The North Little Rock Charging Wildcats freshman team kept its hold on first place in the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference standings with a 45-37 win over the Bryant Hornets at Bryant Middle School on Thursday night.
The Hornets dropped to 9-9 overall and 3-3 in league play going into a non-conference game against the freshman at Little Rock Central on Monday. They return to league action on Thursday, Feb. 6 at home against Conway White.
That game will be back at the Bryant Junior High gym. The Hornets played for the first time this season at the BMS gym because of a scheduling conflict.
At their best this season, the Hornets have been able to create some chaos with their defense and they did that to an extent against North Little Rock, forcing 25 turnovers while committing just 14. But the Cats out-rebounded the Hornets 41-28. And, through three quarters, North Little Rock shot 52 percent from the field (15 of 29). For the game, the Hornets shot 25 percent from the field (14 of 56) including 2 of 20 from 3-point range.
“We really struggled putting the ball through the hole, pretty much throughout the game,” acknowledged Hornets coach Tyler Posey. “We had some chances there at the end to maybe cut it under 8, just kind of missed those. Just not quite finishing the plays.”
The Hornets trailed by 16 going into the final two minutes but the final difference was as close as they could get. They were 2 of 16 from the field in the final quarter and missed on all seven 3-point tries.
“Even though we didn’t play that well, we created a lot of turnovers,” Posey noted. “In the first half, when they started to build the lead, I thought we did miss a few of those shots that would have pulled us a little closer, some free throws and some shots there at the rim. That’s something we’ve talked about really focusing one. It just hasn’t translated yet.”
Both teams had 13 offensive rebounds, but the Cats did a better job of turning those into points.
Bryant was led by James Billingsley’s 10 points. Cory Nichols added 9 and Jordan Knox 8. No one else had more than 2.
“When you give up offensive rebounds there at the rim, they’re really going to have some good chances to finish,” Posey mentioned. “They were able to capitalize some of those that we were not able to.”
An 8-0 run in the second quarter gave the Cats their initial separation. They had a 6-4 lead early and a chance to increase it, but Braylon Montgomery made a steal that led to a trip to the free-throw line for Nichols. He converted once to cut the lead to 1.
Knox and Montgomery combined to force a turnover, but the Hornets were unable to cash in.
North Little Rock led 9-7 going into the second quarter.
They pushed the margin out to 15-7 but Billingsley drilled a 3 to make it 15-12.
That’s when North Little Rock’s surge began. It was 23-12 before Knox hit the offensive boards and scored to snap the Bryant dryspell. Nichols made a steal and scored, and it was 23-16.
A pair of free throws with :06.3 showing pushed the lead back to 9 at the break.
The Cats then opened the second half with a 9-0 burst. The Hornets kept after them but fell behind 40-23 going into the final minute of the period. Nasir Vinson ended another Bryant drought with :52 left. Billingsley then beat the buzzer with a 15-footer.
Still, the Hornets found themselves down 40-27.
And the Cats started the fourth quarter with a 5-2 push that created their 16-point advantage.
Knox hit the offensive glass for the Hornets with 1:55 to play. A turnover led to free throws by Nichols. He made the first and, when he missed the second, Darren Wallace got the ball and scored, trimming the margin to 11 and forcing a North Little Rock timeout.
With 1:17 left, Knox hit two free throws and the lead was in single digits. Another North Little Rock turnover was followed by three misfires for the Hornets. All they could muster in the final minute was a free throw by Nichols that set the final score.
CHARGING WILDCATS 45, HORNETS 37
Freshman
Score by quarters
No. Little Rock 9 16 15 6 — 45
BRYANT 7 9 7 10 — 37
CHARGING WILDCATS 45
Boyd 2-3 2-3 6, Withers 2-6 1-2 6, K.Robinson 4-6 0-2 8, Young 1-5 2-4 4, Jackson 8-15 3-3 19, Mills 0-4 0-0 0, Roland 0-0 0-0 0, Bryant 0-0 2-2 2, Frazier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-39 (44%) 10-16 (63%) 45.
HORNETS 37
Knox 3-10 2-4 8, Billingsley 3-11 2-2 10, Montgomery 1-2 0-0 2, Nichols 3-10 3-6 9, Wallace 1-10 0-0 2, Gannaway 1-4 0-0 2, Vinson 1-3 0-0 2, Gilmore 1-3 0-0 2, Russ 0-0 0-0 0, Baker 0-1 0-0 0, Reed 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 14-56 (25%) 7-12 (58%) 37.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 2-20 (Billingsley 2-10, Nichols 0-3, Wallace 0-3, Reed 0-2, Knox 0-1, Gilmore 0-1), North Little Rock 1-2 (Withers 1-1, Jackson 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 14, North Little Rock 25.Rebounds: Bryant 13-15 28 (Knox 4-2 6, Wallace 1-4 5, Nichols 2-2 4, Gannaway 1-3 4, Gilmore 2-1 3, Vinson 0-2 2, Billingsley 1-0 1, Baker 0-1 1, team 2-0 2), North Little Rock 13-28 41 (Jackson 4-8 12, Boyd 3-5 8, Young 3-3 6, K.Robinson 2-4 6, Withers 0-3 3, Bryant 0-2 2, Mills 1-0 1, team 0-3 3). Team fouls:Bryant 17, North Little Rock 11.
