Hutchinson, Bentonville High bounce back for win

BENTONVILLE HIGH 56, EARLE 53

HARRISON — Asa Hutchinson IV sat on the Bentonville High bench most of the first half Thursday afternoon and stewed after he picked up a pair of quick offensive fouls.

The senior forward made up for it in the second half with 15 points and led a short-handed Tigers team to a hard-fought 56-53 victory over two-time defending Class 2A state champion Earle during the opening round of the 29th annual Lendel Thomas Classic in Goblin Arena.

“I was pretty mad about it, but this is a team game,” Hutchinson said. “I was focused on the team and helping my teammates. Although I wasn’t in the game, I was in the game mentally and ready to play.”

Hutchinson’s bucket with 3 minutes, 8 seconds remaining gave Bentonville (6-3) the lead for good, then he followed two Max Chambers free throws with a three-point play for a 55-49 cushion with 2:11 remaining. Jaylen Thomas, however, picked up a pair of steals and converted them to layups to pull Earle (8-3) to within 55-53 with 15 seconds left.

Hutchinson then hit one of two free throws to make it a three-point game with 9.5 seconds on the clock, and he had a hand in the face of Kevon Smith as a game-tying 3-pointer went off the mark.

“Earle does a lot of great things, and this a good win for our team,” Bentonville coach Dick Rippee said. “We had a lot of guys step up, and that’s what we challenged them to do. It’s always unfortunate when you lose one of your best players, but you find ways to make it positive.”

Earle was in the middle of 12-0 run when Hutchinson picked up offensive fouls on back-to-back possessions and had to leave the game with less than 4 minutes gone. The Bulldogs had six 3-pointers over the first 10 minutes, and Travonta Doolittle’s third of the first half gave Earle its biggest lead, 24-11, with 6:38 left in the first half.

Bentonville, already without Michael Shanks for the entire tournament with a hip injury, turned to its bench, and it provided most of the punch of a 13-0 run to close out the second half. Cadarius Baggett capped the run when his layup with 47 seconds left produced a 24-24 halftime tie.

“I told our guys that our depth has to improve,” Rippee said. “These three games in three days will give them the opportunity to gain confidence to earn more minutes. I think we saw that from a lot of guys coming off the bench.

“Our depth was good against a very good team. We got them to take a few shots that were ill-advised and we rebounded them. We had a couple of sophomores out there, and Max Chambers had the best game he’s played all year. He hit some big shots for us.”

Chambers finished with 11 points, all in the second half, and was the only player in double figures for Bentonville, which plays Springfield (Mo.) Parkview in semifinal action at 5:15 p.m. today. Doolittle had 24 and Smith 13 for Earle.

BENTONVILLE HIGH 56, EARLE 53

Bentonville ....... 24 32 — 56 Earle ............... 24 29 — 53 Bentonville (6-3): Hutchinson 15, Chambers 11, Deffebaugh 8, Smith 8, Simmons 8, Baggett 2, Phillips 2, Freeman 2.

Earle (8-3): Doolittle 24, Smith 13, Thomas 8, Milow 6, Cisero 2.