Smith Leads Late Surge By Tigers

Bentonville's Senior Forward Helps Hold Off Webb City, MO.

— When Webb City thought it had caught its breath Tuesday night, Nick Smith gained his second wind.

The 6-foot-8 senior forward scored the next six points and put Bentonville ahead to stay en route to a 64-53 victory over its Missouri counterpart in nonconference boys basketball action in Tiger Arena.

Prep Basketball

Nonconference

Boys

BENTONVILLE 64, WEBB CITY, MO. 53

Webb City 13 16 10 14 — 53

Bentonville 15 15 13 21 — 64

Webb City (3-1): Brown 15, Slaughter 15, Rodresique 9, Johnson 7, Vaden 5, Williams 2.

Bentonville (5-0): Smith 27, Heard 16, Haggard 11, Ward 6, Dixon 2, Estrada 2.

Smith finished with a game-high 27 points, and eight of them came during a two-minute period that helped Bentonville stay undefeated against the previously unbeaten Cardinals.

“Nick played great,” Tigers coach Jason McMahan said. “I don’t know what he had in rebounds, but it felt like he grabbed every crucial one. He made a lot of big baskets when we needed them the most.

“Every time they came up and closed the gap, Nick would hit a big shot for us.”

Phoenix Johnson had given Webb City (3-1) a 47-46 on his 3-pointer from the left wing with 6 minutes, 10 seconds remaining when Smith went to work. His two free throws put Bentonville (5-0) ahead to stay at the 5:33 mark, then his pair of 17-foot jumpers made it a 52-47 game.

Johnson scored again moments later and pulled the Cardinals within three, but it turned out to be Webb City’s final field goal. Smith and Austin Heard each hit a bucket, then the Tigers pulled away with free throws over the final 1 1/2 minutes.

“They made baskets, and they made big baskets,” Webb City coach Landon Cornish said. “They had a lot of offensive rebounds and second-chance points that we couldn’t give up.

“Being on the road, you have to take care of everything. You can’t turn the ball over that many times. They kept coming at us with pressure defense, they stayed in front and kept hitting shots.”

Webb City’s only other lead came in the second quarter when Kohl Slaughter’s bucket put the Cardinals ahead 17-15 with 6:49 left in the first half. That advantage lasted only 10 seconds as Smith buried a 3-pointer to put Bentonville back in front.

Heard was next in line for Bentonville with 16 points, followed by Austin Haggard with 11. Slaughter and Nate Brown each had 15 to pace Webb City.

Bentonville’s boys will play their next eight games on the road, beginning with three games in as many days. The Tigers travel Thursday to Greenwood, followed by a trip to Clarksville and a Saturday game in Maumelle against Little Rock Hall in the Arkansas Hoops Challenge.

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