BENTONVILLE -- Bentonville coach Dick Rippee received a nice gift from his team Friday heading into the Christmas break.
Little Rock Christian^10^18^13^11--^52
Bentonville^13^11^22^17--^63
Little Rock Christian: Hill 18, Moore 17, Chapple 8, Finley 4, Strickland 3, Hightower 2.
Bentonville: Hutchinson 25, Shanks 16, Deffebaugh 9, Smith 4, Baggett 4, Phillips 3, Chalmers 2.
Asa Hutchinson scored 25 points and Michael Shanks 16 to lead the Tigers to a 63-52 victory over Little Rock Christian in a non-conference game at Tiger Arena. The victory followed two losses last week for Bentonville (5-3), which doesn't play again until Dec. 28 against Earle in a first-round game in the Harrison Tournament.
"I'm just so proud of our kids because we had a tough week last week," Rippee said. "We got beat by (Fort Smith) Northside and Memphis Central, two quality teams, and our guys were lacking a little bit in confidence. In the second half tonight, in particular, I though our guys competed really well."
Bentonville outscored Little Rock Christian 22-13 in the third quarter to take control after the Warriors led 28-24 at halftime.
Hutchinson was the dominant player Friday on a night that included Arkansas commit Justice Hill, a junior who finished with 18 points for the Warriors (6-3). But the Class 7A Tigers were too much with Hutchinson and Michael Shanks controlling the inside.
"Asa has been primarily a perimeter guy, but he's really settled in and done a good job for us inside," Rippee said. "He's really good around the basket with his shots and he's done a good job of rebounding as well."
Bentonville jumped ahead early behind Hutchinson, who had 12 points at halftime. But the Warriors scored seven consecutive points to end the first half and turned consecutive steals into layups for a 28-24 lead.
Little Rock Christian played better team ball than two weeks ago, when the Warriors lost 81-63 at Springdale Har-Ber. Hill scored 30 points but 15 of those came in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach.
Hill, Mykal Moore and Willie Chapple took turns scoring for Little Rock Christian, which fell behind 46-41 after a technical foul against Warriors coach Clarence Finley late in the third quarter.
Hill made a 3-pointer to pull Little Rock Christian to within four (54-50) in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors fell short after rushing some shots and by missing free throws.
Moore finished with 17 points and Chapple eight points for Little Rock Christian.
Sports on 12/23/2017