LITTLE ROCK — Bentonville Coach Jason McMahan said the 10 three pointers the Tigers made against Little Rock Hall on Saturday afternoon in the Arkansas Hoops Challenge isn’t uncommon.
It also isn’t uncommon to see the Warriors turn up the defensive pressure when needed, like they did in the final five minutes in a 65-64 victory over Bentonville .
“It was all about their defense,” McMahan said, “and they were pretty good at the free-throw line as well.”
Bentonville built a 56-48 lead with a little more than five minutes remaining, but the Warriors (7-3) forced three consecutive turnovers and scored seven points off them to make it 56-55 with 3:55 left.
The Warriors forced five turnovers in all down the stretch to pull out the victory in a game where there were two lead changes in the final three minutes.
Hall’s Evan James hit a pair of free throws with 2:43 left for a 59-58 advantage, but Bentonville’s Tyrik Dixon drove for a layup with 2:36 left to make it 60-59.
A Warriors’ double-team near midcourt resulted in another turnover and a layup by Anthony Black and a 61-60 lead. Dixon was called for charging a second later, and Gregg Easter hit a pair of free throws with 51.9 seconds left for a 63-60 lead.
Austin Haggard hit 1 of 2 free throws for the Tigers (6-2), but they saw their hopes end when James, who scored all his points off six free throws, nailed his final two with 12 seconds left.
The Warriors were 18 of 21 from the line in the game.
“Our game plan was to apply a lot of pressure,” Hall Coach Jon Coleman said. “We kept as much pressure on them as we could, but at this point and time we are not a very good defensive team. That is something we still need to work at.”
Coleman said the Warriors were a little surprised about the Tigers’ offense.
“I did not go, but we scouted them in Clarksville last night,” he said. “I was surprised. They have some nice pieces.”
The Tigers had a balanced attack, paced by 17 each from Nick Smith and Austin Heard. Austin Haggard scored 14 and Dixon had 11.
“Of our seven-man rotation, six of them can shoot,” McMahan said.
Hall was led by Bobby Portis with 19 points. Easter and Javon Perry had 11 each.
“Our guard play is still a work in progress,” said Coleman. “We need to get them to have Bobby get the ball when he can do something with it. They are not looking for him.”
Sports, Pages 37 on 12/16/2012