Timely start carries West to victory

SPRINGDALE — Greg White wasn’t banking on an easy victory in Bulldog Gymnasium, even if Bentonville West jumped out to a 16-0 lead to start Friday night’s game.

Springdale made things interesting in the second half, but the Wolverines held off the Bulldogs enough to complete a five-game stretch in eight days with a 59-53 victory and maintain their lead in the 6A-West standings.

“They know what’s at stake,” White said. “I just told them, ‘five games in eight days, in this league and at this level, and win all five, I’ll call somebody and try to run one right now. We’re beat up and banged up, but we’ve got dudes.”

West (23-2, 12-1 6A-West) had its lead cut to 31-28 on Carson Tangness’ bucket with 3:38 left in the third quarter, and Springdale (19-7, 8-4) missed a chance to tie the game on a three-pointer moments later. The Bulldogs were within 4037 on Courtland Muldrew’s three-pointer just before the third quarter ended, then had a turnover to start the final 8 minutes.

The Wolverines wouldn’t allow another chance for their lead to disappear. West scored the next eight points and extended their lead to 48-37 on Tucker Anderson’s bucket with just under 5 minutes remaining, and Springdale couldn’t get any closer than the final margin.

“All the guys were good,” White said. “They’re talented and make shots, but I’ll take my guys and roll with it.”

The Wolverines jumped out to the early lead while Muldrew, who finished the game with 33 points and was the only Springdale player in double figures, didn’t start and sat on the Springdale bench for undisclosed reasons. He then entered the game at the 1:41 mark in the first quarter — the same time Anderson sat on the West bench after he picked up his second foul.

Even without Anderson, the Wolverines extended their lead to 25-8 on consecutive three-pointers by Jaxson Brust and Zahir James, who finished with 19 points off the bench. Springdale, quickly went on a 10-1 run run and pulled within 26-18 on Muldrew’s three-pointer before James hit a free throw with 40 seconds before halftime.

“It had to get under 10 before Anderson came back in,” White said. “We play a lot of numbers, and we know he’s not going to foul out. With what we have at stake, we were trying to milk some minutes out of people and give him a rest. Did we want to win? Yes. Did we have to win? No. We’re not in must-wins for another three weeks.

“Zahir James steps up, and he should be getting more phone calls. That guy was special. We have guys that know how to win, and when it’s winning time they find ways to win.”

Anderson finished with 20 to lead West, which leads HarBer by two games with three games remaining, while Dawson Price added 14.