FAYETTEVILLE — Fort Smith Southside battled Fayetteville for 7A-West Conference boys basketball supremacy each of the past two seasons.
Friday was a much different story.
The Rebels, battling youth and inexperience of their own, were no match for Fayetteville’s vast size on the inside and speed on the perimeter. And it was apparent very quickly, as the Bulldogs scored 33 of 39 points to close out the first half and went to mostly reserves the rest of a way in a 64-39 win over Southside in Bulldog Arena.
“Fayetteville is a really good team,” Fort Smith Southside coach Charles Cooper said. “You’re looking at a team that returns almost everybody from the the state finals last year. They’re just a really good team and we’re still trying to get our guys lined out.”
The Rebels (3-7) actually got two Clayton Paukey baskets to take a brief 5-4 lead with 5:43 left in the first period. Fayetteville then turned up the pressure defensively, which led to easy scores on the other end.
A 33-6 run ensured, leading to a 37-11 lead for the Bulldogs at half.
“Our defense, it creates so many things for us,” Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said. “It creates easy shots and open looks and we’re fortunate to have some really good players.
“Defintely if we don’t guard well we can get beat. But we defended well tonight.”
Fayetteville (10-2) stuck to mostly reserves after halftime, but two quarters of play were still enough for the starters to make an impact. Ja’Wan Smith led the Bulldogs with 14 points and Manuale Watkins added eight.
Kendrick Conley also contributed 11 for Fayetteville, all in the fourth quarter.
“I told the kids, these guys are a lot quicker than any team we’ve played all year,” Cooper said. “But they’re a lot like the teams we’ll play the rest of the year in our league (the 7A/6A-Central). So it will be good for us.”
Fayetteville is back in action at 7 p.m. today in the Arkansas Hoops Challenge in Maumelle against Little Rock Parkview.
FAYETTEVILLE 64, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 39
Southside 7 4 9 19 — 39
Fayetteville 19 18 9 18 — 64
Southside (3-7): Hunton 10, Pankey 8, Spradlin 7, Hindman 4, Harpeneau 4, Srickland 3, Glidewell 2, Jones 1.
Fayetteville (10-2): Smith 14, Conley 11, Paschke 9, Watkins 8, McCullough 6, Waitsman 4, Adams 3, Renner 3, Boyd 2, Williamson 2, Carney 1, Maurer 1.
Girls
Fayetteville 57, Springfield, (Mo.) Glendale 27
The Lady Bulldogs turned a close game after one quarter into a complete rout, using full court pressure defense and a sudden hot surge of offense to blow past Springfield, (Mo.) Glendale, 57-27, on Friday.
Fayetteville (4-6) led just 11-8 after one period but reeled off 12 unanswered points to close out the first half, taking a 23-10 lead into intermission. Glendale’s scoring woes continued into the second half as the Lady Bulldogs would allow just one field goal over a 14 minute, 25 second span than lasted two quarters before finishing the night with 34 forced turnovers in all.
“Tonight it all kind of went together for us,” Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. “I thought we came out with good energy and we played good defense and that led to good offense.”
Eleven Fayetteville players scored, led by Katie Schuldt with 12 off the bench. Sydney Crockett added eight points and Jayla Prude chipped in with seven.
Keri Cook paced Glendale (0-7) with 15.
FAYETTEVILLE 57, SPRINGFIELD (MO.) GLENDALE 27
Glendale 8 2 4 13 — 27
Fayetteville 11 12 17 17 — 57
Glendale (0-7): Cook 15, LePage 4, McFatridge 2, Williams 2, Pittman 2, Grega 2.
Fayetteville (4-6): Schuldt 12, Crockett 8, Prude 7, Breden 6, Denek. White 6, Robinson 5, Allen 4, Denes. White 3, Austin 2, Matlock 2, Howard 2.