Bates has designs on Springdale’s win

SPRINGDALE 67, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 41

FORT SMITH — Springdale Coach Jeremy Price gave forward Cy Bates a challenge that he fell short of achieving. But Bates still was a key in the Bulldogs’ victory.

Bates finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds and was the catalyst on both ends of the floor in the Bulldogs’ 6741 6A-West victory over Fort Smith Southside on Friday night at Southside arena.

Price said he challenged Bates, a junior, that if he could get 17 rebounds that he would let him design the Bulldogs’ uniforms for next season.

“He is our energy … our spark plug,” Price said. “I think he saw [designing the uniforms] as a motivator. He is a guy that when other guys are flat, he can make plays that will pick them up.

Bates said he accepted the challenge and nearly accomplished the feat his coach asked of him.

“I’ve got to look at the film to find those [additional] rebounds,” Bates said. “The coaches got on to us during practice this week about not playing defense, so we start tonight by not playing defense. The coaches really got on to us again at halftime, and we played better in the second half.”

On the surface, the Bulldogs’ win appeared to be easy, especially since Springdale won the first meeting 83-44 on Dec. 21.

Price admitted that this game was anything but easy.

Springdale (14-10, 7-4) struggled offensively for nearly three quarters at Southside Arena, but its defense fueled a 26-2 second-half run that blew the game open to put away the pesky Mavericks (6-16, 2-9).

“Give credit to Southside because they battled us the whole first half and into the second half,” Price said. “We are trying to get off to better starts and we were not able to do that and Southside had a lot to do with it.”

With 3:48 left in the third quarter, Southside’s Alex Roper swished a pair of free throws to get the Mavericks to within 25-24 of the Bulldogs.

Then Springdale forward Isaiah Sealy took over, scoring 11 points in a two-minute span as the Bulldogs finished the third quarter with a 17-2 run to open a 42-26 lead going into the final quarter.

Springdale then put the game out of reach in the first 2:10 of the fourth quarter with a 9-0 spurt, capped by a Sealy dunk after a turnover for a commanding 51-26 advantage.

Sealy led all scorers with 20 points while Jarvis Palmer added 18 points.

Cooper Watson scored 13 points to lead the Mavericks, while Gibran Sullivan added 11 and Roper 10.

“Though we were able to play how we wanted to play in the first half, we needed a bigger night offensively from Watson and Roper,” Southside Coach Stewart Adams said. “It was a combination of shots not falling and Springdale defending well.”

For more than a half, Southside was able to compete with Springdale on the boards as both teams finished with 15. But the Bulldogs outrebounded the Mavericks 25-12 in the second half.

GIRLS SPRINGDALE 60, FS SOUTHSIDE 35

The Bulldogs (20-4, 9-2 6A-West) jumped out to a 31-13 halftime lead and had little problem in getting their 20th victory.

Carolina Hudson scored a game-high 23 points to pace Springdale while Aubriana Wilson added 15. Mikayla Tampus scored 7 to lead Southside.