Tigers’ 29-0 Run Too Much For War Eagles

— Somebody forgot to Bentonville’s boys they were supposed to be in trouble Friday night.

The Tigers trailed Rogers Heritage 27-22 late in the first, and they were having to play with one guard missing and three others in foul trouble. Instead, Bentonville scored the next 29 points and went on to post a 76-51 victory over the host War Eagles in 7A/6A-West Conference basketball action.

BENTONVILLE 76, ROGERS HERITAGE 51

Bentonville 10 16 25 25 — 76

Heritage 14 13 0 24 — 51

Bentonville (13-3, 3-0): Smith 25, Heard 14, Haggard 12, Ward 8, McNee 4, Bachman 4, Head 3, Livingston 3, Sanchez 2, Guillory 1.

Heritage (9-6, 0-3): Greenway 18, Olsen 11, Fryauf 7, Robbins 7, Kinnamon 5, Hirsh 3.

JUNIOR VARSITY BOYS SCORE: Bentonville 50, Heritage 35.

“I’d like to tell you it was a great General Patton speech,” Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. “We just said to go out and let’s be us. Let’s make our plays because we didn’t do it in the first half.”

Bentonville (13-3, 3-0) was already without freshman guard Tyrik Dixon, who missed the game because of a disciplinary matter. Austin Heard picked up his third personal foul midway in the second quarter, then Austin Haggard recorded his third foul with 1 minute, 51 seconds left.

Hayden Greenway hit all three free throws to give Heritage (9-6, 0-3) a 27-22 lead, but the War Eagles didn’t score again Luke Fryauf’s free throw with 7:42 left. By that time, Bentonville was in full control.

“And Ryan Sanchez, our fourth point guard, had two fouls,” McMahan said of the foul situation. “So everybody who played point guard for us, except Jake Caudle, was in foul trouble.

“We believe in all the guys we dress out in varsity. We knew Jake could come in and play one good quarter, and Sean Guillory could do that. Those guys stepped up, and we actually climbed closer to Heritage before the break.”

Bentonville pulled with 27-26 at halftime, then took its first lead on Daniel Head’s bucket 13 seconds into the second half. It was just the beginning as the Tigers outscored Heritage 25-0 in the third quarter and enjoyed a 51-27 lead.

“I think we got a little down because we couldn’t get any shots to fall in that stretch,” Heritage coach Tom Olsen said. “We had some open shots early in the second half, and we got to the foul line. The shots wouldn’t fall.

“We got a little down-hearted, and we got down defensively. When you don’t defend very well, that’s what happens.”

Nick Smith had 25 points to lead Bentonville, followed by Heard with 14 and Haggard with 12. Greenway paced Heritage with 18 points, while Crist Olsen chipped in 11.

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