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.

LITTLE ROCK — A 13-2 run to start it and a 20-1 blitz to put it out of reach — the Bryant Hornets junior varsity completed its 2009-10 season with a 65-48 win over the Little Rock Central Tigers JV on Friday night.

L.J. McLaughlin scored 19 points, Quinton Motto 15 to lead the Hornets. Kyle Nossaman added 9, Houston Garner 8, Logan Trudell 7, Brantley Cozart 5 and Cameron Wood 2.

Photos by RICK NATION

By Rob Patrick

Close.

Time after time this season, the Bryant Hornets basketball team has been close without reward.

And in their final home game of the season, Senior Night, on Tuesday, Feb. 23, it was no different. The North Little Rock Charging Wildcats managed a 55-41 win by hitting a bunch of free throws in the last two minutes but, with 3:15 to go, Bryant was within 44-41.

But, much to their frustration, the Hornets didn’t score after that as the Charging Wildcats pulled away.

“You know, we’ve stayed in most every game,” acknowledged Hornets coach Ron Marvel. “I knew that if we were going to be in a game, it was going to be close. We just haven’t managed to win enough close ballgames. Our team is not blessed with a whole bunch of talent. We just have to play hard to stay in a game. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t knock down some shots and we could’ve had a really nice season.”

By Rob Patrick

CABOT — You can play tough defense and hold your opponent to, say, 9 of 28 shooting from the field (32 percent). You can rebound with a taller team with, for instance, 21 rebounds to their 22. You can limit your turnovers to, perhaps, 10. You can run plays that get open looks for your shooters too.

But the bottom line in basketball is still: You’ve got to make shots.

And when the Bryant Hornets absolutely had to have it on Friday night at Cabot, they just couldn’t get one to fall.

The Hornets managed to get two open looks for two of their best shooters from 3-point range when they trailed by 3 in the final 30 seconds but they just wouldn’t fall. Thus, Cabot held on for a 37-33 win that crushed Bryant’s hopes for post-season play going into the final week of the regular season.

CABOT — The Bryant Hornets junior varsity put together a 17-0 run to turn a 9-8 deficit into a 25-9 lead on their way to a 45-31 win over the Cabot Panthers JV on Friday night.

L.J. McLaughlin led the Hornets with 13 points. Quinton Motto and Brantley Cozart added 10 each. Houston Garner pitched in with 4 points and Eric Moore 3.

By Rob Patrick

The Conway basketball program has developed to the point where it sets the standard, certainly in central Arkansas and, just as much as Fayetteville in the West, in regard to the rest of the State.

First, there are a lot of great athletes in the Conway program but more than that, they’re skilled basketball players. And they’ve been in a program since seventh grade where everybody’s on the same page, doing the same things, running the same systems, from top to bottom. There’s a lot of pride in the program and every good basketball player on campus wants to be a part of it to the point where there’s a depth of talent that even makes practices competitive.

They’ve been in every State tournament this decade finishing in the finals two of the last three years, made the semifinals three other times and got past the first round at State in all but two of those seasons.

This year, the Wampus Cats are ranked among the best teams in the State. They came into Tuesday’s 7A-Central Conference contest against the Bryant Hornets with a 20-2 overall record and a perfect 10-0 slate in the league.

Yes, the Hornets were up against the best and, unfortunately, their recent struggles in the first half of their games continued. And, while they rallied to give themselves a chance to win in previous outings marked by similar slow starts, Conway proved to be too tough a challenge for that to happen.

The Wampus Cats left Bryant with a 70-39 win.

The Bryant Hornets junior varsity team held off a late charge by the Conway JV to forge a 41-31 win at the Bryant Middle School gym on Tuesday night.

The Hornets jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first quarter and held a 20-6 edge at the half.

It was 35-10 going into the fourth quarter.Down the stretch, Bryant’s Kyle Nossaman went 4-for-4 from the line to help stave off the Conway comeback.

Nossaman led the Hornets with 12 points. Brantley Cozart added 10. L.J. McLaughlin pitched in with 5, Quinton Motto 3 and Eric Moore 1.

By Rob Patrick

After finding themselves down 22-9 at the half the night before in Russellville, the Bryant Hornets were facing a 20-9 deficit at intermission at home on Saturday afternoon against the Van Buren Pointers. Against Russellville, they scrapped their way back within a point only suffer a 49-43 loss. Against Van Buren, they again scrambled, whittling the lead to 50-46 only to have the Pointers close out a 58-46 victory.

Van Buren improved to 18-6 overall and 6-4 in the 7A-Central Conference. The Pointers had spent the night in Little Rock after suffering a loss at Catholic on Friday which, no doubt, intensified their effort against the Hornets. Now tied for third in the league, they’re battling for State tourney seeding.

By Rob Patrick

SHERIDAN — The Bryant Hornets freshman team’s 2009-10 season came to a harsh completion on Saturday morning in the first round of the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference tournament at Oliver Williams Gym.After leading most of the game, the Hornets fell victim to the Morrilton Devil Pups and some disheartening officiating decisions down the stretch in a 43-40 loss.

They finish the year 16-8.