Robinson’s buzzer-beater lifts Hornets into title game
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
FORT SMITH — When Fort Smith Northside’s Braylin McKinley tipped in a teammate’s miss to give his team a 48-47 lead over the Bryant Hornets, finishing off an 8-0 run in the last minute of the semifinal game of the annual Coke Classic at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith’s Stubblefield Center on Friday, Bryant head coach Mike Abrahamson called a timeout as quickly as he could.
There had been :08 left when McKinley hit the shot and when the clock was stopped, it showed :06.6. But the officials agreed that it should’ve been stopped with :07.5 left. So they reset the clock.
Good thing too.
The Hornets needed very 10thof a second. But, at the buzzer, Khalen Robinson drained a 3-pointer from the right wing to turn the tide. The Hornets celebrated a 50-48 victory and a bid to the finals of the tournament Saturday evening against the Pulaski Robinson Senators, who knocked off Fort Smith Southside in the other semifinal.
It was the first win over Northside for Bryant since the two teams became conference rivals a few years ago.
“We’ve been coming here for seven years and we’ve never played Northside or Southside with any of my teams,” Abrahamson noted. “It’s been kind of odd. You’d think we’d run into them.”
The two teams turn around and meet again to open play in the 6A-Central Conference at Bryant on Friday, Jan. 4.
“I’m sure it’ll be another battle,” Abrahamson said. “We actually played Tuesday and Friday of the same week (last spring) because of a snow-out.
“There’s a lot we can learn from this game,” he added. “And there’s a lot we did well. We did not finish well but there’s a lot we did well that we can point to.”
The teams were tied 24-24 at half despite the fact that Robinson, the team’s leading scorer on the season, had hardly played due to foul trouble. The Hornets were led by Rodney Lambert and Treylon Payne on offense and tough man-to-man defense that featured 6-7 post Catrell Wallace trying to negate Northside’s 6-10 Jaylin Williams.
In the second half, Williams, frustrated by Wallace’s defense along with the Hornets good help-side D, drew his third and fifth foul on offense, trying to muscle through Wallace on post-up moves.
Williams finished with 8 points and nine rebounds, just about the same stats he had at halftime. He picked up his fourth with 4:40 left in the third quarter and came out of the game with Bryant up 34-29. He returned with 5:30 to go in the game and the Hornets leading 43-34, the largest difference in the contest.
He didn’t last 30 seconds before he fouled out.
But that came during a stretch when the Hornets were struggling to put the game away. Against a three-quarter-court trap, they turned it over on four consecutive possessions. A period in which that 9-point edge was trimmed to 3. Only strong Bryant defense kept the Grizzlies from getting closer.
It seemed the Hornets had leveled off when Lambert, who led all scorers with 18 points, hit a layup off an inbounds pass. Northside’s Javon Releford missed the front end of a one-and-one and, at the other end, Payne hit a layup off a nice feed from Robinson to make it 47-40 with 1:47 left to play.
Bryant had two opportunities to push the lead further but, likewise, Northside had two chances to cut it before, with :48 left, Anthony Travis Jr., followed his own miss to start the Grizzlies’ rally.
The Hornets turned it over on three consecutive possessions against the intensified full-court pressure from Northside. Semonte Henderson hit a 3 to cut it to 47-45 with :34.6 to go. With :30.5 left, McKinley was fouled but missed the first of his two shots so, after he sank the second, the Hornets still led 47-46.
Another turnover, with :20 left, led to a Northside miss. But McKinley tipped it in with :08 to go to give Northside its first lead since the final minute of the first half.
After the Bryant timeout, Robinson pushed the ball up the floor against the pressure, got it to Camren Hunter in the corner, who looked at a shot, drew the defense then shuffled it back to Robinson for the game-winner.
“I think it started with our defense,” Abrahamson said of the third-quarter surge. “And the third quarter, we seemed to rebound a little bit better. We gave up 12 offensive rebounds in the first half.
“Defensively, we were really bothering them then offensively we were just handling the pressure,” he continued. “We didn’t turn it over. Now, that was the third quarter. Obviously, in the fourth quarter, we didn’t rebound, and we did turn the ball over.
“We’re glad to win but there’s a lot of teachable moments from that game,” the coach asserted. “In the end, as much as I was pleading for poise, Robinson, the very last play, showed it.”
A night after the Grizzlies had hit nine 3-pointers in a lopsided win over Pleasant Grove, Texas, they went just 3 of 20 beyond the arc against the Hornets.
