Bentonville’s Nick Smith became just the eighth player in 7A/6A-West Conference history to score at least 40 points in a league game.
He also set a school record with 44 points in a 72-57 win against Springdale Har-Ber on Jan. 8.
“They were all needed,” Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. “Every time they were getting him the ball, he was making a three or making a dunk or getting an and-one and making the free throw.”
Smith was 14-for-21 from the field with four 3-pointers and made six consecutive free throws. He also grabbed 18 rebounds. He backed up his record-breaking performance with 25 points and 16 rebounds in Friday's 76-51 win against Rogers Heritage.
Both performances were on the road.
“He’s so dependable in every area,” McMahan said. “That’s the best way to describe him. You just don't find a kid that puts in more than he does.”
Smith leads the 7A/6A-West in scoring, and he's worked hard to become a dominant player for the league-leading Tigers.
“Monday night, I ran him out of the gym a few minutes before 8 o'clock,” McMahan said. “We ended practice at 4:40. He shoots a routine with the kids that hang out. That what makes him so incredible.”
For Smith, though, it goes beyond just working hard and taking a few extra shots occasionally.
“We have a sign in the locker room that says he shot 26,000 documented shots this summer,” McMahan said. “He made 20,000. Then you throw in his character. Nick has all of the great leadership qualities to go with it.”
Leadership goes beyond setting an example.
“He inspires others,” McMahan said. “We have the 10,000 shot card, and we had three kids do it this summer. That's what really separates him. I know there are a lot of kids that work hard that shoot a lot extra and do things to be great, but that's what separates him is that he gets other kids to do it. He's a program-changer.”
Rogers' Taylor Strickland also had a phenomenal week, scoring 35 points in a 64-54 win against Siloam Springs on Jan. 8 and then adding 25 more in a 45-39 win against Fayetteville on Friday.
Strickland leads the conference in scoring with an average of 23 points per game. She led the conference in scoring last year with 280 points in 14 conference games, finishing just ahead of Fort Smith Northside's Bria Caldwell, who had 278 points.
Strickland has scored 550 points in 31 conference games in her career.
40 And Beyond
Smith's 44 points is the first 40-point effort in a 7A/6A-West boys game in eight years, and he became just the ninth player in conference history to reach the plateau.
“There aren't many kids that can do that in 32 minutes,” McMahan said. “You have to be able to score every which way to do that in a 7A-West game.”
Smith's 40-point outing is the first since Russellville's Marcus Pillow scored 40 in a 74-49 win against Bentonville.
Smith's effort is the second best in conference history, tying him with Fort Smith Southside's Barry Lunney and just behind Fayetteville's Ronnie Brewer, who scored 47 points in a 78-52 win against Bentonville in 2003.
“They tried a little different strategy that night,” former Fayetteville coach and current athletic director Barry Gebhart said. “They were going to try to shut everybody else down and let Ronnie get his. That was a little different than what we’d seen.
“Against the other teams, Ronnie would see double- and triple-teams. He hit his first couple of threes. When that happened, he was usually good to go deep in the point column. He had a phenomenal night.”
Brewer hit four 3-pointers, had six dunks and made 13 of 14 free-throw attempts.
Gebhart either played or coached against everyone on the 40-point list, except Smith.
At A Glance
That Figures
Following is a list of boys players who have scored 40 points or more in a 7A/6A-West game since the conference was formed in 1973-74:
POINTS PLAYER, SCHOOL YEAR OPPONENT SCORE
47 Ronnie Brewer, Fayetteville 2003 Bentonville W. 78-52
44 Nick Smith, Bentonville 2013 Springdale Har-Ber W. 72-57
44 Barry Lunney, FS Southside 1991 Springdale W. 81-51
42 LaManuel Allen, Fayetteville 1999 Rogers W. 78-77 2OT
42 Joe Bob Wise, FS Southside 1978 Springdale L. 68-77
41 Tracey Medlock, Springdale 1992 Bentonville L. 60-62
41 Rob Lyall, Springdale 1989 Rogers
40 Marcus Pillow, Russellville 2005 Bentonville W. 74-49
40 Joe Bob Wise, FS Southside 1977 Springdale L. 74-75
“I've seen all of those guys,” Gebhart said. “Most of them did it when the 3-point shot was relatively new. Joe Bob didn't. Early on when the 3-point shot came out, nobody defended it any differently than they would have a 2-pointer. It was the old philosophy that it was a longer shot and the percentage of making it was a lot less, so give it to them.
