File photo by Andrew Schroeder
CONWAY — Like the Little Rock Central Tigers, the Conway Wampus Cats were set to play for the Class 6A State championship about a year ago. But that’s when COVID shut everything down. So, the two teams were named co-champions.
This season, the Tigers returned a lot of that talent and now looks like they could get back to the title game as they lead the 6A-Central Conference at 10-1.
Conway, however, returned just one mainstay, 6’5” center Jayden Williams who always seemed to be in position to take a dish from the Cats’ driving guards during State last year and putting the ball in the hoop.
But the inexperience and drop in talent have left Williams on a bit of an island without those opportunities.
Williams managed just 3 points and four rebounds for Conway on Tuesday night as the Bryant Hornets put together a defensive effort that forced 21 turnovers, 27 percent shooting from the field and a 37-33 rebounding advantage.
The Hornets officially sewed up the 3 seed from the Central for this year’s 6A State Tournament in Fayetteville with a 59-36 victory over Conway, to complete a season-series sweep.
The Hornets, now 16-4 overall are 8-4 in the league with their losses accounted for by Central and second-place North Little Rock this season.
Bryant has two more to play including this Friday at Cabot then a final home game on Tuesday, March 2, against Little Rock Southwest.
The game at Conway on Tuesday ended a two-week layoff for the two teams after heavy snows in Arkansas forced postponement after postponement.
“It’s good to be back,” acknowledged Hornets head coach Mike Abrahamson. “Good to get another game under our belt.
“The kids just gave great effort tonight,” he noted. “They were diving on the floor, really being disruptive. It was a great defensive effort.”
Though the Hornets weren’t smooth or consistent as they’ve been on offense, they got the job done by hitting 10 3-point shots including four by Aidan Adams and three from Kade Ruffner.
Adams led the Hornets with 14 points. Ruffner finished with 11. Camren Hunter, in limited duty, finished with 8. Gabe George had 7.
“The offense was a little shaky, particularly at the free-throw line,” Abrahamson mentioned. “We were 7 of 16. Obviously, that’s really bad. If we go something like 12 of 16 — even though it was a nice win — it’s even better of a performance. So, we’ve got to learn from that.
“But, for being off for two weeks,” the coach said, “And, you know, a lot of that offensive stuff is just Conway playing really hard, especially on the defensive end. Credit to them on that.
“Great job by our guys tonight, especially on the defensive end,” the coach concluded.
D.J. Lockhart led Conway with 12 points, half of which came in the fourth quarter after the Hornets had established a healthy lead. Paul Harris added 7 including 4 in the fourth.
Bryant opened the game with a 9-2 push. The game was tied at 2 before Drake Fowler drove for a layup and Hunter made a steal and layup. Another Conway turnover set up Ruffner’s first 3 off a feed from Cory Nichols.
Harris and Hunter traded 3’s then, off a Conway miscue, Fowler assisted on another Hunter triple, which made it 15-5.
Lockhart and Adams traded 3’s. Adams’ started an 8-2 run to finish the quarter. The push included another trey from Adams, off an assist from Nichols then free throws by Landyn Newburn and Nichols as the lead expanded to 23-10 at the first break.
Conway suffered 10 turnovers in that first stanza, while attempting just nine shots from the field.
George opened the second-quarter scoring with a pair of free throws. Troy Wiseman hit one for Conway but Ruffner canned another triple off a dish from Fowler to make it a 17-point lead.
Williams scored his lone field goal of the game with 4:21 left in the half. Gavin Brunson, who finished with 10 rebounds, hit the offensive glass for a basket to make it 30-13.
When Conway turned the ball over again, the Cats took a timeout at 3:26.
They responded with a 3 from Rome Fields and a free throw by Lockhart to trim the deficit to 30-17 at the half.
Bryant blew the game up in the third, holding Conway to just 3 points.
An offensive rebound bucket by Will Diggins started the scoring in the period. Williams hit a free throw to interrupt what turned into a 10-1 run.
Nichols dished to Ruffner for his third triple. Fowler hit a free throw then got a layup off a dish from Hunter. Using the Euro-step on a fastbreak off a Conway turnover, Adams scored and was fouled at the 2:16 mark. Though he missed the free throw, the Bryant lead had ballooned to 40-18.
Conway’s lone field goal of the third came at the 2:02 mark when O’Marrion Canady scored and was fouled. He missed the free throw and the Hornets closed out the scoring in the quarter with a driving layup by George and last-second triple from Adams.
It was 45-20 going into the fourth.
The largest difference was 29 points. Adams and George hit a 3 apiece, Newburn added two free throws and Diggins muscled up a bucket inside to make it 55-26 with 4:43 left in the game.
Freshman T.J. Lindsey accounted for Bryant’s last two buckets.
