FS Northside tops Pine Bluff

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS

FS NORTHSIDE 88, PINE BLUFF 79

Fort Smith Northside hasn’t had much court time together this season, but the Grizzlies were in sync enough Thursday night to walk away with a victory.

Denarion Whitmore scored 32 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as Northside (1-0) withstood a scoring onslaught from Pine Bluff’s Courtney Crutchfield to beat the Zebras 88-79 in the Hooping For Hoodies Classic at North Little Rock’s Charging Wildcat Arena.

Daemarion Savoy had 18 points, Marco Smith ended with 16 points and seven rebounds, and Derek Shepard poured in 12 points for the Grizzlies, who are still getting acclimated to one another after several of their players just returned from an extended season in football.

“This is really just our third practice with all the guys,” Northside Coach Eric Burnett said. “We’re still trying to get some of them in basketball shape, but I thought we played well. I’m glad to see us come from behind, too.

“To me, that says we’ve got a little dog in us.”

Northside needed that extra bite to offset what

Crutchfield was doing for the Zebras.

The junior finished with 38 points for Pine Bluff, which was coming off an 7952 loss to Little Rock Central on Tuesday. Jabarr Spellman had 15 points, and Zae Barnett contributed 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals.

BRYANT 62, DUMAS 37

Elem Shelby drilled 3 three-pointers on the first three possessions of the third quarter for Bryant (2-0), which led 31-19 at half before a 17-4 run to open the second half blew the game open.

Shelby finished with 16 points, R.J. Young had 12 points and Darren Wallace collected 9 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks for the Hornets. Cedric Jones also scored nine points.

Raylen Spratt tallied a game-high 20 points for Dumas (0-2).