Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Fort Smith Northside 55, Springdale Har-Ber 48
FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 55, SPRINGDALE HAR-BER 48
FAYETTEVILLE — Fort Smith Northside made the Wright move Wednesday with center Tamaury Releford in foul trouble.
Jordan Wright picked up the slack inside and scored 16 points to lead Northside to a 55-48 victory over Springdale Har-Ber at Bulldog Arena. Northside advances to face host Fayetteville on Friday at 1 p.m. in the second round of the Class 6A boys state tournament.
Releford finished with only three points while being charged with four fouls. Wright took over and controlled the inside with his scoring, rebounding and shot-blocking ability for the Grizzlies, who pulled ahead 51-40 in the fourth quarter after a steal and slam dunk by Jacob Joe.
“I thought Jordan did a good job, especially on the defensive end,” Northside Coach Eric Burnett said. “He had only one foul the whole game. He had a lot of blocks and rebounds, and that helped us get transition and points on the offensive end.”
Sam Roper contributed to Northside’s inside-outside game with 12 points on four three-pointers. He made a long three-pointer to give Northside a 38-29 lead and prompt a Har-Ber timeout late in the third quarter.
“That’s what Sam does,” Burnett said. “Sam can shoot the basketball extremely well.”
Jermaine Tilford finished with 13 points for Har-Ber, which led by three points briefly in the third quarter after falling behind 9-1 early. Noah Livingston added nine for the Wildcats (18-9).
Northside (12-12) finished fourth in the 6A-Central Conference with a 7-7 record, but that should be of no comfort to any of the Grizzlies’ opponents the rest of the way. Northside got hot and won the Class 6A state championship two years ago after finishing fourth in the league.
Much of Northside’s mediocre record can be attributed to struggles the Grizzlies had with covid-19 and contact tracing earlier this season.
“This covid had us up and down,” Burnett said. “Three weeks ago we finally got the whole team back together. You’ve got to have game time and practice time together. I feel like over the last three weeks, we have had that. So, we’ve been working on that chemistry.”
Har-Ber went ahead 2417 on a three-pointer from Mack Wright, but Northside led 38-29 after consecutive three-pointers from Roper and Joe, who finished with nine points.
ROGERS 36, LITTLE ROCK CATHOLIC 30
Will Liddell drilled a jump shot with 13 seconds remaining to seal Rogers’ victory over Little Rock Catholic in the late game, which was marred by cold shooting and a total of 36 fouls called.
It marked the first time that neither team reached the 40-point mark in the largest classification’s state tournament since 2011, when Rogers slipped past Little Rock Catholic 35-33 in a firstround game.
Rogers (13-10) never trailed after Rex Krout’s three-pointer to start the second quarter gave the Mounties a 9-7 lead, but they never led by more than eight points. Liddell’s bucket made it a 30-22 game with 6:08 remaining.
Little Rock Catholic (9-18), which hit only five field goals in the first three quarters, picked up three-pointers by Parker Gordon and Beau Kronenberger to make it a 30-28 game with 3:30 left. Both teams traded buckets before Karsen Uecker’s free throw made it a threepoint game, then Liddell buried his shot with one second on the shot clock.
Alonzo Porchia had seven points for Rogers, which will play North Little Rock in Friday’s 7 p.m. quarterfinal game.
Gordon finished with eight points to lead Little Rock Catholic.