Springdale gains separation at end

6A-WEST BOYS

SPRINGDALE 51,

FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 42

“We had some troubles to start the game, but we are senior-led and those guys did not want to lose their last home game.” Springdale Coach Jeremy Price

SPRINGDALE — The Springdale Bulldogs completed the season sweep against Fort Smith Southside on Friday night.

The Bulldogs put together a strong fourth quarter to pull out a 51-42 victory over the Mavericks in the 6A-West Conference regular-season finale.

“We had some troubles to start the game, but we are senior-led and those guys did not want to lose their last home game,” Springdale Coach Jeremy Price said. “We needed to tighten up our defense going into the second half. We gave up too many open shots, and we needed to execute on offense better.”

After being down by three at the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs (9-13, 3-10 6A-West) outscored the Mavericks (2-23, 0-13) by five in the second to go into halftime with a two-point lead. Dominique Hertin got a steal and layup as time expired in the second quarter to give Springdale that edge.

Back-to-back turnovers by the Mavericks to start the second half helped the Bulldogs push the lead to six.

The Mavericks kept the score close with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 19-19. Quinterian Cobbs’ three-pointer at the 4:09 mark gave the Bulldogs a lead for the remainder of the quarter.

Cade Ryan hit a three-pointer on the first possession of the fourth quarter to give the Mavericks a 28-26 lead, their first lead since early in the second quarter.

After trading buckets with Southside, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to push the lead to six with under three minutes left to play.

After Southside cut the lead to four, Hertin hit a three-pointer to push the lead to seven, Springdale’s largest lead of the night. The Mavericks were never closer than two possessions for the rest of the night.

“We were going back and forth the whole game, but in the fourth quarter we had some turnovers that were costly,” Southside Coach Stewart Adams said.

Cobbs led all scorers with 20 points for the Bulldogs while Hertin added 17. Alexander Naegle led the Mavericks with 11.

GIRLS SPRINGDALE 48, FS SOUTHSIDE 26

Springdale dominated the third quarter, giving up only two points, on the way to a lopsided victory.

The Lady Bulldogs (3-21, 2-9) led by nine at halftime and pushed that lead to 17 by the end of the third.

Neveah Griffin led Springdale with 20 points. Mary Haskins added 12 while Liberty Miller had 11.

Tinsley Freeman led the Lady Mavericks (3-18, 0-10) with 10 points.

The loss was the 40th consecutive in conference play for Southside. The last conference win for the Lady Mavericks was on Feb. 16, 2018, in a 55-27 win against Mount St. Mary.

“We were going back and forth the whole game, but in the fourth quarter we had some turnovers that were costly.” Fort Smith Southside Coach Stewart Adams on the Mavericks’ loss to Springdale on Friday