Stark Powers Bulldogs To Easy Win

Keifer Holt, right, of Rogers High drives around Treshawn Gause of Springdale High during the second half of the game Friday at Springdale High School. Springdale beat Rogers in a mercy rule win, 79-49.
Keifer Holt, right, of Rogers High drives around Treshawn Gause of Springdale High during the second half of the game Friday at Springdale High School. Springdale beat Rogers in a mercy rule win, 79-49.

DaShaun Stark missed a shot in the paint, but he made it look easy as he jumped, grabbed his own rebound and lofted it into the basket on the second try.

There wasn’t much Rogers High could do Friday to slow down Stark, especially in the second half as the 6-foot-5 forward repeatedly raced downcourt for fast-break layups and dunks.

SPRINGDALE HIGH 79, ROGERS HIGH 49

Rogers 14 16 8 11 — 49

Springdale 23 22 18 16 — 79

Rogers (6-8, 0-1): Jones 14, Hill 13, Holt 13, Adams 5, Gentz 2, Quillen 1, Martinez 1.

Springdale (9-5, 1-0): Stark 24, Tutt 14, Scharlau 13, Cook 9, Wymer 6, Johnson 6, Eckwood 5, Gause 2.

Springdale High found its groove around the same time Stark did, and the Bulldogs had no trouble pulling away after halftime for a 79-49 win over Rogers inside Bulldog Gymnasium.

“We just didn’t do a very good job of guarding in the halfcourt sets especially,” Rogers boys basketball coach Warren Herren said. “We let Stark get away from us too many times.

“He’s a match-up problem for us.”

Stark scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around Springdale (9-5, 1-0 7A/6A-West Conference) had turned a 15-point halftime lead into a 63-38 advantage.

Things quickly snowballed for Rogers (6-8, 0-1), who were forced to rely on a handful of players who are new to varsity basketball. The Mounties scored only eight points in the third quarter, and the mercy rule went into effect after Stark’s dunk gave the Bulldogs a 77-46 lead with 3 minutes, 5 seconds remaining.

“I was really impressed with DaShaun’s effort tonight,” Springdale coach Brad Stamps said. “I could tell as the day went on — we had a shootaround this morning — just his focus.

“He’s been here before, and this is his last go-round and first game of the conference (schedule).”

Tyler Tutt provided Springdale with immediate offense, scoring all 14 of his points in the first half, and Alex Scharlau added 13 points in the win.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 23-14 lead in the first quarter, and they used their transition offense to take a 45-30 lead at halftime. But Stamps admitted he was pleased to see his players pick up their defensive intensity in the second half as they outscored Rogers 18-8 in the third quarter.

Three players scored in double figures for the Mounties, including a team-high 14 points from Zach Jones. Hunter Hill and Keifer Holt added 13 each.

“I thought the second half we came out and really established what we wanted to do, which was holding them to one shot and then getting some stuff in transition,” Stamps said. “I thought our transition game was good once again.”

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