Conley’s heroics lift Springdle Har-Ber to victory

SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 40, SYLVAN HILLS 38

FORT SMITH — With the shot clock ticking down, Springdale Har- Ber guard Jaxon Conley had no choice but to throw up a shot.

The shot wasn’t pretty, but the 20- foot bank shot was enough to lift the Wildcats into the finals of the Fort Smith Coca- Cola Holiday Classic.

Conley’s shot was with 38 seconds left, coupled with a steal in the game’s final seconds, lifted Har-Ber to a 40-38 semifinal win Thursday night over Sylvan Hills at Northside Arena.

The Wildcats ( 9-2) will face Fort Smith Northside in today’s 6 p.m. final. The Bears (8-6) will face North Little Rock in the third-place game at 4:20 p.m.

Conley, who finished with a game-high 22 points, scored the last five points of the game in the final 1:49 – a layup off a steal and the game-winning three-pointer.

“I saw there was two seconds on the clock, and I knew I had to get a shot off,” Conley said. “I made a pump fake and went around him.”

Sylvan Hills then held for the final shot, but Hayden Wood stripped the ball away with eight seconds left toward teammate Jake Fotenopulos, who then passed it to Conley who dribbled out the final four seconds of the game.

In fact, Har- Ber Coach Tommy Deffenbaugh credited his team’s defensive play as the Wildcats did not allow a point in the game’s final 2:50.

“We work a lot on our defense,” Deffenbaugh said. “They may not always like the drills that I like to run to work on our defensive intensity. We ran our ‘Switch’ defense and Hayden made a big play.”

The Bears had control of the game early, scoring the game’s first 8 points, then getting its biggest lead at 15-5 on a three-pointer by DaCarter Coleman with 7:46 left in the second quarter.

Yet, the Wildcats never panicked and slowly chipped away at the deficit.

“It was early in the game and [Sylvan Hills] threw the first punch,” Deffenbaugh said. “We just kept chipping away at the lead until we finally got the lead in the third quarter. We wanted to get it back to

Conley hit a three-pointer in the final minute of the first half to get Har-Ber to within 22-19 at the halftime break, then scored 7 points in a 10-2 Wildcat run for its first lead of the game at 29-26 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.

Sylvan Hills rallied to retake the lead, scoring five straight, capped by a James Deloach alley-oop slam with 2:50 left for a 38-35 lead.

Jonathan Van Buren scored 10 points to pace the Bears.

FS NORTHSIDE 45, NORTH LITTLE ROCK 42

Dae’marion Savoy swished a 22foot three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Grizzlies (8-5) to the win over the Charging Wildcats (11-3). Northside had taken a 42-40 lead on a three-pointer by Jayvion Smith with 40.8 seconds left, but Robert Griffin’s basket in the lane with 16 seconds left tied the game. Savoy scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Grizzlies while Denarion Whitmore added 13. Ja’Kory Winters paced North Little Rock with 13 points while Griffin added 10.

DEL CITY (OKLA.) DESTINY CHRISTIAN 62, LR HALL 43

Jude Hill scored a game- high 28 points to lead the Wildcats (11-2) to the win over the Warriors (4-11). Destiny led by 39-36 after three quarters, but outscored Hall 23-7 in the final quarter to blow the game open. Sentinel Moore added 17 points for the Wildcats. Kailon Harris and Landon Hill each scored 10 to lead. the Warriors. Destiny Christian will play Bryant in today’s consolation final, while Hall meets Southside in the seventh-place game.

BRYANT 55,

FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 23

The Hornets (14-3) jumped out to a 15-4 lead after a quarter, building a 30-point lead in the third quarter and cruised to the easy victory over the Mavericks (3-9). R.J. Young scored 14 to pace Bryant while Trent Ford added 11. Alex Roper scored 6 points to lead Southside.