File photo by Rick Nation
FORT SMITH — Camren Hunter finished one assist shy of a triple double and Kade Ruffner poured in 18 points as the Bryant Hornets shot down the Fort Smith Northside Grizzlies at Kaundart Arena on Tuesday. The Hornets hit 11 3-pointers on the way to a 66-56 win that was 19-point game going into the last four minutes.
Gamely, Northside rallied and got within 64-56 in the closing minute before Hunter hit a pair of free throws with :08.6 left to seal the victory.
Bryant improved to 14-3 overall this season, 6-3 in the 6A-Central Conference going into Friday’s home contest against Little Rock Catholic.
Hunter finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Aidan Adams broke out of a slump with 11 points including a trio of triples. Will Diggins made it four Hornets in double figures with 10. Ruffner had eight boards to go with his 18 points along with four blocked shots.
Northside’s 6’9” senior Tamuary Releford led his team with 13 points and eight boards. Jacob Joe had 11 points.
“I wish we would’ve finished a little bit better but, you know, credit to Northside for that,” said Hornets head coach Mike Abrahamson. “They’re a good team and this is a tough place to play. They didn’t quit.”
As usual, Abrahamson’s initial comments were about his team’s defense. The Hornets held Northside to 36 percent shooting (22 of 61) which was aided by the late flourish.
“Until the end, we did a really good job on Releford,” he noted. “When he comes off the bench, he’s their main guy they go to. We had a good balance of guarding the perimeter and making it hard on their shooters while also keeping Releford from the slot where he likes to get it, until late.
“And that’s a lot to do with the officiating,” he added. “And I don’t mean that in a negative way to bash the officials. It’s just that some officials will let you guard them a certain way and you can kind of do some things. Then, other officials don’t. And you have to adjust. He’s a really tough match-up.”
But the coach’s comments about the good shooting night for the Hornets was interesting.
“We were able to get good rhythm shots,” he said. “We shared the ball well. The first half, we had 14 field goals and 11 assists. We like to share the ball. I like to see that kind of statistic.
“I just think it’s the stuff that happens before the shot, how we get the shot that we’re taking,” he explained further. “I think that when we play well, we play with a certain rhythm and a certain sharing of the ball. There were a lot of extra ‘one-more’ passes going on tonight, a lot of in-and-out passes.
“When Northside started coming back, we were one-pass quick 3’s and that took us out of our rhythm,” he continued. “The ball has energy. So, when we share the ball, the ball gives us energy. So, I don’t have to necessarily shoot the ball as long as I’m touching the ball.
“So, when we went kind of cold there and Northside started making their run, we weren’t sharing the ball the same way as when we were making shots. When the guys start making shots, they start to take these heat-check shots. We just need to stick to what got us there and keep sharing the ball and trusting each other.
“I understand, if you start making shots and you feel like you’re not going to miss,” the coach added. “But what happens is, you miss, and your other guys haven’t touched the ball, they don’t go after the offensive rebound in the same way and then they may not get back on defense the same way because the ball is energy. You don’t have to shoot it, but you’ve got to touch it. That’s why we like to share it so much.”
The Hornets never trailed in the game after Ruffner took a feed from Drake Fowler and hit a 3 to open the scoring. Hunter dished to Diggins inside to make it 5-0.
After Ian Hardwick got Northside on the board nearly halfway through the quarter with a three-point play, Austin Schroeder and Adams popped treys to make it 11-3 and forcing a Grizzlies’ timeout.
Joe hit a 3 and, after a basket by Gavin Brunson inside for Bryant, Dae’Marion Savoy threw in a shot from beyond midcourt at the buzzer to make it 13-9.
Hunter, Ruffner and Gabe George drilled triples early in the second quarter and the Hornets had doubled the Grizzlies up, 22-11.
It was 24-16 then Hunter hit a short jumper, George canned a trey, Ruffner blocked shots on consecutive trips up the floor and Diggins cashed in inside. A layup by Ruffner had the Hornets ahead 35-16 with just under two minutes left in the half.
Savoy hit a free throw then the Hornets worked for the last shot of the half. The ball was knocked out of bounds under the Bryant basket with :00.2 showing. Landyn Newburn inbounded the ball to Hunter, who caught the high pass and shot it in one motion. Despite protests from the Northside coaches, the basket counted, and Bryant took a 35-17 lead to the locker room.
Savoy drove for a basket to start the third quarter, but Fowler added to the 3-point barrage. A three-point play by Savoy was countered by back-to-back hoops by Diggins to make it 40-22.
The teams traded baskets as the lead went from 15 to 17. It was 44-29 with just under three minutes left in the quarter. Ruffner took a kick-out from Brunson for a 3 then Cory Nichols dished to Adams for 3 more and the lead was 50-29. Adams hit another 3 before the quarter was over as the lead ballooned to its apex at 22.
Releford scored twice in the final minute of the third quarter, which ended with Bryant up 53-35. Then he added the first bucket of the fourth. But the lead was still 16. Hunter hit a turnaround jumper and, after Joe drove for a bucket, Adams took a charge on a Releford drive then the Hornets sliced through the Grizzlies press for a layup by Diggins off an assist by Fowler to make it 57-39.
It was 64-45 when Northside began its ill-fated rally.
“It was a good team effort from a lot of guys,” Abrahamson said. “Everybody (11 deep) that got in contributed. We have a problem on our team but it’s a good problem. It makes it hard on me. We have a lot of guys that can contribute and a lot of guys that get out here and perform and it’s hard to find them all minutes right now. But we’ll work through it.”
HORNETS 66, GRIZZLIES 56
Score by quarters
BRYANT 13 22 18 13 — 66
FS Northside 9 8 18 21 — 56
HORNETS (14-3, 6-3) 66
Fowler 2-4 0-0 5, Nichols 0-2 0-0 0, Ruffner 7-11 1-1 18, Hunter 4-9 2-2 11, Diggins 4-6 2-6 10, Schroeder 1-7 0-0 3, Adams 4-8 0-0 11, Brunson 1-3 0-0 2, George 2-4 0-0 6, Wallace 0-1 0-0 0, Newburn 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 (45%) 5-9 (56%) 66.
GRIZZLIES (8-10, 4-5) 56
Joe 4-16 2-2 11, Hardwick 3-8 1-1 7, Savoy 3-7 2-3 9, Whitmore 2-5 1-1 5, Wright 2-5 1-1 5, Releford 6-13 1-2 13, Catsavis 0-2 0-0 0, Roper 1-4 0-0 3, Coats 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 22-61 (36%) 8-10 (80%) 56.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 11-30 (Ruffner 3-7, Adams 3-7, George 2-3, Schroeder 1-6, Hunter 1-3, Fowler 1-2, Nichols 0-1, Diggins 0-1), FS Northside 4-17 (Joe 1-7, Roper 1-4, Savoy 1-2, Coats 1-1, Hardwick 0-2, Catsavis 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 11, FS Northside 11. Rebounds: Bryant 9-29 38 (Hunter 0-10 10, Ruffner 3-5 8, Diggins 2-4 6, Schroeder 0-3 3, Adams 1-2 3, Fowler 0-2 2, Brunson 1-1 2, Nichols 1-0 1, George 0-1 1, team 1-1 2), FS Northside 11-26 37 (Releford 5-3 8, Savoy 0-7 7, Roper 0-4 4, Hardwick 1-2 3, Wright 1-2 3, Joe 1-2 3, Catsavis 1-2 3, Whitmore 1-1 2, Coates 0-1 1, team 1-2 3). Team fouls: Bryant 12, FS Northside 9.
