Basketball: Defense Difference In Fayetteville Sweep

FORT SMITH -- Sometimes pure, physical muscle and strength inside the paint is enough.

Fayetteville's inside power made the difference Tuesday at Southside Gymnasium. With shots not falling from the perimeter, the Bulldogs used a decided rebounding edge and an advantage in size to slow down the Rebels' offense in a 59-47 win.

How They Scored

Boys

Fayetteville 59, Fort Smith Southside 47

Fayetteville^17^7^16^19^—^59

FS Southside^16^3^14^14^—^47

Fayetteville (14-1, 2-0): Breathitt 10, Willis 10, Scott 10, Wymer 8, Carlson 5, Paslay 3, Brown 5, Woodruff 3, O’Grady 3.

FS Southside (6-9, 0-2): Hawley 15, Foree 14 Mays 11, Ollison 5, McKethan 2.

How They Scored

Girls

Fayetteville 54, Fort Smith Southside 43

Fayetteville^17^15^14^8^—^54

FS Southside^11^7^12^13^—^43

Fayetteville (10-5, 2-0): Morgan 11, Holmes 9, Schuldt 9, Crockett 7, P. Jones 7, Mayberry 4, Coulter 3, B. Jones 3, Breathitt 1.

FS Southside (6-9, 0-2): Stone 13, Meares 6, Hamilton 6, Odell 6, Bishop 5, Hittner 4, Sharum 3.

"We're so big, that when you play five guards it's hard to get it around our big guys with our length," Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said. "That's the one thing I thought we did a great job of out of our zone. We closed out really well.

"(Seth) Hawley got open some for them and that bothered me some, but for the most part we played really well."

Fayetteville (14-1, 2-0 7A-West) hit just 2 of 9 three-points and never really found a consistent offensive rhythm for an extended period of time Tuesday. But the Bulldogs were able to pull away in the fourth quarter with sheer strength, going to the boards for offensive rebounds and finishing off the Rebels (6-9, 0-2) at the free throw line.

"My guys battled. You couldn't ask anymore out of them," Fort Smith Southside coach Charles Cooper said. "But we've got a 5-foot-10 post guy going up against 6-5, 6-6 and 6-7. He's doing everything he can do, but the putbacks got us tonight."

Fayetteville is only getting stronger inside the paint, as junior football tight ends Drake Wymer and C.J. O'Grady work their way back into more and more playing time. Wymer has now played nine games and scored eight points in the win to go along with five rebounds.

"Really this is C.J.'s first real time this year," Adams said. "He was at the Lander's Award in Little Rock (Monday) and we held him out in the first half. But he's an all-conference player and he's earned his time and it will continue for him."

Girls

Fayetteville 54, Fort Smith Southside 43

Three steals in the first 45 seconds led to an early 7-0 lead and Fayetteville would lean on aggressive, pressure defense the rest of the way in picking up the road win to improve to 2-0 in conference play.

The Lady Bulldogs (10-5, 2-0) finished with 16 steals and used a balanced scoring attack to build a 15-point second-half lead. Fort Smith Southside (6-9, 0-2), led by Allison Stone who finished with 13 points, rallied to within nine points in the fourth quarter but couldn't make any further push in finishing just 18 of 48 shooting from the floor.

"We played good defensively for the first three quarters," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. "Southside had more energy than us or wanted it more than us in that fourth quarter. Whatever it was, they definitely won that fourth quarter.

"What we're trying to do get the tempo going and put together four quarters, and we're getting there."

Sports on 01/14/2015

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