“Last night sure worried me about that,” Abrahamson said. “They were bombs away last night. I’m going to give credit to our guys.”
The coach deployed his troops in man-to-man defense from start to finish.
“That’s what I prefer,” he related. “You’ve got to have the people to do it and that’s a credit to the kids. They can do it, can play it. They buy into it.”
The Griz built a 10-5 lead in the first quarter but Bryant cut that to 12-9 by the end of the period. Payne fed Wallace for a basket to start the second stanza and, after Williams scored, Payne buried a 3 to get the Hornets even 14-14.
After a Northside timeout, Travis Jr., scored off the offensive glass but Hunter followed his own miss to knot it again. Jermaulle Norwood untied it for the Grizzlies but when Lambert countered with his first 3 of the game, the Hornets held a 19-18 edge.
The lead seesawed the rest of the half. Williams hit two free throws with :35.1 left to put Northside up but Lambert found Payne for a layup with :22 left to knot it. Hunter made a steal before Northside could get a last-season shot away and they went to the locker rooms tied.
Robinson announced his return to the game with a second-half opening 3. Releford, who led Northside with 12 points, answered but a three-point play by Lambert not only put the Hornets ahead to stay until the final seconds but drew the third foul on Williams.
A drive by Payne made it 32-27. Williams answered but A.J. Jenkins popped a jumper from the high post.
After Williams picked up his fourth foul, Payne made a steal and layup. Travis answered but, with 1:46 left in the third, Lambert picked up a loose ball in the corner and hit a 3 to make it 39-31.
It was 39-34 by the end of the quarter, however.
Wallace made one of his three blocked shots early in the fourth quarter. Travis rebounded then turned the ball over and, at the other end, Hunter found Payne for a layup. With 5:30 left, Robinson connected on a pair of free throws as Williams returned to the game.
Williams added two free throws then the Grizzlies extended their trap and forced a Bryant timeout. The Hornets turned it over when play resumed but, on a move to the bucket, Williams went through Wallace for his fifth foul.
The Hornets, however, turned it over again and Releford hit a layup. Another turnover led to a trip in which Northside missed four shots before Robinson rebounded and was fouled.
Again, however, the Hornets turned it over and, this time, Releford hit the free throws that cut it to 3 with 2:45 left to play.
The Hornets improved to 8-3 with the victory.
HORNETS 50, GRIZZLIES 48
Score by quarters
BRYANT 9 15 15 11 — 50
FS Northside 12 12 10 14 — 48
HORNETS (8-3) 50
Payne 7-14 0-2 16, Kl.Robinson 2-4 2-2 8, Lambert 6-10 3-3 18, Jenkins 2-4 0-0 4, Wallace 1-1 0-0 2, Hunter 1-6 0-0 2, Ks.Robinson 0-2 0-0 0, Hall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals19-41 (46%) 5-7 (71%) 50.
GRIZZLIES (7-4) 48
Norwood 2-7 0-0 4, Gordon 0-6 0-0 0, Releford 4-14 2-3 12, Williams 2-7 4-4 8, McKinley 4-5 1-2 9, Henderson 1-2 0-0 3, Perry 0-0 0-0 0, Joe 1-2 0-0 2, Travis 3-6 2-4 8, Thorne 1-5 0-0 2. Totals18-54 (33%) 9-13 (69%) 48.
Three-point field goals:Bryant 7-13 (Lambert 3-3, Payne 2-6, Kl.Robinson 2-2, Ks.Robinson 0-1, Hunter 0-1), FS Northside 3-20 (Releford 2-8, Henderson 1-2, Norwood 0-4, Gordon 0-3, Joe 0-1, Travis 0-1, Thorne 0-1). Turnovers:Bryant 18, FS Northside 15. Rebounds:Bryant 9-15 24 (Wallace 0-5 5, Lambert 0-5 5, Hunter 4-0 4, Jenkins 1-1 2, Payne 0-1 1, Kl.Robinson 1-0 1, team 3-3 6), FS Northside 23-14 37 (Williams 5-4 9, Travis 4-3 7, McKinley 5-1 6, Thorne 3-0 3, Releford 1-1 2, Norwood 1-0 1, Gordon 0-1 1, Joe 0-1 1, team 4-3 7). Team fouls:Bryant 16, FS Northside 11.Fouled out:FS Northside, Williams.
