Anderson delivers as West rolls past Southside

BENTONVILLE WEST 69, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 42

FORT SMITH — If Bentonville West lost any momentum being down a point before the opening tip Friday night, Tucker Anderson quickly erased it with his shooting ability at the Barn.

Anderson gave West back the lead to start the game with a 3-point basket and he went on to finish with a game-high 26 points. That effort helped allow West to pull away for a 69-42 victory against Fort Smith Southside in a 6A-West matchup.

“We have an answer on offense with him,” Bentonville West coach Greg White said. “When you have somebody as good as Tucker, we like to let him go to work for us. He does a lot of good stuff for us, and I think he is the best player in the league.”

West (24-3, 13-2) was issued a technical foul prior to the game because of pregame dunking, which allowed Southside to take a 1-0 lead with a free throw before the contest started. Anderson helped get the offense going for West, as he finished with a team-high nine first-quarter points. That helped West to take a 16-6 edge after the first quarter.

Anderson didn’t slow down after that. He scored eight of the team’s 11 second-quarter points to aid in building a 27-14 halftime advantage.

“I thought early we were a little fast,” said Anderson, who also had seven rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist.

“But once we slowed it down a little and found our pace, we passed the ball really well. We were finding the open spots and they got me good looks.”

The Wolverines put the game well out of reach in the third quarter. They outscored the Mavericks 19- 6 in the frame and took a 46-20 edge into the final quarter. Lane Jeffcoat, who finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, scoring scored seven consecutive points to give West a 36-18 lead.

“His offense was great and his defense is always there for us,” White said of Jeffcoat. “Teammates found him. It’s so much fun to watch him play basketball. His future in college is football. But he just really loves his teammates and this sport, and it shows.”

West turned to its bench to keep its offensive surge going in the final quarter. Koen Sakamoto, Brennen Thrasher, Lane Williams, Nav Thelapurath, Brycen Fulcher and Chyjuan Dumas all scored.

Southside (5-21, 1-13) was guided by a team- high 11 points from Yazed Taforo.

The Wolverines now find themselves just one game away from winning their first conference championship in program history. West’s next game is against second-place Springdale Har-Ber, which can also take the conference title if it wins out in the regular season.

“We’ve had this goal written up in our locker room for a while,” Anderson said. “We just talk about how tough this league is and you have to take it one game at a time. I like the way we have been playing recently. We want to go make history.”

“We’ve had this goal written up in our locker room for a while. We just talk about how tough this league is and you have to take it one game at a time. I like the way we have been playing recently. We want to go make history.”

Tucker Anderson on Bentonville West, which is one win away from clinching its first conference championship in program history