Ferguson steady in Cabot victory

Friday, March 7, 2014

CONWAY - Jake Ferguson proved to be a calming influence for the Cabot Panthers on Thursday afternoon.

Ferguson, a 5-10 junior guard, scored a game-high 14 points and handed out nine assists as the Panthers held off Rogers Heritage 58-51 in the first round of the Class 7A state tournament at Buzz Bolding Arena.

“Jake’s a competitor and that’s something a lot of folks don’t know,” Cabot Coach Jerry Bridges said. “I’m proud Jake took care of the ball and he didn’t force the issue. … He played a great game tonight in all aspects.”

Cabot (17-10) advances to tonight’s quarterfinals and will play Bentonville at 8:30 p.m.

Held to four points in the first half, Ferguson hit two three-pointers in the third quarter as the Panthers built a 13-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Heritage (16-12) got as close as 52-47 in the final 47 seconds, but Ferguson hit four consecutive free throws to close out the victory.

Cabot enjoyed a 33-21 advantage on the boards and the Panthers held Heritage to 15 of 42 (36 percent) from the floor. Senior Crist Olsen and sophomore Julian Jensen were held to 12 points each.

“We knew they had two really good shooters and that we had to keep them from getting good shots,” said Ferguson, who also had seven rebounds. “We did a lot of running during the summer in Cabot and because of that, we can play defense all day long if we have to.”

Sophomore Garrett Rowe added 13 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for Cabot.

Connor Hirsh added 11 points and four assists for Heritage. Jensen led the War Eagles with seven rebounds.

“I thought we did a great job of getting the ball to our bigs in the first half and I thought we forgot about them in the third quarter,” said Bridges, whose team held a 26-10 lead with 2:30 left in the first half. “We thought we could do something inside.” WEST MEMPHIS 75, BRYANT 50

Senior Vakemeyus Davis hit 8 of 9 shots, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds, as the Blue Devils (13-14) manhandled the Hornets (11-15) to advance to tonight’s game against North Little Rock.

West Memphis led 38-32 at the half and outscored Bryant 18-10 in the third quarter to take control of the contest.

Junior Gary Henderson added 19 points and senior Dannie Gatewood 10 points for West Memphis, which made 30 of 54 shots from the floor, compared to only 15 of 42 for Bryant.

Senior Greyson Giles led Bryant with 14 points and five rebounds while sophomore Kevin Hunt scored 12 points.

West Memphis enjoyed a 39-19 advantage on the boards and had 17 team assists, including six junior Rai East.

FAYETTEVILLE 54, CONWAY 49, OT

Overtime allowed Fayetteville sophomore Payton Willis to turn an average game into one to remember.

Willis scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds in the extra period, leading the Bulldogs past host Conway in the late game.

Willis scored the first six points of overtime, giving Fayetteville a 54-48 lead which it never relinquished. Willis finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He also had a game-high three assists.

Senior Luke Renner added 15 points and C.J. O’Grady had nine points and made a game-high four steals.

Junior Javonte Ellis led Conway with 12 points while senior A.J. Burton and sophomore Demarian Johnson added 10 points each. Senior James Grubbs led the Wampus Cats in rebounding with eight.

Conway had a chance to end the game in regulation, but Jalen Jones’ three point attempt sailed long. Fayetteville’s Jack Murphy had a desperation 30-footer fall short at the buzzer.

Conway led at the half 19-14 and 31-30 heading into the fourth quarter.

Sports, Pages 22 on 03/07/2014