“Through some of those efforts, coaches started finding out some of those guys could make a 3-point shot.”
Lunney scored a career-high 44 points in 1991 in Southside's 81-51 win against Springdale High. He scored 19 points in the first quarter and finished 20-for-21 from the free-throw line.
Lunney is currently the offensive coordinator for the Bentonville football team.
Southside's Joe Bob Wise was the first player in the conference to score 40 points in a 75-74 loss to Springdale in 1977. He’s also the only player to reach the plateau twice, scoring 42 points a year later — again against Springdale. The Bulldogs again prevailed, though, winning 77-68.
The 1987-88 season was the first for the 3-point shot, which is marked 19 feet, 9 inches from the goal, in high school basketball in Arkansas.
Most of the players on the list benefitted from that rule change, but not Fayetteville's LaManuel Allen. He scored 42 points in a 78-77 double-overtime win against Rogers in 1999.
“We were struggling for points in the second half,” Gebhart said. “Most of LaManuel's game was within 8-10 feet. We took a timeout and decided to not take a shot until LaManuel touched it. If he got it and kicked it back out, then don't be afraid to shoot it. But we didn't want to shoot it until LaManuel touched it. He was a tough matchup. He was so athletic. He was on a roll and was making everything he took. It was all inside or on free throws.”
Fayetteville Hosts State Tournament
Fayetteville will get to show off a lot more than a new gymnasium when it hosts the Class 7A State Tournament from Feb. 26 through March 3. All finals will be played at Little Rock's Barton Coliseum the following weekend.
“We are excited,” Gebhart said. “We're very proud of our new facility.”
Fayetteville's new gymnasium seats 2,400 with 1,400 chair backs and has two auxiliary gymnasiums with an additional wrestling gym and a dance studio.
“Our last gym we were in 51 years,” Gebhart said. “We built this one to take us that long as well. This one was built to be very versatile and flexible at the same time. I'm not sure it will be as loud as old Bulldog Gymnasium, but it was built to hold a larger crowd but be intimate as well.”
Fayetteville is eager to show off its new school as well.
“We're going to have the hospitality room in our new cafeteria,” Gebhart said. “Everyone will see a touch of our old gym. We took a large section of the old gym floor, and it covers one of our walls. The old bulldog that we had at midcourt is still painted on it. We're very blessed and fortunate to have our new facility.”
Setting It Up
Bentonville is off to a 3-0 start in conference play, which is the Tigers’ best since being elevated to the state's largest classification in 1989.
It’s about to get a lot tougher, though. They host Benton County rival Rogers High on Tuesday and then face Siloam Springs, Springdale and Fayetteville to close out the first half of the round robin.
“We play all three of them in a row,” McMahan said. “There is no rest in this league.”
Siloam Springs, Springdale and Fayetteville are a combined 36-10 and 8-1 in the conference.
