Late run helps Bentonville beat Shiloh Christian

BENTONVILLE HIGH 60, SHILOH CHRISTIAN 42

BENTONVILLE — As long as Shiloh Christian’s boys hit their three-point shots Tuesday night, the Saints had a chance to stay within reach of Bentonville High.

When those long-range shots started to sputter, the Tigers were finally able to get some distance.

Bentonville held Shiloh without a 3-pointer for 9 minutes, which led to a 13-0 run and allowed the Tigers to take their home opener with a 60-42 decision in Tiger Arena.

“I thought they played really well,” Bentonville basketball coach Dick Rippee said of Shiloh. “The way they penetrate and kick, and they were hitting some 3s. They did a great job of executing some things.

“Our guys were sort of sluggish, for whatever reason. We just got done playing three games in three days in Kansas City, and you would think with it being our first home game our guys would be excited and ready to go. We just had a hard time doing that.”

Bentonville (4-1) jumped out to an early 12-3 lead and led by as many as 11 points before enjoying a 3224 halftime cushion. Sawyer Price’s bucket to start the second half gave the Tigers a double-digit lead again before Shiloh (1-7) made its run.

Seth Rosenfeld, who had 14 of Shiloh’s 17 points in the second quarter, hit his fourth 3-pointer to pull the Saints within 34-29 with 6 minutes, 44 seconds left in the third quarter. He then added another 3 and made it a 40-35 game less than 2 minutes later, but it was the Saints’ last one until Drew Dudley connected from long range with 3:52 remaining.

“We were hitting shots, and our offense was working,” Shiloh coach Jacob Skinner said. “When we get stagnant and our movement isn’t clicking on all cylinders, then we struggle. With our lack of size, we depend a lot on the three-point shot.

“We do a lot of shooting in practice, and we have our red-light, green-light and yellow-light guys. We want to hit a lot of 3s and drive to the paint within reason. But when we’re not hitting 3-pointers, we’re one-and-done on our offensive end.”

When the Saints’ shooting went cold, Bentonville took advantage. The Tigers scored the last seven points of the third quarter for a 5037 cushion, then started the fourth quarter with six more points for a 56-37 lead on Michael Shanks’ bucket with 4:25 remaining before Dudley’s 3-pointer ended the run.

Connor Deffebaugh had 17 points to lead three Bentonville players in double figures, followed by Josh Smith with 16 and Brayden Freeman 14. Rosenfeld was the only Shiloh player in double figures with 20.

Bentonville heads to Conway for the 6A Challenge, where it will play Friday against Fort Smith Southside and Saturday against defending state champion North Little Rock. Shiloh.................... 7 17 13 5 — 42 Bentonville ............16 16 18 10 — 60 Shiloh Christian (1-7): Rosenfeld 20, Dudley 7, Oswald 5, Cranna 4, Henry 3, Williams 3.

Bentonville (4-1): Deffebaugh 17, Smith 16, Freeman 14, Shanks 8, Spencer 3, Price 2.