7A/6A-CENTRAL BOYS: Vint shoulders load for Pointers

Hooper Vint (23 ) of Van Buren pulls down a defensive rebound against Conway.
Hooper Vint (23 ) of Van Buren pulls down a defensive rebound against Conway.

— Conway has seen enough of Hooper Vint.

Vint, Van Buren’s 6-11 senior center, scored 29 points Friday night to guide the Pointers to a 58-49 victory over Conway at Clair Bates Athletic Arena.

The effort matched Vint’s 29 points in the Pointers’ fourpoint victory at Conway on Jan. 21.

Van Buren (17-7, 11-1 7A/6ACentral) clinched at least a tie for the conference championship with the victory. The Pointers have not won their conference since tying Springdale for a title in 1999.

“I thought Hoop played a heck of a game,” Van Buren Coach Randy Loyd said. “You could tell that he was very focused, on a mission to help us win this conference, and he played extremely well.”

Vint scored all 10 of Van Buren’s points in the first quarter, but the Pointers entered the second quarter locked in a 10-10 tie. A three-pointer by Tyler Spoon gave Van Buren the lead for good, 13-10, and Vint followed with the Pointers’ next six points.

Van Buren led 31-19 at halftime and by at least six points throughout the second half.

“Defensively, you hold Conway to 19 points in a half you’ve played an excellent half of defense,” Loyd said.

Drew White added 12 points for Van Buren, and Spoon finished with nine.

Tim Boyd, who led Conway with 14 points, hit a threepointer and then scored off a steal to close the gap to 52-46 with 3:20 left, but that was as close as the Wampus Cats (18-6, 9-3) could get.

Vint scored his final points on a dunk with 1:40 remaining.

Sports, Pages 22 on 02/19/2011

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