7A/6A-West Conference Standings (Through Friday's Games)
BOYS
TEAM OFFENSE G PTS AVG
Bentonville 3 205 68.3
Fayetteville 3 200 66.7
Siloam Springs 3 196 65.3
Springdale High 3 196 65.3
Springdale Har-Ber 3 175 58.3
Van Buren 3 133 44.3
Rogers Heritage 3 130 43.3
Rogers High 3 121 40.3
TEAM DEFENSE G PTS AVG
Fayetteville 3 85 28.3
Springdale High 3 155 51.7
Bentonville 3 159 53.0
Siloam Springs 3 168 56.0
Van Buren 3 181 60.3
Springdale Har-Ber 3 193 64.3
Rogers Heritage 3 195 65.0
Rogers High 3 220 73.3
LEADING SCORERS
BOYS G PTS AVG
Nick Smith, Bentonville 3 88 29.3
Payton Henson, Siloam Springs 3 86 28.7
Manuale Watkins, Fayetteville 3 51 17.0
Hayden Greenway, Rogers Heritage 3 50 16.7
DaShaun Stark, Springdale High 3 48 16.0
Nick Pagel, Van Buren 3 42 14.0
Hunter Hill, Rogers High 3 42 14.0
Dylan Gray, Siloam Springs 3 41 13.7
Alex Rice, Springdale Har-Ber 3 41 13.7
Jawan Smith, Fayetteville 3 38 12.7
Alex Scharlou, Springdale High 3 38 12.7
Austin Heard, Bentonville 3 38 12.7
Reece Goddard, Siloam Springs 3 36 12.0
Austin Fox, Springdale Har-Ber 3 36 12.0
Quinton Ray, Van Buren 3 32 10.7
Tyler McCullough, Fayetteville 3 30 10.0
Tyler Tutt, Springdale High 3 30 10.0
Zach Jones, Rogers High 3 28 9.3
Ryan Pearson, Van Buren 3 27 9.0
Brandon Buccheri, Springdale Har-Ber 3 26 8.7
Caleb Waitsman, Fayetteville 3 25 8.3
Keifer Holt, Rogers High 3 25 8.3
Tereke Eckwood, Springdale High 3 24 8.0
Brendan Cook, Springdale High 3 23 7.7
Austin Haggard, Bentonville 3 23 7.7
Ricky Jones, Springdale Har-Ber 3 22 7.3
Aaron Ward, Bentonville 3 21 7.0
Josiah Wymer, Springdale High 3 18 6.0
Justin Malott, Springdale High 3 17 5.7
Luke Fryauf, Rogers Heritage 3 16 5.3
GIRLS
TEAM OFFENSE G PTS AVG
Rogers Heritage 3 160 53.3
Rogers High 3 158 52.7
Bentonville 3 155 51.7
Siloam Springs 3 154 51.3
Springdale Har-Ber 3 149 49.7
Fayetteville 3 136 45.3
Springdale High 3 131 43.7
Van Buren 3 98 32.7
TEAM DEFENSE G PTS AVG
Bentonville 3 115 38.3
Springdale Har-Ber 3 122 40.7
Fayetteville 3 128 42.7
Rogers Heritage 3 142 47.3
Rogers High 3 147 49.0
Siloam Springs 3 157 52.3
Springdale High 3 162 54.0
Van Buren 3 168 56.0
LEADING SCORERS
GIRLS G PTS AVG
Taylor Strickland, Rogers High 3 69 23.0
Morgan Miller, Siloam Springs 3 53 17.7
Taylor Lee, Bentonville 3 50 16.7
Ashley Ward, Rogers Heritage 3 46 15.3
Javonda Daniels, Springdale High 3 39 13.0
Maria Santillana, Van Buren 3 35 11.7
Brittany Ward, Rogers Heritage 3 35 11.7
Baily Cameron, Siloam Springs 3 34 11.3
Brittany Jurgens, Springdale High 3 34 11.3
Emilie Jobst, Rogers Heritage 3 33 11.0
Bailey Schalk, Springdale Har-Ber 3 31 10.3
McKinzie James, Rogers High 3 30 10.0
Tayleah Neal, Springdale Har-Ber 3 29 9.7
Kaylee Sheppard, Van Buren 3 28 9.3
Cassandra Trexler, Rogers High 3 28 9.3
Bailey Owens, Siloam Springs 3 25 8.3
Haley McCarver, Springdale Har-Ber 3 24 8.0
Aubrey Edie, Fayetteville 3 23 7.7
Caylee Wright, Springdale Har-Ber 3 23 7.7
Karen Perez, Springdale High 3 21 7.0
Vanessa Matlock, Fayetteville 3 21 7.0
Ellie Breden, Fayetteville 3 20 6.7
Julia Garrard, Bentonville 3 20 6.7
Ellen Lundy, Rogers Heritage 3 19 6.3
Kindal Coleman, Bentonville 3 19 6.3
Jaylah Prude, Fayetteville 3 18 6.0
Lauren Schuldt, Fayetteville 3 17 5.7
Baiyinnah Taylor, Springdale High 3 16 5.3
Brooke Mabeus, Bentonville 3 16 5.3
Mayse Pippin, Siloam Springs 3 15 5.0
Samantha Weber, Springdale Har-Ber 3 15 5.0
Alexa Howard, Fayetteville 3 14 4.7
Hannah Hawley, Rogers High 3 14 4.7