell haul down the rebound. Campbell misfired but there was Coleman to grab the carom and score to tie the game.
With Griffin handling the ball out front, a disputed five-second call gave the ball back to North Little Rock and Campbell hit a layup to put his team up 40-38 with 2:24 to go.
After a timeout, Garner had a shot inside blocked by Campbell. Trudell tracked down the rebound and found himself open for a 3, which went down and came back out.
Green appeared to help the Hornets when he launched a 3 but Coleman gathered another offensive rebound. He drove to the basket but ran into Griffin, who took the charge to give Bryant a chance to tie it or take the lead.
Griffin tried to get inside for a shot and missed under duress. Bryles was fouled with :54.9 showing and missed the front end so badly that it careened off the front of the rim back to him at the left elbow. Bryant had to foul him again with :50.1 showing and, this time, he converted both ends to put his team up 42-38.
“We’re still only down two,” Abrahamson observed. “We get them to miss a one-and-one and they get the rebound. That’ll drive any coach crazy. We need to come up with those. I mean, that’s a chance.”
Wilson misfired on a 3 but Garner rebounded and got the ball to Motto at the hit post. He found Griffin who buried a trey that trimmed the lead to 42-41.
Abrahamson got a timeout to set up a press and, when play resumed, North Little Rock needed one to avoid a turnover. Bryles eventually converted two more free throws with :29.2 to play before Griffin’s pair at the :15 mark.
Bryles wound up hitting six straight from the line in the fourth quarter. He finished with 11 points while shooting just 1 of 11 from the field. He was 9 of 10 at the line. Campbell paced the Wildcats with 12 points.
The Hornets got down 7-2 to start the game but Cozart hit two free throws then his first triple to tie it at 7. A three-point play by Bryles and a layup by Tyree’s Hollister gave North Little Rock a 12-8 lead at the first break.
A layup by Motto off a nice dish from Wilson then another 3 by Cozart courtesy of an assist from Zach Cambron had the game tied at 13.
Cameron Williams hit two free throws but Wilson’s first trey gave the Hornets their first lead at 16-15 with 4:23 left in the half. And when Cozart scorched the net with another triple, Bryant led 19-15.
They had a chance to increase that margin after a pair of North Little Rock misses. That’s when Laster made his steal and Cozart was initially injured.
Coleman tied the game with a pair of free throws but Griffin canned a driving jumper with :23 to go and Bryant led 21-19. Coleman, however, beat the buzzer with a bucket that tied the game.
And it was still deadlocked midway through the third quarter. Griffin hit a free throw with 4:29 left in the period to make it 25-25. Bryles missed on a 3-point try and Wilson buried one off an assist by Griffin to put the Hornets ahead. Cody Ware hit two free throws for North Little Rock but Wilson found the range again to make it 31-27.
It was 31-30 going into the final period.Campbell gave North Little Rock the lead before Wilson struck again to put the Hornets up, setting the stage for the gut-punch finish for the Hornets.
Bryant, now 4-14 and 0-5 in conference play travels to Little Rock Central on Friday.
CHARGING WILDCATS 47, HORNETS 43
Score by quarters
North Little Rock 12 9 9 17 — 47
BRYANT 8 13 10 12 — 43
CHARGING WILDCATS (11-5, 4-1) 47
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Vines 0-2 0-0 0-1 1 2 0
Bryles 1-11 9-10 2-2 4 4 11
Green 0-2 1-2 0-2 2 1 1
Campbell 5-12 2-2 2-3 5 2 12
Coleman 2-4 4-6 3-2 5 5 8
Williams 0-4 4-8 4-2 6 0 4
Gibson 0-1 0-0 1-0 1 3 0
Hollister 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 0 2
Laster 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 5
Ware 1-1 2-2 0-2 2 1 4
Team 3-1 4
Totals 12-42 22-30 15-16 31 18 47
HORNETS (4-14, 0-5) 43
Player fg-fga ft-fta reb fls pts
o-d-t
Griffin 3-9 7-10 1-3 4 4 14
Cozart 3-5 2-2 0-3 3 2 11
Wilson 4-6 1-2 0-6 6 1 13
Garner 0-3 2-2 3-1 4 2 2
Motto 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 4 3
Cambron 0-0 0-2 0-3 3 4 0
Nossaman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Moore 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Trudell 0-1 0-0 1-0 1 2 0
Team 0-3 3
Totals 11-27 13-20 5-19 24 21 43
Three-point field goals: Bryant 8-18 (Wilson 4-6, Cozart 3-5, Griffin 1-4, Garner 0-2, Trudell 0-1), North Little Rock 1-9 (Laster 1-2, Bryles 0-3, Green 0-2, Campbell 0-2). Turnovers: Bryant 18, North Little Rock 10.
