Basketball: Fayetteville turns to offense, races past Rogers Heritage

FAYETTEVILLE -- Fayetteville takes pride in a defense-first mentality on the boys' basketball court. Friday, though, the Bulldogs were forced to go on the offensive to outrace a determined Rogers Heritage.

With the War Eagles knocking down outside shots and getting buckets inside the paint from guard Lexus Hobbs, Fayetteville used a balanced offensive attack to rally past Heritage in a 75-65 win Friday in 7A-West Conference play at Bulldog Arena.

7A-West Conference

How They Scored

Boys

Fayetteville 75, Rogers Heritage 65

Rogers Heritage^15^17^14^19^—^65

Fayetteville^15^16^21^23^—^75

Rogers (15-9, 6-5): Hobbs 16, Breedlove 15, Jensen 13, Hirsh 9, Coover 7, Olsen 5.

Fayetteville (20-5, 8-4): Willis 18, Brown 15, O’Grady 13, Breathitt 12, Wymer 10, Carlson 4, Scott 2, Paslay 1.

7A-West Conference

How They Scored

Girls

Fayetteville 68, Rogers Heritage 39

Rogers Heritage^16^6^9^8^—^39

Fayetteville^22^20^19^7^—^68

Heritage (9-15, 2-9): Giesen 13, Jobst 12, Thompson 6, Scudder 5, Tiles 2, Seiler 1.

Fayetteville (19-6, 11-1): Holmes 12, Schuldt 12, Coulter 10, Crockett 8, Morgan 7, Mayberry 7, P. Jones 6, Osburn 4, B. Jones 2.

"You look at the stats and we have five guys in double figures and this was our best offensive game," Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said. "It wasn't our best defensive game, but Heritage had a lot to do with that.

"Hobbs was able to get a lot of open looks, but he's very talented and they've got a very good team."

The Bulldogs (20-5, 8-4 7A-West) played from behind for most of the first half, but in doing so were forced to create offense throughout their entire lineup. Payton Willis, Spencer Brown, Josh Breathitt, Drake Wymer and C.J. O'Grady each scored at least 10 points.

"Getting 65 points for us is a big night offensively, but (Fayetteville) just played really well and kept getting easy shots," Rogers Heritage coach Tom Olsen said. "We have to put a lot of attention on Willis to keep him from getting 30 points on us, and their supporting cast did a great job."

Fayetteville shot 64 percent for the game. Heritage wasn't far behind, shooting 49 percent. But the War Eagles (15-9, 6-5) were held to 38 percent (8 of 21) in the second half.

"I didn't think we came out with the energy we needed and we talked to them at halftime about that," Adams said. "Offense was never the problem and defense was. I thought we did a better job in the second half until the last few minutes when we started to foul.

"But we held on and did the things we needed to do to win the ballgame."

Willis led all scorers with 18 for Fayetteville and Hobbs led Heritage with 16.

Girls

Fayetteville 68, Rogers Heritage 39

The Lady War Eagles kept close with host Fayetteville for one quarter, but couldn't keep up the pace set by Lady Bulldogs in a mercy-rule loss at Bulldog Arena.

Fayetteville (19-6, 11-1) got three 3-pointers from Lauren Holmes in the first quarter and a combined 20 points from Holmes and Lauren Schuldt in the first half to build a 20-point lead at the intermission. By the time the second half rolled around, Heritage (9-15, 2-9) simply was a step short the rest of the way.

"We gave up some early buckets to them, but I think that contributed to the tempo we wanted," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. "We shot the ball really well tonight and made 10 three's and we knew eventually we were going to settle in and play good defense."

Vernon Tarver can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAVernon

Sports on 02/21/2015

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