High school basketball report

Fayetteville Athletic Director Barry Gebhart, who led the Bulldogs to a Class 7A basketball state championship in 2009, said the school’s new arena played a big factor in the school getting the chance to host the Class 7A state tournament.
Fayetteville Athletic Director Barry Gebhart, who led the Bulldogs to a Class 7A basketball state championship in 2009, said the school’s new arena played a big factor in the school getting the chance to host the Class 7A state tournament.

— Bulldogs to host 7A state

Fayetteville Athletic Director Barry Gebhart said the Bulldogs getting a new home court was “long overdue.”

“Our old gym was 51 years old,” Gebhart said. “It served us well, but I knew we had to have a place that would last us another 50 years.”

The Arkansas Activities Association’s Board of Directors awarded Fayetteville High School the Class 7A state basketball tournament during Thursday’s meeting in North Little Rock.

Gebhart said Fayetteville’s new facility seats approximately 2,400 and can hold as many as 2,700. At least 1,400 of the seats have chairbacks.

“It’s similar to the arena at UA-Fort Smith,” Gebhart said. “Alma has probably the best [high school] basketball arena in the state, and I know I’m a little biased when I say this, but I can’t think of a better overall facility than what we have now.”

The Board also awarded state basketball tournaments to Greenwood, the Pine Bluff Convention Center, Cave City, Riverview High School in Searcy, Marmaduke and Bradley.

Regional tournaments are slated for Feb. 20-23.

The state tournaments will be held Feb. 26-March 2.

Regional Feb. 20-23 SHERIDAN

No dwelling on loss

The nine-game winning streak for Sheridan’s boys came to an end on Tuesday night with a 56-55 loss at El Dorado, but the Yellowjackets gave themselves little time to think about the loss.

League-leading Benton pays a visit to Sheridan tonight.

“We were sitting in the locker room after Tuesday’s loss, and we realized we haven’t had this feeling in quite a while,” Sheridan Coach Joe Scott said. “It had been more than a month since we lost. But when we walked out, we weren’t thinking about it anymore.

You can’t with Benton coming to town.”

After winning only five games last season, Sheridan (12-4, 1-1) has become a serious contender in the 7A/6A-South.

Junior forward Dylan Morris has been the Yellowjackets’ most consistent scorer, averaging 14.5 points per game. Austen Theiss, a 6-7 junior post player, is averaging 10 points and seven rebounds. Firstyear point guard Chris Whitman, a 5-11 junior, is handing out six assists per game.

Scott said Brady Bowlin, a 6-2 senior, and Jessie Feathers, a 6-2 sophomore, have played well and that the Yellowjackets should get a boost with the return of 6-4 junior Griffin Smith, who missed four weeks with a high ankle sprain.

“We’ve developed some cohesiveness,” Scott said.

“We’ve become more disciplined. We’re not gambling as much and instead we’re locking down and playing solid defense.”

Benton (13-2) is tied with El Dorado and Pine Bluff atop the conference standings with 2-0 league marks.

LR CHRISTIAN Hendrixson OK after fall

Little Rock Christian junior Cole Hendrixson was back at school the day after suffering a neck injury in the Warriors’ 64-35 loss to Jacksonville on Tuesday.

Hendrixson, a 5-5 guard, was injured in the third quarter. Warriors Coach Austin Trembley said a Jacksonville player “accidentally stepped on [Hendrixson’s] foot” and then the two players collided.

“There was no base for Cole to catch on to and he fell hard to the floor,” Trembley said.

Hendrixson was taken by ambulance to the Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock.

“He suffered a real bad whiplash, and his neck is stiff and sore,” Trembley said.

“But he’s been cleared by the doctors and trainers.”

Tournament sites

State tournaments 7A Fayetteville 6A Greenwood 5A Pine Bluff Convention Center 4A Cave City 3A Riverview (Searcy) 2A Marmaduke 1A Bradley Regionals

CLASS 4A NORTH Maumelle EAST Heber Springs SOUTH No bid

CLASS 3A REGION 1 Paris REGION 2 Jessieville REGION 3 Hoxie REGION 4 Prescott

CLASS 2A NORTH Sloan-Hendrix WEST Magazine EAST Carlisle SOUTH Hampton

CLASS 1A REGION 1 County Line REGION 2 Hillcrest REGION 3 WS Greers Ferry REGION 4 Emerson Other sports’ tournament sites, 3C

Sports, Pages 23 on 01/11/2013

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