File photo by Rick Nation
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — At Bryant a week earlier, the Hornets and North Little Rock Charging Wildcats played a 6A-Central Conference game that was marked by offense with the Cats winning 70-64.
On Tuesday, in the rematch at North Little Rock, it was more of a defensive battle.
Trailing by 7 midway through the third quarter, the Charging Wildcats went on a 17-2 run that spurred them to a 58-50 victory.
Before the season began, Bryant head coach Mike Abrahamson stated that the Hornets would have to be good from the 3-point arc to be successful and, sure enough, they hit just 2 of 20 three-point shots in the game.
To start the game, it looked like a great opportunity for the Hornets to turn the tables on the Wilcats, who were without 7-foot center Kalel Ware. They took advantage of that with Camren Hunter scoring or drawing the defense and feeding inside to Will Diggins or Gavin Brunson.
Hunter finished with 17 points and eight assists. Diggins finished with 11 points and 10 boards. Brunson added 9 points.
In the second half, however, North Little Rock changed its defense, playing Hunter man up, helping with another defender then sliding a third defender inside to cut off the passing lanes to Diggins or Brunson.
It worked because of the Hornets’ futility on 3’s.
“Our offensive performance tonight wasn’t very good so credit to North Little Rock for making it real tough on us,” said Abrahamson. “I thought they did a really good job of taking us out of our comfort zone, just what we wanted to do. I still thought we got shots.
“We’re not going to win any games on going 2 for 19 or whatever from 3,” he acknowledged. “And one guy (Kade Ruffner) hit both of them.
“It’s easy to say, when you lose, if you made a few more shots, you play better but as good as D.J. Smith played tonight and as many offensive rebounds as they got in the second half, we held them to 58 as well. I would’ve liked our chances if you told me before the game, we would hold them to 58.”
Smith, who along with Hunter scored over 30 points in the previous meeting, scored 24 this time. He was the only North Little Rock player in double figures. And though he’s just 5’8” tall, he had 11 rebounds. The Wildcats’ 6’8” Ubon Etim collected 13 caroms. In all, North Little Rock had 15 boards at the offensive end.
The Hornets were held to 16 points in the second half, just 6 in the third quarter when the Cats surged into the lead.
“What we know about them is that, not only are they really good, but they have what I call a second wave, that when a game is close or when they’re down some, you have to withstand their second wave,” Abrahamson related. “We addressed that. We talked about that. That’s where we have to grow. We had a lead at halftime, and we couldn’t withstand their second wave. We didn’t handle it well.”
Along with the rebounding and the shooting struggles, the Hornets suffered 10 turnovers in the second half, after having just four in the first half.
“They’re taking decent shots but they’re just going and getting it,” Abrahamson said of North Little Rock’s rebounding. “They’re not concerned about the miss. They’re just going harder. And they’re going harder defensively. They see a guy that’s loose with the ball and they’re making them do something with it that we probably don’t want. So, turnovers hurt us some there in the second half. Credit to them. They made that stuff happen.”
North Little Rock led most of the first quarter. A three-point play by Brunson had the Hornets within 11-10 going into the final minute. A pair of baskets by Tracy Steele pushed it to 15-10 before Ruffner hit the first of his 3’s to make it 15-13 going into the second quarter.
Ruffner’s triple broke an 0-for-6 slump from the arc up to that point.
Etim picked up his second foul early in the second quarter, which left North Little Rock without a big man.
The Hornets took advantage with three inbounds plays from under their own basket. First, Gabe George got a layup. After North Little Rock’s Kaion Jackson followed his own miss, Brunson tied it at 17.
The Hornets took a 19-17 lead on an inbounds play to Brunson and, moments later, Hunter scored on another one.
Smith scored but Hunter answered. Another basket by George after Brunson had blocked a shot by Steele gave Bryant a 25-19 lead.
But Charles Maris knocked down a pair of 3’s on either side of a short jumper by Smith as North Little Rock rallied to take a 27-25 lead.
This time, the Hornets answered with a 9-0 run to close the half. George hit a 15-footer then Hunter drove and dished to Diggins on three consecutive trips up the floor. The last one came with :01 left and Diggins was fouled. When he had completed the three-point play, the Hornets held a 34-27 advantage.
The teams traded baskets for the first 4:25 of the third. A goaltending by Etim on a shot by Brunson gave Bryant a 40-33 lead.
But Bryant did not score the rest of the quarter. With Smith scoring 7 of his points to go with buckets from Steele and Jackson, the Wildcats took a 44-40 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Bryant missed all five of its 3-point tries in the third.
Hunter scored in the paint to start the fourth quarter, interrupting North Little Rock’s run. But Kareame Cotton hit a pair of free throws, Smith followed his own miss and, after Hunter blocked a shot by Cotton, Etim was there for the stickback to make it 50-42.
Hunter made a steal and was fouled at the basket. But he made only one of his free throws. After Steele misfired, Diggins got free inside for a basket as the Hornets closed the gap to 50-45.
And they forced a turnover to get a chance to get closer. But Hunter’s shot missed, and, at the other end, Smith drained a 3 to push the lead back to 8.
The lead ballooned to 13 at one point. Ruffner hit the Hornets’ second 3 with :29 left in the game. A Hunter layup at the buzzer set the final score.
The Hornets will try to bounce back on Friday when they host Conway.
CHARGING WILDCATS 58, HORNETS 50
Score by quarters
BRYANT 13 21 6 10 — 50
No.Little Rock 15 12 17 14 — 58
HORNETS (12-3, 4-3) 50
Nichols 0-2 0-0 0, Ruffner 2-6 1-2 7, Hunter 8-19 1-2 17, Adams 0-7 0-0 0, Diggins 5-8 1-3 11, Brunson 4-5 1-1 9, Schroeder 0-1 0-0 0, Fowler 0-0 0-0 0, Newburn 0-0 0-0 0, George 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 22-52 (42%) 4-8 (50%) 50.
CHARGING WILDCATS (12-1, 6-1) 58
Steele 4-15 1-2 9, Smith 10-21 1-2 24, Maris 2-4 0-0 6, Etim 3-4 0-0 6, Wade 2-4 0-0 5, Cotton 0-3 2-2 2, Jackson 3-8 0-0 6, Davis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-60 (40%) 4-6 (67%) 58.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 2-20 (Ruffner 2-5, Hunter 0-6, Adams 0-4, Nichols 0-2, Diggins 0-1, Schroeder 0-1, George 0-1), North Little Rock 6-18 (Smith 3-6, Maris 2-4, Wade 1-2, Steele 0-3, Cotton 0-1, Jackson 0-1, Davis 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 14, North Little Rock 10. Rebounds: Bryant 9-22 31 (Diggins 3-7 10, Ruffner 2-6 8, Hunter 0-4 4, Schroeder 1-1 2, Nichols 0-1 1, Brunson 0-1 1, Fowler 1-0 1, team 1-0 1), North Little Rock 15-25 40 (Etim 4-9 13, Smith 5-6 11, Jackson 5-1 6, Steele 0-3 3, Wade 0-3 3, Maris 0-1 1, Cotton 0-1 1, team 1-1 2). Team fouls: Bryant 9, North Little Rock 12.
