By Rob Patrick

LITTLE ROCK — In the end, when you’ve given the last ounce of effort one last time, it seems like the whole season’s worth of weariness descends on you.

Bone tired.

The end is bittersweet.

Bitter because there will be no more drives to the rack, no more swishing 3-balls from the corner, no more steals and coast-to-coast sprints, no more of that sweet anticipation before a game, no more “thrill of victory.”

Sweet because there will be no more defenders pounding you as you try to dribble up the floor, no more cuts and scratches, no more bruises, no more conditioning drills at practice, and no more “agony of defeat.”

The Bryant Hornets battled to the very end. Even when their hopes of going to the State tournament were dashed, they continued to bring it. But, the results didn’t change. In their final game of the season on Friday night at the sauna otherwise known as the Tiger Den at Little Rock Central, they were close. The Tigers held on, however, for a 68-57 win.

RUSSELLVILLE — K-Ron Lairy kissed a running floater off the glass for a basket with :02.3 left to play to snap a 36-36 tie as the Bryant Hornets outlasted their 7A-Central Conference rival Russellville Cyclones in the consolation finals of the Cyclone Classic on Saturday evening.

Lairy added a pair of free throws with :00.8 showing after Russellville received a technical foul for calling a timeout that it didn’t have, making Bryant a 40-36 winner.

By Rob Patrick

RUSSELLVILLE — “Yes, sir.”

The Bryant Hornets were trailing 54-53 in overtime to the Camden Fairview Cardinals on Friday night, in the consolation round of the 2009 Cyclone Classic at Russellville High School.

With :47 left, Fairview’s Bobby Easter converted the second of two free throws to give his team the one-point lead. Bryant worked the ball up the floor.

“We held the ball for the last shot,” Marvel recounted. “We took our last timeout (with :15.2 showing) and I asked Brandon (Parish) — he hadn’t shot the ball all night — I said, ‘Brandon, can you dribble to your left?’ All night long, we had been going to the right and I figured he’s the last guy they’re going to cover. He said, ‘Yes, sir.’ And I said, ‘Well, we’re going to clear the left side of the floor and you’re going to dribble in there and make a lay-in.’ He said, ‘Yes, sir.’”

By Rob Patrick

RUSSELLVILLE — The Bryant Hornets’ four-overtime win over a very good Wynne Yellowjackets team in the third-place game at the Searcy Bank Classic back on Dec. 5 has proven to be both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because it was a well-earned win over a quality opponent and showed what the Hornets are capable of this season; a curse, well, because it was a well-earned win over a quality opponent and showed what the Hornets are capable of this season.

That’s right, the same reasons.

By Rob Patrick 

SEARCY — This was no small thing:

Sure, it was just the third game of the season and it was only for the third-place trophy at the Searcy Bank Classic, but the Bryant Hornets found a way on Saturday, Dec. 5. That, in itself, would be good news, of course, but the fact that they beat the Wynne Yellowjackets, 55-49, and they persevered through four overtimes to get it done . . . well, here’s what head coach Ron Marvel said about it:

“A game like tonight could make your season for you. Our kids, they grew up a lot. You know, they made mistakes that cost them the game about three times but they bounced back every time. Each overtime, we had a chance to win the game and we didn’t. Finally, we realized, it’s time to put this thing away.”

SEARCY — The Searcy Lions opened their 2009-10 season on fire on Thursday night in the semifinals of the Searcy Bank Classic.

Unfortunately for them, the Bryant Hornets got in the way and wound up absorbing a 51-35 loss after they’d opened their season on Monday with a win over Beebe.

The Hornets are set to play in the third-place game of the tourney on Saturday at 4:30 against the loser of the other semifinal between North Little Rock and Wynne being played tonight.

By Rob Patrick

SEARCY — When Bryant senior point guard K Ron Lairy picked up his fourth foul in the final minute of the third quarter, it meant that the team’s leading scorer to that point would be out with the Hornets clinging to a 30-25 lead over the Beebe Badgers.

Lairy had accounted for 11 points, 9 in the first half when Bryant built a 20-15 lead.

But, sparked by sophomore point guard Brantley Cozart and sophomore post Quinton Motto, the Hornets not only held on but extended the lead. Senior K.J. Hampton scored a game-high 15 points as Bryant opened the 2009-10 season with a 52-30 victory in the opening round of the Searcy Bank Classic on Monday night.

By Rob Patrick

PERRYVILLE — Coming off a year in which a senior-laden team competed but struggled to win, with a pair of new coaches and lot of anticipation, probably the most important thing the Bryant Hornets basketball team could do in their pre-season scrimmage at Perryville on Thursday night was winning. Not only to get a taste of success but to build some confidence as they head back to the practice floor to prepar for their season-opening game against Beebe in the Searcy Tournament on Monday, Nov. 30.

And the Hornets took control of a tight game with a good second half to get that victory, 48-36, over the Mustangs. Perryville was making its debut under new head coach Terry Smith, a former graduate assistant under new Bryant head coach Ron Marvel when he was in the midst of his Hall of Fame coaching career at UCA.