FAYETTEVILLE — Freshman Mitchell Smith completed a three-point play with 20.8 seconds remaining as Van Buren survived a late rally by Conway to earn a 52-49 victory in the opening round of the Class 7A boys state tournament.
Van Buren, a No. 5 seed from the 7A/6A-West, rode the 21-point first-half performance from senior guard Nick Pagel to stake itself to a 30-16 halftime lead. Pagel scored all of his first-half points on three-pointers. He finished with eight threes and a game high 26 points.
“Nick is capable of that,” Van Buren Coach Randy Loyd said. “He hit eight in a game before conference started, so he’s had nights like this.”
Van Buren (14-13) advances to play host Fayetteville in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Pagel was 9 of 12 shooting, including an 8-of-11 effort on three-pointers. Van Buren finished 10 of 19 from threepoint range. Conway was 6 of 21 on three-pointers.
Van Buren increased its lead to 34-16 early in the second half, but Conway rallied behind senior guard Tim Boyd, who scored a teamhigh 19 points.
Conway (16-11) took a 49-48 lead with 37.3 seconds to play when senior Justin Leon hit one of two free throws, but the Pointers regained the lead 17 seconds later when Mitchell banked in a three-footer and then hit the ensuing free throw.
Conway’s opportunity to tie the game or take the lead ended when the Wampus Cats were called for an illegal screen with 5.5 seconds left. Van Buren junior guard Ryan Pearson hit 1 of 2 free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining and Boyd missed a 22-footer at the buzzer to allow Van Buren to escape with the victory.
Leon added 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Smith, a 6-8 post player, scored 13 points and finished with a game-high 12 rebounds.
“Before the season started we thought [Smith] would come in here and help us here and there with rebounding andstuff like that, but he’s helping us offensively,” Loyd said. “It’s tough for a ninth-grader to feel wanted and get involved, but he has, and that’s a credit to his teammates to do that.” BENTONVILLE 73, LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 38
Senior forward Nick Smith had three dunks among his 31 points as the Bentonville Tigers cruised to a first-round victory over the Little Rock Central Tigers.
Smith also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots for Bentonville (21-8). Senior guard Austin Heard added 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for the No. 3 seed from the 7A/6A-West.
Central (6-17) was guilty of nine turnovers in the first quarter in falling behind 18-7 after the first eight minutes. Bentonville held a 33-23 lead at the half and outscored Central 25-10 in the third quarter.
Junior guard Kylon Nichols led Central with 15 points. Junior Brandon Higgins added eight points.
Bentonville held a 53-26 advantage on the boards.
BRYANT 57, CABOT 46, OT
Junior guard Tyler Simmons scored six of his 16 points in overtime as the Hornets (20-9) outlasted the Panthers (10-15) and earned a date with topranked North Little Rock in Friday’s quarterfinals.
C.J. Rainey added 13 points and sophomore K.J. Hill scored 11 for Bryant, which led 26-20 at the half.
Cabot senior Kyle Theilemier, who hit a three-pointer from the top of arc with 1:15 left in regulation to give the Panthers a 44-42 lead, led his team with 11 points.
Rainey hit two free throws with 54.2 seconds left in regulation. Cabot held the ball for a final shot but a threepointer failed.
Bryant hit 20 of 36 shots from the floor while Cabot was only 17 of 48. Bryant outrebounded Cabot 31-21.
Sports, Pages 20 on 02/28/2013