Basketball: Fayetteville sweeps Bentonville West

Junior comes off the bench to help Bulldogs to much-needed win

BENTONVILLE -- Junior Frank Morgan provided a spark off the bench to help Fayetteville pull away late for a 68-54 win against Bentonville West at Wolverines Arena on Tuesday.

Morgan only scored four points, but his hard screen off of an inbounds play sprung Collin Cooper free for a 3-pointer that gave the Bulldogs (6-13, 3-6 in 7A-West) a 42-40 lead with under a minute remaining in the third quarter.

Girls

Fayetteville 82, Bentonville West 30

Fayetteville^24^20^30^8^—^82

Bentonville West^6^14^5^5^—^30

Fayetteville (22-2, 9-0): Franklin 16, M. Mayberry 14, Goforth 13, Douglas 12, Posey 10, Spangler 5, W. Mayberry 4, Holmes 2, Salley 2, Stokenberry 2.

Bentonville West (2-16, 1-8): Montgomery 10, Wood 6, Reid 5, Wilson 5, Henry 4.

Boys

Fayetteville 68, Bentonville 54

Fayetteville^14^15^15^24^—^68

Bentonville West^17^13^10^14—^54

Fayetteville (7-13, 3-6): Roth 22, Finney 15, Cooper 11, Lewis 6, Conley 5, Morgan 4, Scalise 2, Schach 2, Banister 1.

Bentonville West (10-12, 3-6): Collin Blackburn 12, Hornsby 12, Muldrew 11, Barron 7, Larsen 6, Wilmot 2.

They never trailed again.

After helping Fayetteville repeat as Class 7A state football champions, Morgan didn't join the basketball team until December. He was used sparingly before Tuesday as he recovered from a back injury.

"Anytime we can score points, that's huge for us, and he was a catalyst for a lot of that," said Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams.

In addition to the game-changing screen, Morgan sank a pair of free throws that pushed the lead to 58-50 with two minutes, 16 seconds left in regulation. His shots began a string of eight consecutive free throws for Fayetteville and it hit 10-of-12 down the stretch to secure a much-needed 7A-West win against the Wolverines (10-12, 3-6).

"Those free throws he hit were huge for a kid who hadn't been in that situation much in a varsity game," Adams said. "He stepped up there cool as could be and knocked them both down. I was proud of him."

The win avenged Fayetteville's 59-48 loss against West on Jan. 10. The difference in this rematch was shooting and seniors, according to West coach Greg White. His first year program plays without seniors.

"I've never used that as an excuse, but a senior has a little more urgency than a sophomore," White said. "There are six games left and we weren't playing with the same urgency that they were.

"We shot it poorly at times, and a lot of that was because of their pressure."

Fayetteville senior Tyler Roth did Tyler Roth things throughout the game to finish with a game-high 22 points. He scored five straight points, including a traditional three-point play, to help erase the Wolverines' 10-0 run to open the game. The Bulldogs would tie the score at 14-14 when Brennon Lewis got a steal and a dunk late in the first quarter.

"We called a timeout and got realigned a little bit, and the kids came out and played really hard after that," Adams said. "We did some good things defending the entire court, and when the defense turns up like that, we can do some good things by creating off of our defense.

"Once we got going a little bit, I felt OK."

Caleb Finney had 15 points for Fayetteville while Cooper contributed 11. Collin Blackburn and Gabe Hornsby each had 12 and Cobe Muldrew added 11 for the Wolverines.

Bentonville West travels to Springdale on Friday for another key conference game while Fayetteville hosts Rogers High.

Girls

Fayetteville 82,

Bentonville West 30

The Lady Bulldogs (22-2, 9-0) used big runs to begin the first, second and third quarters and placed five players in double figures to secure their 14th straight victory. Each run was triggered by turnovers as Fayetteville forced 20 turnovers and committed just four.

Fayetteville junior Jasmine Franklin scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the first half. The 6-foot-1 forward also dominated the boards, finishing with seven rebounds, including five on the offensive glass.

Junior Maya Mayberry had 14 points and four assists for Fayetteville and freshman Sasha Goforth has 13 points, five assists and two steals.

The Lady Wolverines were led by junior Imanin Montgomery's 10 points.

Sports on 02/08/2017

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