Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
High school hoops
Fayetteville’s Austin Garrett (right) passes around Jonesboro’s Kyle Moore during the Bulldogs’ 68-63 victory Friday at the John Stanton Classic in Conway.
CONWAY — Fayetteville junior guard Connor Barnett did not take the most well-advised shot in the game’s final minute but the Bulldogs had no complaints with the result.
Barnett scored the Bulldogs’ final five points as Fayetteville hung on for a 68-63 victory over Jonesboro in the John Stanton Classic at Buzz Bolding Arena.
Freshman Isaiah Releford led Fayetteville with 14 points. Senior Collin Cooper and sophomore post player Tamaury Releford each added 12, but it was Barnett’s last-minute heroics that sealed the Bulldogs’ victory.
Leading 63-61 with 40 seconds left, Cooper threw up a desperation 25-footer just as the 35-second shot clock expired. Barnett grabbed the long rebound and immediately put up a 21-footer that found its mark.
“It wasn’t the plan but he did stick it. That was a big positive on his behalf,” Fayetteville Coach Kyle Adams said of Barnett, who scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter. “It was a good learning experience for us and for him. … That was two good teams going against each other and sometimes you get caught up in it and you forget (in that situation). Connor is very intelligent and he probably won’t ever do that again.”
Senior forward Marcedus Leech, who led Jonesboro with 19 points, hit two free throws to bring the Hurricane to within 66-63 with 13.8 seconds remaining, but Barnett responded with two free throws to end any chance of a Jonesboro comeback.
“That’s our second loss and they’ve both been one-possession games in the final minute,” Jonesboro Coach Wes Swift said. “We can’t get the big stop right now. … The ceiling is really high for our team but right now we haven’t learned how to win down the stretch against really good teams.”
Jonesboro (3-2) led 37-35 at the half and 56-55 with 5:40 remaining, but back-to-back field goals by Tamaury Releford put Fayetteville (8-1) in front for good.
Isaiah Releford provided a big defensive punch, collecting all three of his steals in the fourth quarter. His final steal resulted in a layup for Cooper with 1:52 remaining that gave Fayetteville a 63-58 advantage.
“He doesn’t realize how much he brings to the table,” Cooper said of the Bulldogs’ freshman. “He can do it all.”
“With Coop in foul trouble early, I thought Isaiah took up the scoring load,” Adams said. “And in the second half I thought he picked up defensively. He did a great job and I thought Collin did too. Collin didn’t give us 30 but he contributed in so many other ways.”
Fayetteville scored 11 of the game’s first 13 points, but Jonesboro responded and led 19-16 after the first quarter. The Hurricane led by as many as 10, 29-19, with 5:59 remaining in the first half. Fayetteville scored 12 of the first 14 points of the second half. The Bulldogs’ biggest lead of the second half was 47-39 with 4:17 remaining in the third quarter.
The game featured six lead changes.
Jonesboro was 22 of 25 from the free-throw line, including an 11 of 11 showing by senior guard Lamar Washington, who finished with 17 points. The Hurricane hit 17 of 52 shots from the floor.
“I liked our shots for the most part,” Swift said. “We had some really good shooters shooting high-percentage shots. They just didn’t drop tonight. … There are nights when those shots won’t fall but on those nights we have to have stops on the other end. Right now we don’t.”
Fayetteville was 13 of 24 from the line and 23 of 48 from the floor.
Jonesboro senior Kyle Moore, who scored nine points, led all rebounders with 10.