North Little Rock bests Fort Smith Northside

NORTH LITTLE ROCK 41, FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 37

FORT SMITH — After both teams struggled to make shots for much of the game, it was a late flurry by North Little Rock that made the difference.

The Charging Wildcats used an 8-2 run in the final 2 minutes, 30 seconds of the game to down Fort Smith Northside 41-37 Friday at Kaundart Fieldhouse.

The win forces a tie between the two teams in the 7A-Central boys’ standings. The Wildcats (22-5, 10-2) own the sweep, so two wins next week clinches the conference’s top seed. Both teams now have first-round byes in the 7A State Tournament in two weeks, which North Little Rock will host.

“Even after we lost to Conway, I told them that we controlled our destiny,” North Little Rock coach Johnny Rice said. “It made the road tougher, but we could still accomplish our goal (of winning the conference).”

Both teams struggled offensively – mainly finishing shots whether it was open 3-pointers and layups under the basket. North Little Rock, though, got the offensive burst at the right time to put the game away.

“Both teams played good enough defensively to win this game,” Rice said. “These were two good teams playing really good defense. The difference was our play down the stretch.”

The Grizzlies (19-7, 10-2) took its first lead of the fourth quarter at 35-33 on a 3-pointer by Javion Releford with 3:10 left. The Wildcats, though, tied the game with 2:30 left on a layup by Ray Fresh.

“We’ve been battle-tested between our non-conference and the 7A-Central,” Rice said. “I was glad to see our guys step up when we needed to.”

After a Northside miss, Moses Moody scored with 1:25 left to give North Little Rock a 37-35 lead. The Grizzlies then missed a jumper and began to foul in the final minute of the game. The Wildcats made four-of-six free throws in the final minute to wrap up the win.

Northside, a team that averages nearly 10 3-pointers per game, only made four in the game.

“Tonight was one of those nights when the shots didn’t fall and I am glad to have that now rather than in the state tournament,” Northside coach Eric Burnett. “I’m looking at the positives here. We played great defense, we outrebounded them after they killed us on the boards the first time we played. We still get a share of the conference title if we win the last two games so that is still important.”

Moody scored 13 to lead North Little Rock, Isaiah Joe’s game-high 16 paced Northside while Jaylin Williams added 10.

GIRLS

FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 45, NORTH LITTLE ROCK 43

Four-tenths of a second was added to the clock at the end of the game and that was all that Fort Smith Northside’s Sara Bershers needed.

Bershers’ turnaround basket at the buzzer lifted the Lady Bears to a thrilling 7A-Central girls victory Friday at Kaundart Fieldhouse.

The Northside win creates a threeway tie at 10-2 between the Lady Bears (22-3), the Lady Charging Wildcats (21-4) and Conway (23-3). The three teams have split with each other, so if the teams finished the 7A-Central season tied, tiebreakers will be needed to determine seeding.

North Little Rock got possession with 3.1 seconds left, but a Lady Wildcat guard stepped out of bounds with :00.6 left in regulation. The three officials huddled during a Northside timeout and added the four-tenths of a second to make the official time left at one second.

Lady Bear guard Ciera Carey inbounded the ball just short of midcourt and fired a pass to Bershers, who pivoted toward the goal and shot the ball off the backboard for the basket as the buzzer sounded.

“Ciera made an unbelievable pass to Sara,” Northside coach Rickey Smith said. “During the timeout, I told Sara she had one second and that is a long time. Square up and finish.”

With the first game going five overtimes, Smith admitted he did not want to go to overtime in this one.

“Sara had four fouls so she would have been at a disadvantage,” Smith said. “We wanted to try to win it on that play.”

Jersey Wolfenbarger scored 14 points to lead the Lady Bears while Bershers added 13.

Amber Hawkinson scored 15 to lead the Lady Charging Wildcats while De’myla Brown added 10.