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.[more]
Searcy will meet the winning of that game in the championship tilt on Saturday.
The Lions drained a whopping nine 3-pointers in the first half, breaking the game open in the second quarter on the way to a 40-15 halftime lead.
Bryant rallied in the second half and trailed 46-26 going into the fourth quarter before trimming the margin to 11.
The Lions hit 77 percent from the field in the first half, 66 percent from 3-point range.
The Hornets were victimized by a trapping defense during the second-quarter run.
“In the second half, our kids competed a lot harder,” stated Jim Pennington, assistant to head coach Ron Marvel. “We got on a little roll there, pressed them a little bit. I think it was an 11-point game with about four minutes to go then they held the ball.”
K-Ron Lairy led the Hornets with 15 points. K.J. Hampton added 11. Dontay Renuard finished with 3. Kendall Butzlaff, Brandon Parish and L.J. McLaughlin each pitched in with 2 points.
