CONWAY - Once Springdale applied the pressure Saturday afternoon, the 7A-West co-champions found themselves getting a lot of layups.
Senior guard D.J. Evans scored 19 points and junior guard Tereke Eckwood added 11 points and five steals as Springdale rallied to knock off rival Fayetteville 54-40 in the Class 7A quarterfinals at Buzz Bolding Arena.
Springdale (22-5) trailed 30-23 a minute into the third quarter, but then held Fayetteville to 10 points the rest of the way.
The teams entered the final eight minutes tied at 34-34, but Springdale scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to cruise to their third victory over Fayetteville this season.
“They came out and punched us in the nose,” Springdale Coach Brad Stamps said. “They gave us their best shot and we knew that they would. They are familiar with us. I thought the biggest thing we could do in the second half was pick up some energy on defense.”
All six of Springdale’s field goals in the third quarter came inside. Evans knocked down a three-pointer a minute into the fourth quarter to give Springdale a 37-34 lead. They followed that shot with four more short-range two-pointers and an 11-of-15 performance from the free-throw line in the game’s final 4:33.
“We went on a little spurt and all year that’s been us,” Stamps said. “It will be nip and-tuck and all of sudden,we’ll get that surge.”
Fayetteville Coach Kyle Adams said the inability to handle pressure has hurt his team all season.
“Even at our place, they turned up the pressure and caused us to turn the ball over a few times,” Adams said. “That’s what gets them going. They got on a run and hit a couple of layups.”
Fayetteville stayed in Saturday’s game thanks to a 17-point, 11-rebound effort by junior C.J. O’Grady. O’Grady was 7 of 11 from the floor, but the other Fayetteville players were a combined 7 of 33. Springdale hit 18 of 40 shots from the floor.
“C.J. is a hard match up for anybody,” Adams said. “Unless you watch him on the basketball court, you don’t realize how big and strong he is. He’s got great feet and he handles the basketball well, so he’s really a 6-5, 245-pound guard.”
The game’s final 15 minutes belonged to Evans and Eckwood, who combined for 20 second-half points.
“D.J. has been doing the right things during the last couple of weeks,” Stamps said. “And we need him to keep doing that. He’s earned the right to get us to this point.”
Junior Chris Owens added 10 points to the Springdale total while sophomore Drake Wymer came off the bench to collect a team-high eight rebounds. Luke Renner added eight points for Fayetteville, which was led in assists from Payton Willis with four.
FS NORTHSIDE 60, VAN BUREN 54
Joe Dye scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half, helping the Grizzlies (20-8) turn back the Pointers (21-6) in Saturday’s final quarterfinal game.
Dye was 8 of 18 from the floor, hit 9 of 12 free throws and scored 11 of his points in the third quarter as Northside turned a 29-29 tie into a 47-41 advantage heading into the final eight minutes. Dye capped off the third quarter by hitting a 21-footer with 3.4 seconds remaining.
“I thought that three at the end of the third quarter was big,” Northside Coach Eric Burnett said. “He got him isolated and he hit the huge three for us.”
Van Buren 6-9 sophomore post Mitchell Smith collected 23 points and 14 rebounds. Smith hit a put back with 1:17 to play to pull the Pointers to within 53-52, but with a chance to tie the game, Smith missed a free throw. Then, Jace Richardson scored the last of his 10 points to put the Grizzlies ahead 55-52.
Smith answered with 31.3 seconds to play with a floating 3-footer, but it was the last of the Pointers’ points.
Dye, who also had a team-high eight rebounds and five assists, hit 5 of 6 free throws in the game’s final 26.9 seconds to cap the scoring.
Van Buren, committed 19 turnovers, compared to 6 for Northside, but the Pointers out rebounded the Grizzlies 37-31.
The Pointers also picked up 10 points from Ryan Pearson and 10 rebounds from Quashaun Kursh.
Sports, Pages 24 on 03/09/2014