For more photos of this event by Kevin Nagle, go here. Photos also courtesy of Paul Dotson
Hayden Schrader scores inside on an inbounds play. (Photo courtesy of Paul Dotson)
Aiden Adams and Austin Ledbetter knocked down back-to-back 3’s and Hayden Schrader came through with a three-point play off the offensive glass to spark the Bryant Hornets freshman team to a 44-40 victory over the Benton Panthers at Bryant Middle School gym on Monday night.
It was the third close game between the rivals. Benton defeated Bryant, 44-42 on Nov. 14 before Bryant countered with a 46-45 win on Dec. 29 at the Kameron Hale Invitational holiday tournament.
The Hornets improved to 10-6 overall and 4-5 in the Central Arkansas Junior High Conference going into a trip to Cabot North on Thursday.
It was a bounce-back win after a disappointing 49-25 loss at Conway White last Thursday, which snapped a four-game win streak.
They got balanced scoring with Schrader leading the way with 10 points. Adams and Ledbetter had 9 each, Austin Schroeder 7 and Gavin Brunson 5.
But the key for the Hornets was their work on the boards. They out-rebounded the Panthers 32-26 with 15 coming on the offensive end. Head coach Tyler Posey also lauded his team for limiting the Panthers’ offensive caroms to seven.
Myles Aldridge (21) drives to the hoop. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
“Everybody’s tough in this league but I feel like we do have a really good team and when we bring the intensity on the glass — rebounding is really what drives us,” he said. “If we give up more offensive rebounds than five or six, we really struggle to win, the other team gets a lot of easy points. I felt like tonight we did a really good job. When we don’t give up any offensive rebounds, I feel like we’re tough to beat.”
In a back-and-forth contest, the Hornets’ fourth-quarter surge proved decisive though they were just 6 of 14 from the free-throw line down the stretch, which kept the Panthers in range of a comeback.
“Our guys stepped up and made big shots,” Posey acknowledged. “We shoot a lot in practice and it really shows, sometimes in stretch runs. The free-throws we practice, obviously, are not showing right now but we did enough things right to close out the game.”
The Panthers had started the fourth quarter with a 3 from Chase Ramsey and a steal and dunk from Cameron Harris. Posey called timeout with 5:24 left and Benton leading 33-30. Coming out of the timeout, Adams knocked down the game-tying 3 to start the tell-tale 10-0 run by the Hornets.
After the plays by Ledbetter and Schrader, Myles Aldridge grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. He added a free throw. Moments later, Schrader added a free throw after being fouled grabbing a defensive carom to make it 40-33.
Braden Godwin (14) goes up for a shot in traffic. (Photo courtesy of Paul Dotson)
Harris ended his team’s three-minute drought with a three-point play at the 2:39 mark.
Harris, the Panthers’ eighth-grade star, finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, though he was held to 5 points in the first half. Ramsey added 9 points, all on 3’s.
“We just kind of mixed it up on them a little bit,” said Posey. “We ran two of our match-up zones and just kind of threw a few different things at them. We were hoping (Harris) couldn’t get going and couldn’t get comfortable and in rhythm. It worked for a while but that’s a good basketball player.”
Benton wound up cutting the lead to 1. Schrader hit another free throw but Ramsey nailed a 3 and the Panthers took a timeout with 1:57 left, down 41-39. When play resumed, they forced a turnover and, following his own miss, Harris was fouled. With a chance to tie it, he missed the front end then made the second shot to make it 41-40.
By then, Benton was taking fouls. As soon as they could, they fouled Adams with 1:31 to go. He converted once to make it a two-point game.
Aiden Adams fired up a 3. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
After a timeout for the Panthers, Harris was harassed into a miss and Aldridge yanked down the rebound. With 1:18 left, the Hornets were in the double bonus — two shots with every foul — but Aldridge came up empty.
Benton called another timeout with 1:09 to go avoiding a turnover. When play resumed, Harris drove from the right wing and was double-teamed. He flipped a pass outside to Ramsey who hit what appeared to be a go-ahead 3. But one of the other Panthers was called for a three-second lane violation before the shot and it was wiped out.
Posey called a timeout with :42.4 left to avoid a turnover then had to use another one when the Hornets couldn’t get the ball inbounds after the Benton defense. Eventually, Adams was fouled again with :34.4 left. With a chance to make it a two-possession lead, he missed the first but made the second to make it a three-point margin.
Ramsey, under duress, fired up a 3 and missed but a teammate rebounded. He, however, dragged his pivot foot as he tried to find an open teammate and, with :08.9 to go, Ledbetter went to the line and converted once to seal the victory.
Gavin Brunson (33) attacks the basket in front of teammate Ryan Riggs. (Photo courtesy of Paul Dotson)
Benton had started the game with a 7-2 run but Brunson’s stickback and a layup off by Adams off a steal by Brunson made it 7-6 going into the second quarter.
A three-point play by Harris extended the Panthers’ edge at the start of the second stanza but Schroeder drilled a big 3, Aldridge converted two free throws and Ledbetter popped a triple to put the Hornets on top 14-10.
After a three-point play for Benton, Schroeder hit a jumper from the elbow to make it 16-13 only to have the Panthers score the last 6 points of the quarter, taking a 19-16 lead at the half.
Early in the third quarter, Benton tipped in a basket for the Hornets, credited to Schrader for contending for that rebound. Jalen Montgomery hit a free throw and the game was tied.
It seesawed from there. It was tied at 21, 23, 26 and 28 before Schroeder made a steal and layup to beat the buzzer ending the quarter with the Hornets ahead 30-28.
Austin Ledbetter hit a key free throw at the end of Monday’s game. (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
HORNETS 44, PANTHERS 40
Freshman
Score by quarters
Benton 7 12 9 12 — 40
BRYANT 6 10 14 14 — 44
PANTHERS 40
Farley 2-5 2-3 6, Ramsey 3-8 0-0 9, Eason 1-1 1-3 3, Hooks 1-3 0-0 2, Harris 8-16 4-5 20, Kyle 0-0 0-0 0, Purdy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-34 (44%) 7-11 (64%) 40.
HORNETS 44
Montgomery 0-4 1-2 1, Riggs 0-2 0-0 0, Adams 3-10 2-4 9, Schrader 4-7 2-4 10, Brunson 1-3 3-4 5, Schroeder 3-5 0-0 7, Aldridge 1-6 1-5 3, Ledbetter 2-4 3-4 9, Godwin 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 14-43 (33%) 12-23 (52%) 44.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 4-14 (Ledbetter 2-3, Adams 1-5, Schroeder 1-3, Montgomery 0-1, Riggs 0-1, Schrader 0-1), Benton 3-12 (Ramsey 3-7, Harris 0-3, Farley 0-2). Turnovers: Bryant 10, Benton 16. Rebounds: Bryant 15-17 32 (Adams 1-5 6, Aldridge 3-3 6, Schrader 3-2 5, Brunson 4-1 5, Godwin 2-0 2, Montgomery 1-1 2, Riggs 1-1 2, Schroeder 0-1 1, Ledbetter 0-1 1, team 0-2 2), Benton 7-19 26 (Harris 3-6 9, Eason 2-4 6, Hooks 1-3 4, Ramsey 1-2 3, Farley 0-2 2, team 0-2 2). Team fouls: Bryant 12, Benton 13.
