Confident Boyd Contributes To Bulldogs Success

Trea Boyd, a Fayetteville senior forward, has developed his skills while waiting his turn on a deep Bulldogs team.

Trea Boyd, a Fayetteville senior forward, has developed his skills while waiting his turn on a deep Bulldogs team.

Friday, January 11, 2013

— Tre' Boyd always had the ability to be an impact player on the basketball court. Coaches knew it, teammates knew it and opponents who saw Boyd’s high-flying, acrobatic skills most likely knew it as well.

Profile

Tre’ Boyd

SCHOOL: Fayetteville

CLASS: Senior

POSITION: Forward

HEIGHT: 6-6

NOTABLE: Averages 4.2 points in 15 games this season. ... Scored a season- and career-high 14 points against Hughes at Rumble on the Ridge tournament in Forrest City. ... Has started for the Bulldogs, but he’s counted more as a spark off the bench. ... Played primarily junior varsity last season.

Boyd was the only one who needed convincing.

“Everybody else knew what a great player Tre’ could be,” Fayetteville boys basketball coach Kyle Adams said. “But Tre’ didn’t have the confidence yet and that’s what you’ve got to have a lot of.

“I think that’s what has separated him this year from last. He’s come in this year with a lot of confidence because he’s such a great athlete. And he always was a great athlete, but I don’t think he believed in himself as much as we believed in him.”

Boyd, a 6-foot-6 senior guard/forward, spent most of last season on Fayetteville’s junior varsity team. While his basketball skills might have been enough to warrant more time with the varsity squad, a deep bench allowed Boyd to develop his game before his final year with the Bulldogs.

That year of waiting for the call to the varsity lineup might have worked to Boyd’s best advantage. With Fayetteville in search of help off the bench this season, he has been more than ready to provide a spark when called upon.

“The biggest role he fills for us is on defense,” Adams said. “He’s so long at 6-6, and he makes us better defensively when he’s out there.

“He’s similar to what Caleb Waitsman brought us off the bench last year, not so much in emotion but in the plays he can make with the big dunks and big plays on defense.”

Boyd agreed it all starts with defense in his game. He’s averaging 4.2 points per game, including a season-best 14 points against Hughes at the Rumble on the Ridge in November. But he’s willing to add flash and flair to the Fayetteville scoring attack when needed.

“It’s really fun to play with these guys,” Boyd said. “When we get going in fast-break situations with Manny (Watkins), Cameron (Paschke) and Ja’wan (Smith) and me and we start making plays, it’s a lot of fun.”

The Bulldogs (12-3, 2-0) have opened 7A/6A-West Conference play with back-to-back wins against Rogers Heritage and Van Buren in convincing fashion. But losses to Memphis Southwind, North Little Rock and Little Rock Parkview in nonconference play are what still stick with Boyd at this point in the season.

And what remind him that even with all the work he’s put in, there’s still more to be done.

“It’s really about what coach keeps telling us, we have to buckle down on defense,” Boyd said. “In all the games we’ve lost, we’ve given up 70 or more points and you’re not going to win giving up that many. So we just have to be able to play defense and finish out the games.”