NLR passes ‘test’ after horrid start
6A-CENTRAL BOYS
NORTH LITTLE ROCK 70, FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 62
A red-hot start by No. 2 Fort Smith Northside nearly took the starch out of topranked North Little Rock on Friday, but the Charging Wildcats rose to the occasion just in time to pick up a key 6A-Central conference victory.
North Little Rock used a 13-0 run at the end of the third quarter to tie the game before pulling away in the fourth to beat the Grizzlies 70-62 at Charging Wildcat Arena.
Senior forward Spencer Simes had 21 points and 8 rebounds while senior guard Craig Collier scored all 13 of his points after halftime for North Little Rock (14-3, 5-0 6A-Central), which couldn’t have played much worse than it did in the first eight minutes of the game. The Charging Wildcats turned the ball over 7 times, hit just 4 of 15 shots and were outrebounded 12-5 in the quarter.
Northside (14-5, 4-1) opened up by hitting 9 of its first 13 shots and committed just 1 turnover to grab a 21-8 after the first quarter.
“We didn’t have any urgency about us at all,” North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice said. “It all starts on the defensive end. They run a bunch of stuff to get Jaylin [Williams] the ball in certain spots, and we worked on things to not allow that to happen beforehand. But he was able to go, cut and get the ball wherever he wanted. “[Jacob] Joe got loose by hitting shots, and they were beating us down the floor. It was just a terrible start.”
The Grizzlies increased their advantage to 32-10 with 4:09 showing before halftime after a short jumper by Williams. The 6-10 senior, who’s committed to the University of Arkansas, finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Joe, a junior guard, ended with 17 points, and senior Garrett Keller had 13.
The Charging Wildcats slowly began shaving points off their deficit by executing on everything Rice noted they didn’t do in the opening quarter. North Little Rock finished the half on an 11-3 run to get within 35-21.
Northside thwarted a pair of rallies in the third quarter and led 48-35 after a bucket by senior forward Braylin McKinley with 1:34 remaining. Once Williams went to the bench with his third foul, North Little Rock ramped up its defense and scored the last 13 points to knot the score at 48-48.
“When Jaylin picked up those fouls, it changed everything,” Northside Coach Eric Burnett said. “It was mind-boggling when we’re playing a zone, and there’s seven fouls on us and two on them. That’s kind of frustrating to me.
“Those fouls killed us, but it is what it is.”
The Charging Wildcats led 52-48 after a pair of free throws from sophomore center Kelel Ware with 7:19 remaining, but the Grizzlies regained the edge three possessions later after five points from Williams. A three-pointer from Collier put the Charging Wildcats back in front with 4:35 to go, and they never trailed again.
“We finally turned things around,” Rice said. “We’ve got a lot of weapons, and it could be someone different to step up each night. We started getting the ball inside, Craig hit shots on the perimeter, Spencer was battling in the paint.
“When you get down 22 points, that’s a test. But I told the guys after it was over that they passed it.”
Senior center Laityn Sheppard had 10 points and 6 boards, and Ware contributed 10 points, 8 rebounds and 6 blocks for North Little Rock.