Fayetteville Focused On Task At Hand

Manuale Watkins, left, Fayetteville senior guard, drives Friday against Bentonville in Fayetteville.
Manuale Watkins, left, Fayetteville senior guard, drives Friday against Bentonville in Fayetteville.

— Kyle Adams often asks his Fayetteville boys basketball players to listen for the noise. Adams, the third-year head coach of the Bulldogs, is referring to the crowd, the horn, the cheers and all the distractions surrounding the actual in-game action of a typical basketball setting.

Listen for the noise, Adams tells his players. Because if you cant hear it, thats when you know youre focused on basketball.

If youre not hearing out loud whats around you, then you know youre focused on the game, Adams said. And I thought we were focused (Friday night).

Fayetteville completed the first round-robin of the 7A/6A-West Conference schedule a perfect 7-0 in league play with its 62-48 win against Bentonville on Friday. The Bulldogs had little trouble with most of the league opponents in the first go-round, mercy-ruling four teams and winning by at least 20 points in every game except for Fridays win versus the Tigers.

The kids want to go through the season undefeated at home, thats a goal, Adams said. So far, weve been able to do that.

A focused Fayetteville team appears to be head and shoulders above the rest of the 7A/6A-West this year. The rest of the conference can only hope to stop the Bulldogs listening to the noise around them in the second half of the season.

Play of the Week: Caleb Waitsman took a pass on the run from Manuale Watkins and hit a hard driving shot almost a dunk of sorts midway through the second quarter. The basket and follow up free throw for a 3-point play gave the PurpleDogs a 24-19 lead at the time and set off what would be a 20-6 Fayetteville run to close out the first half on Friday against Bentonville.

Player of the Week: Jawan Smith scored 12 points in Tuesdays 81-55 win against Springdale Har-Ber, then followed up with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals in the win against Bentonville on Friday. Smith, the teams leading scorer through the first 19 games, also had one of his better weeks defensively.

Notable: Fayetteville trailed after the first quarter Friday at home for the first time this season. ... The Lady Bulldogs allowed just 10 made field goals in Fridays 44-37 loss and blocked nine shots but were beat on the free throw line 31 attempts to nine. ... LadyDogs senior post Vanessa Matlock went down hard in the fourth quarter Friday with an apparent arm injury.

The Lingo: Our girls and our coaches come to practice with a good attitude and ready to go every day. We feel like when we walk out there on the floor were the best team. We may not win, but thats our mentality.

VIC RIMMER

Fayetteville girls coach

Up Next: Tuesday is a scheduled snow date in the 7A/6A-West Conference schedule, meaning the teams will have that playing date off. Adams says his team will stick to the exact same routine all week, except Tuesday will turn into a scrimmage instead of a game. Fayetteville will then close out the week Friday at Rogers Heritage. The Bulldogs defeated the War Eagles, 59-32 in the first meeting of the season. The Heritage girls squeaked out a 50-48 overtime win at Fayetteville on Jan. 4.

That Figures

1 Games Fayetteville has trailed in after one quarter at home this season

4 Conference opponents mercy-ruled by Fayetteville boys in the first half of league play

9 Blocked shots by Fayetteville girls in a 44-37 loss Friday to Bentonville

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