Northside perseveres

7A-CENTRAL BOYS

FORT SMITH — Fort Smith Southside pushed its city rival Northside to the limit Friday but could not find a way to victory.

Isaiah Joe scored 23 points, including a perfect 17-of-17 from the foul line, to lead the Grizzlies to a 66-61 victory over the Mavericks in a 7A-Central game at the UAFort Smith Stubblefield Center.

The victory was the 11th consecutive for Northside (146, 5-1) over its rival and leads the all-time series 73-42. The Grizzlies also stay in a firstplace tie in the 7A-Central.

The Mavericks (10-10, 2-4) trailed 54-41 with four minutes to play, but climbed to within 60-57 with 41 seconds left on a steal and layup by Jaylin Coleman. Southside, though, could not get the one defensive stop to get a possession to potentially tie the game.

“Southside played a heck of a game and pushed us to the limit,” Northside interim coach Greg Scott said. “I was proud of our guys for withstanding that final Southside push in the final minute.”

Joe scored 14 points in the final period, including 12-of-12 from the foul line. He made four free throws in the final 30 seconds and teammate Noah Gordon put the game out of reach with a pair of foul shots with 1.9 seconds left.

Besides Joe, Northside’s offensive help came from the bench as Anthony Travis Jr. scored 14 points while Gordon added 13. Dylan Hamilton’s game-high 19 paced Southside.

Southside’s defense limited Northside to just 16-of-51 (31 percent) shooting from the field, including 2-of-17 from beyond the three-point arc. The Grizzlies, though, made 32-of-41 foul shots as well as forcing 20 turnovers.

The Mavericks led 15-9 after a quarter and after two Hamilton baskets in the second quarter, the lead was 19-9 with 7:18 left in the first half.

The Northside defense then held Southside to just one field goal the rest of the half while forcing seven turnovers. Anthony Travis scored six points to key the 15-2 run to give the Grizzlies a 24-21 halftime lead.