Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Quick start lifts Pointers to win
VAN BUREN 59, HARRISON 40
VAN BUREN — The 5A-West Conference is going to be very interesting during the final week of the regular season.
The Van Buren Pointers won their fourth straight game and tightened the conference race on Friday night with a 59-40 win over Harrison at Clair Bates Arena.
Van Buren ( 17- 11, 8- 4) forged a tie for second place with Harrison (18-9, 8-4), just a game behind Siloam Springs (17-9, 9-3), which suffered a 47-42 loss Friday at home to Russellville.
“It should be a nice run in the last week of the season,” Van Buren coach Brad Autry said. “We’re excited. I’m proud of the guys and how they battled. It was a game we really needed to win to increase our post- season opportunities. They did it in emphatic fashion.”
Van Buren travels to Siloam Springs on Tuesday, and Harrison is at Russellville on Tuesday.
“All the teams are very close,” Harrison coach David Stahler said. “We’ve got to let this one go and go into the next one.”
Van Buren never trailed on Friday, bolting to an 18-2 lead in the first seven minutes and leading 20-7 after a quarter.
Jaxon Cazzell capped the run with a steal and layup with 1:41 left in the opening quarter. He had a basket off an offensive rebound that had Van Buren up, 6-0. Drew Brasuell and Glavine McDonald drilled threes, Conner Myers scored twice inside, and McDonald and Malachi Henry canned two free throws each in the game-opening surge.
“That’s a pretty good run, 18-2’s not bad, I like it,” Autry said. “I was incredibly proud of their fight, their toughness and their togetherness.”
Harrison cut Van Buren’s lead back to 28-19 at the half with a 12-8 advantage in the second quarter, all on threepoint plays. Cole Cecil, Ryder Scribner, and Kason Hilligoss and drained 3-pointers, and Cecil ended the half with a conventional three-point play when he hit a running jumper inside and added the free throw after being fouled.
The Goblins were with 3630 after a three-basket string capped by a fall-away jumper by Scribner with 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
“Our guys, we always battled back,” Stahler said. “Credit to them, they did a great job defensively shutting us down offensively. They took away our three-point shooting, and we forced a lot of threes. They increased the ball pressure and hurried us on the offensive end.”
Drew Brasuell answered for the Pointers, though, with a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left that sparked the Pointers going into the fourth quarter.
“That particular possession, we had great ball movement,” Autry said. “Drew’s three was in rhythm. It was a great possession. He got a couple of good looks before that, and he was hesitant.”
Van Buren then opened up the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run and finished with a 20-point quarter.
Cazzell capped the run to start the final quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner and added another on the next trip down the floor to push Van Buren up, 49-32, with 5:02 left.
“Those were really big,” Autry said. “I’ve told Jaxon several times ‘shoot the ball’. Time, score, momentum, know it, but he made really good decisions. He plays with a great pace offensively.”
Cazzell finished with 10 points in the quarter and 16 for the game, and also had eight rebounds.
Myers had 14 points and eight boards, McDonald had 13 points and seven rebounds, and Brasuell scored 12 points.
“It’s unbelievable when you’re got four guys on the floor, and the guy that didn’t get in double-figures, Malachi Henry, he had four, played a critical role defensively in what we try to do,” Autry said. “I’m incredibly proud of every kid that got on the floor and every kid on the bench. That’s a program win top to bottom.”
Van Buren hit 9-of-12 from the floor in the final quarter to ice the game.
“Harrison started scrambling a little bit trying to get us to turn it over,” Autry said. “We did a good job of having a good presence with the ball and being strong with it and finding guys at the basket.”
Cecil scored 14 for Harrison, and Scribner 13. Hilligoss added nine points.