In the times of the virus, every opportunity to play should be cherished.
“With everything we’ve been through, it’s like I told the guys back in the summer, play any game you could,” said Bryant Hornets head basketball coach Mike Abrahamson.
The Hornets were “virused” out of playing at Little Rock Parkview on Friday night. Earlier this week, the Hot Springs Trojans were looking of a game on Friday and the Hornets took them up on it.
But, as it turned out, it was not the complete Trojans team.
“They were missing their two best players,” Abrahamson related. “Apparently, they’re sick.”
But not with the virus.
“They’ve got a guard that is really good, really hard to guard, really quick and explosive,” he said. “And they’ve got a 6’8” big guy. That’s their two best guys and they didn’t make the trip. We didn’t know. They played last night.”
As a result, the Trojans started four sophomores and, though they trailed just 18-9 after a quarter, were outscored 22-1 in the second period. The Hornets breezed to a 69-22 victory.
“It is a weird situation to play a game like that,” Abrahamson acknowledged. “Everybody got to play, and we got to not play some guys as much, which is just as valuable.”
The annual Saline County Shootout is next for the Hornets. They’ll travel to play the rival Benton Panthers on Tuesday.
Sophomore Darren Wallace came off the bench to score 15 points and grab eight rebounds, both leading figures for the Hornets. Starters Kade Ruffner and Aiden Adams added 14 apiece.
Senior star Camren Hunter finished with 8 points and six boards and didn’t play most of the second half.
Nasir Hannah led the Trojans with 7 points.
Bryant never trailed. Hunter hit a 3 then Jalen Montgomery drove for a layup off a steal by Ruffner.
Aamir Andrews drove for a basket for the Trojans but Will Diggins grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. Ruffner blocked a shot by Jimmy Brown and, at the other end, Diggins hit a free throw to make it 8-3.
Hot Springs was down just 12-8 with 2:24 left in the opening period. But Gabe George and Adams drained back-to-back triples and Bryant had its first double digit lead.
Ruffner started the second quarter with a three-point play off a feed from Nichols. Two free throws by Ruffner and a post-up bucket by Hunter made it 25-9.
The run turned into a 13-0 stretch. George popped another 3, Wallace scored off the offensive glass and George hit a free throw.
Hot Springs’ lone point of the period was Jimmy Brown’s free throw at the 3:27 mark. Wallace answered with a 3. Before the half was over, he would add a baseline jumper off a dish from Adams. Hunter got the assist on a Wallace layup the Adams popped a jumper from the elbow to extend the lead to 40-10 at the half.
Adams hit another triple early in the third quarter. Bryant’s lead was 47-15 with four minutes left in the period. Then Ruffner canned back to back 3’s and, after taking a charge on defense, Adams found the range.
Landyn Newburn’s steal led to a layup as the lead ballooned to 60-15.
It was 65-20 going into the fourth quarter.
HORNETS 69, TROJANS 22
Score by quarters
Hot Springs 9 1 10 2 — 22
BRYANT 18 22 25 4 — 69
TROJANS 22
Hannah 3-9 1-5 7, Grayer 1-7 1-2 3, J.Brown 1-4 1-4 3, Andrews 2-6 1-2 5, Walker 1-5 1-2 3, D.Brown 0-0 1-3 1, Felton 0-2 0-0 0, Roberts 0-1 0-2 0, Scott 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 8-34 (24%) 6-20 (30%) 22.
HORNETS 69
Ruffner 3-5 6-7 14, Hunter 3-6 1-2 8, Montgomery 1-3 0-0 2, Adams 5-8 0-0 14, Brunson 0-1 0-0 0, Diggins 1-1 3-4 5, Nichols 0-1 0-0 0, George 2-9 1-2 7, Newburn 1-3 0-0 2, Wallace 6-9 2-4 15, Gannaway 1-2 0-0 2, Lindsey 0-1 0-2 0, Fowler 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 23-49 (47%) 13-23 (57%) 69.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 10-25 (Adams 4-6, George 2-8, Ruffner 2-4, Wallace 1-4, Hunter 1-3), Hot Springs 0-5 (Grayer 0-3, Hannah 0-1, Brown 0-1). Turnovers: Bryant 10, Hot Springs 20. Rebounds:Bryant 39 (Wallace 4-4 8, Hunter 0-6 6, Diggins 2-3 5, Brunson 1-3 4, Lindsey 2-2 4, Ruffner 2-1 3, Adams 1-2 3, Newburn 1-1 2, Nichols 1-0 1, Fowler 0-1 1, team 0-2 2), Hot Springs 8-14 22 (Felton 2-3 5, Andrews 2-2 4, D.Brown 0-4 4, Hannah 1-1 2, Walker 1-1 2, Roberts 1-1 2, Grayer 0-1 1, J.Brown 1-0 1, team 0-1 1). Team fouls: Bryant 18, Hot Springs 19. Fouled out: Hot Springs, Andrews.
