Cooley’s effect aids Pointers

Trenton Cooley made national headlines when he banked in an 80-footer in January at Greenwood.

On Tuesday night, he may have one-upped himself when he scored 31 points, including 17 in the third quarter of Van Buren’s 77-43 win against Greenwood at Clair Bates Arena.

“Oh, yeah, scoring 31 points. We moved the ball and played together as a team,” Cooley said. “The main thing I do is defense, so how we move and everything is a big key.”

Cooley’s performance is the first 30-point game since Mitchell Smith scored 31 in a 68-43 win at Alma in 2016. Tuesday, Cooley was 9 for 9 from the field, including all four of his three-point attempts, was 9 of 10 from the free-throw line and had 7 steals, converting five into breakaway layups and adding free throws after three of them when he was fouled.

“We came out with a renewed intensity in the second half and moved the ball well, offensively, and created some easy baskets, defensively,” Van Buren Coach Brad Autry said. “We call that the ‘Trenton Cooley Effect.’ ”

Cooley converted steals into three-point plays in each of the first three quarters before the starters retired to the bench.

“Trenton has an uncanny ability to get his hands on the ball,” Autry said. “Even if he’s not coming up with the ball, he’s very active and very quick on the ball. It’s so hard to create baskets and score baskets deep in conference play. To be able create some easy baskets through steals or tips or transition baskets is huge as far as offensive production.”

Cooley started and ended the second quarter with three-pointers to highlight a 21-point second quarter that led to a 37-21 halftime lead.

He made a steal, scored and added a free throws to open the third quarter, converted another steal into a bucket and swished two three-pointers in the third quarter in addition to hitting seven free throws to lead the Pointers to 33 points in the third quarter.

“That loosened up a little bit and we were able to make some shots,” Autry said. “We were able to put some distance between us and Greenwood.”

Senior guard Jaxon Cazzell scored seven of his 12 points in the second quarter, scoring off an offensive rebound, driving for a bucket and swishing a three-pointer.

“Really, we had a slow start to the first quarter for us,” Cazzell said. “We were picking each other up and making sure especially to start out the third quarter like we know how to, moving the ball and finding open spots and gaps in that zone, and trusting each other to make shots. With Trenton scoring 31, that’s awesome.”

The Pointers were 10of-12 shooting in the third quarter.

“Over the last couple of games especially through conference, it’s been our focal point to come out punching metaphorically to make sure we get a jump on a big lead to start the second half,” Cazzell said.

The Pointers (18-7, 7-2) begin a tough stretch on Friday at Mountain Home before welcoming rival Alma to Clair Bates Arena for the rematch from last week’s makeup game that the Airedales won, 60-58.

“It’s a nice little stretch,” Autry said. “The thing that I like about it the most is it’s a grind and being in a conference race and looking at who’s going where, who’s doing what and what do we have to do. It’s a tremendous amount of fun to be involved in high-level, high-stake games. We are right now, and our guys are excited about it.”

GREENWOOD GIRLS

Big surges

Once the Greenwood started rolling Tuesday night, it cruised to a 59-34 win.

The Lady Bulldogs ended the first quarter with a 10-0 run, and added runs of 8-0 and 11-0 in the second quarter for a 39-15 lead at the half.

“The middle of the third quarter on, we kind of let the ball go wherever it wanted to go,” Greenwood Coach Clay Reeves said. “Then we didn’t hit shots. We’ve got to hit a few more shots than we did.”

Greenwood (19-4, 8-1) outscored Van Buren 18-10 in the third quarter and imposed the Arkansas Activities Association’s Sportsmanship Rule for the fifth straight game since a 55-46 loss to Mountain Home.

Greenwood hosts Harrison tonight and travels to Siloam Springs on Tuesday.

FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE

Sweeping away

The Grizzlies and Lady Bears swept a varsity doubleheader at Northside Arena on Tuesday with wins over Rogers.

The Lady Bears (12-3, 101) remained a game ahead of Fayetteville (18-7, 9-2), which defeated Springdale on Tuesday.

Northside used a 17-0 run in the second quarter to take a 36-21 halftime lead on the way to a 70-53 win.

The Grizzlies used a 12-0 third-quarter run to erase a halftime deficit, take a 5450 lead after three quarters before a 20-14 advantage in the fourth quarter in a 74-64 win.

ALMA BOYS

Home again

The conference-leading Airedales play three of their next four games at the friendly confines of Charles B. Dyer Arena, starting with Russellville (21-4, 6-3) tonight.

Tuesday, the Airedales had to convert 8 of 10 free throws to ride out of Siloam Springs with a 49-43 win.

Alma trailed 24-21 midway through the third quarter before rallying to win.

Camden Curd led Alma (16-8, 9-0) with 13 points.

The win marked the best start to a conference schedule for the Airedales since winning the district with a 10-0 mark and playing in the state championship game under Clair Bates in 1941.

BOYS CONFERENCE RACES Titles on line

Hackett and Charleston will play tonight for the 3A-4 Conference championship and the top seed in next week’s district tournament.

Charleston (15-10, 11-2) and Hackett (20-5, 10-3) currently lead the standings, but Booneville (14-6, 9-3) and Cossatot River (18-8, 9-4) are close behind.

Charleston can secure the top spot with a win tonight at home against Hackett.

Booneville still has two games to play, hosting Cossatot River tonight and then hosting Paris on Saturday in a make-up game.

The 3A-4 district tournament will be held at Hackett, beginning Monday.

Subiaco Academy won its 10th straight game on Tuesday with a win over Clarksville and can secure the top seed in the 4A-4 with a win at home against Mena tonight.

The Trojans (23-1, 14-1) are tied with Morrilton (234, 14-1) atop the conference standings but own the tie breaker with a larger margin over victory in the season series, which the two teams split.

The 4A-4 district tournament will be held at Clarksville, beginning on Monday.

Lavaca and Mansfield head into the final night of the regular season tied for first place in the 2A-4.

Lavaca (18-8, 9-2) does hold the tie breaking advantage over Mansfield (15-9, 9-2) with a larger of victory between the two teams, which split their season series so the Golden Arrows will be the top seed with a win over at home against Magazine (6-20, 1-10). The No. 2 seed will be decided at tonight at Mansfield, which hosts Mountainburg (14-9, 8-3), which is just a game behind but holds the tie-breaker advantage with a win over Mansfield earlier.

GIRLS CONFERENCE RACES

Tigers, Dragons square off

The Mansfield Lady Tigers and Mountainburg Lady Dragons will play for the 2A-4 conference title tonight at Mansfield.

The Lady Tigers (23-0, 110) won at Mountainburg (212, 10-1) 67-44 in January and can wrap up the title along with the top seed in next week’s district tournament with a win.

The Lady Dragons are assured of at least the No. 2 seed, a bye into the district tournament semifinals and a berth in the regional tournament the following week.

Cossatot River (19-8, 11-2) will win the 3A-4 but Charleston (13-11, 8-4), Two Rivers (18-8, 8-5), Cedarville (14-15, 7-6) and Booneville (10-13, 6-6) are all jockeying for position

Mulberry (15-15, 9-3) will be the No. 2 seed in the 1A-1West district tournament next week at Decatur behind Ozark Catholic (19-11, 10-2).

(River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton) Van Buren’s Trenton Cooley scored 31 points, including 17 points in the third quarter, during the Pointers’ 77-43 victory over Greenwood on Tuesday night. He was 9 of 9 from the field, made 9 of 10 free throws and finished with 7 steals.