Basketball: Conley's bounceback leads Fayetteville past Harrison

FAYETTEVILLE -- Jon Conley's game Thursday night against Jacksonville didn't sit well with him. On day two of the Bulldog Classic he turned things around.

Less than 24 hours after missing on all seven of his shots, Conley finished with a team-high 16 points in Fayetteville's 67-62 win against Harrison, setting up an pre-conference meeting with Springdale today at 11:30 a.m. in the Bulldog Arena auxiliary gym.

Bulldog Classic

Boys

Fayetteville 67, Harrison 62

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Fayetteville^15^17^16^19^–^0

Harrison (4-3): Youngblood 21, Young 15, Elliott 10, Journagan 10, Ditmanson 2, Chism 2, Huskey 2.

Fayetteville (3-4): Conley 16, Bowers 10, Cooper 10, Morgan 10, Schach 9, Johnson 8, Gibbs 4.

Friday’s games

Boys

Springdale 55, Hot Springs 46

Lee’s Summit West 67, Conway 51

Fayetteville 67, Harrison 62

Jacksonville 68, North Little Rock 59

Girls

North Little Rock 80, Jonesboro 53

Sapulpa, Okla. 48, Mountain Home 38

Little Rock Central 55, Fayetteville 43

Greenwood 55, Hillcrest, Mo. 26

Saturday schedule

10 a.m. — Greenwood girls vs. Sapulpa, Okla. (Arena)

10 a.m. — Harrison boys vs. Hot Springs (Aux)

11:30 a.m. — Hillcrest, Mo. vs. Mountain Home (Aux)

11:30 a.m. — Fayetteville boys vs. Springdale (Arena)

Third place: 1 p.m. — North Little Rock boys vs. Conway (Aux)

Finals: 1 p.m. — Little Rock Central girls vs. North Little Rock (Arena)

Third place: 2:30 p.m. — Fayetteville girls vs. Jonesboro (Aux)

Finals: 2:30 p.m. — Jacksonville boys vs. Lee’s Summit West (Arena)

"It was tough (against Jacksonville)," Conley said. "For some reason my shot wasn't falling, but tonight I just worked on picking my spots better, and it all worked out."

Conley particularly controlled the second quarter, scoring eight points in transition and on dribble drives against mismatches. The senior's bounce-back effort was much-needed, too, as Bulldogs leading scorer Collin Cooper -- 22 points per game entering Friday -- hit just one of his first seven shots and had four first-half points.

"If Coop is not our leading scorer or RJ Johnson is not our leading scorer, to have someone step up like Jon did, that's a big deal to have that third scorer," said Adams, whose team shot 52 percent. "That's kind of the way Jon was last year. He started out trying to do so much early, and once he got comfortable everything kind of started clicking for him."

Another bonus for Fayetteville was the play of Frank Morgan, who, alongside Conley, Darius Bowers and others, is two weeks removed from football. Morgan gave the Bulldogs a lift early, scoring eight of his 10 points in the first quarter as Fayetteville grabbed a 15-13 lead after one and a 32-28 edge at the half.

The team's 3-point shooting has been a strong point during the Bulldog Classic, knocking down 16 through two games. Morgan alone has four makes on seven attempts.

"He's starting to (play with more confidence)," Adams said. "He's our leader. He's the guy the kids will respond to. We're playing him in spurts and trying to give him 4-5 minutes at a time and I've really been impressed with him."

Cooper did finish with 10 points in the win, and offensive balance played a big role for Fayetteville. Five Bulldogs scored at least eight points, and perhaps none were bigger than Quinn Schach's eight in the fourth quarter.

The senior guard buried two corner threes and, after the first, which put Fayetteville up nine, took a charge on Harrison's ensuing possession, adding to the four he drew Thursday.

"That's what he does," Adams said. "His forte is defense. And that's the other part, the kids feed off of him, too. I thought several kids came in and did a good job."

The Bulldogs led by as many as 13 on two occasions, but a late Harrison push in the final 1:30 closed the gap. Colton Youngblood led the Goblins with a game-high 21 points on 8 of 18 shooting. Skyler Young added 15, sinking 7 of his 10 shots. As a team, Harrison was 1 of 5 from three in the loss -- its lone make coming in the fourth quarter.

Boys

Springdale High 55, Hot Springs 46

Sophomore guard Trentez Scales and Carl Fitch combined for 35 points as Springdale advanced to face Fayetteville/Harrison today at 11:30 a.m. Scales scored a game-high 18 points and knocked down five triples in the win. Fitch added 17 and came up a rebound shy of his second straight double-double. Jayden Walker led the Trojans with 15.

Red'Dogs assistant coach Andre Goldberg filled in in the early going Friday for coach Jeremy Price, who was involved in a car accident. Price was not injured and returned to the bench midway through the second quarter.

Girls

Little Rock Central 55, Fayetteville 43

The Lady Tigers advanced to today's Bulldog Classic finals against North Little Rock behind senior Erynn Barnum's monster 27-point, 13-rebound effort. Little Rock Central trailed 18-10 entering the second quarter, but turned things around and outscored Fayetteville 24-7 in the second. The Lady Tigers led by as many as 14 in the win.

Sophomore Sasha Goforth scored a team-high 16 points on 7 of 18 shooting for the Lady Bulldogs, who face Jonesboro at 2:30 p.m. in the third place game. Jasmine Franklin added 10 points on 5 of 10 from the floor and a season-high 17 rebounds in the loss.

Sports on 12/09/2017

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