CENTERTON -- Collin Blackburn sat on the floor and clinched his fists as a huge smile spread across his face. His teammates rushed in to congratulate him.
"Yes!" Blackburn screamed as the official signalled a charging foul against a Van Buren player.
Girls
Van Buren^23^13^10^14^—^60
Bentonville West^11^6^7^11^—^35
Van Buren (10-3, 1-0): Kinney 20, Jones 12, Evans 6, Myers 6, Sandoval 5, Sutton 4, Jennen 3, Frazier 2.
Bentonville West (1-12, 0-1): Montgomery 11, Wilson 8, Crowson 5, Aguilar 4, Reid 3, Mahone 2, Short 2.
Boys
Van Buren^11^11^7^10^—^35
Bentonville West^13^9^10^18^—^50
Van Buren (7-7, 0-1): West 12, Beckner 10, Kindrix 7, Stewart 4, Ball 2, Salisbury 2, Rice 2.
Bentonville West (8-6, 1-0): Hornsby 16, Collier Blackburn 15, Muldrew 9, Rutherford 6, Larsen 3, Barron 1.
Blackburn did not score a point in Saturday's 50-35 win. In fact, the junior guard only attempted one shot, a 3-pointer that rattled around the rim but wouldn't go down. But his impact in Bentonville West's first 7A-West Conference game was huge.
"Collin hasn't had a lot of burn this year," West coach Greg White said. "We found something on film, and we told him we expected him to play and to be ready. He made the most of his opportunity tonight. We love that about him."
Blackburn has a twin brother, Collier, who scored 15 points Saturday including 10 straight to end the third quarter and open the fourth quarter. Collier's scoring burst turned a 29-29 tie into a 39-29 lead when he hit a 14-footer from the right elbow with 4 minutes, 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
But as important as his scoring was, the Wolverines (8-6, 1-0 7A-West) took two more charges on the defensive end, including another from Collin later in the quarter.
"Charges show how invested your team is," White said. "Our bench erupts when we get one. Right now our culture is really good."
For three quarters the two teams traded the lead back and forth. Van Buren (7-7, 0-1) took the early lead at 7-3 on a layup by Presley Kindrix. But West junior Gabe Hornsby, who led all scorers with 16 points, hit a midrange jumper, then knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Wolverines an 8-7 lead, and the margin was close for the next two and a half quarters.
West's post players Levi Rutherford and Ben Larsen were strong on the board the entire game, getting a number of second-chance scoring opportunities. That was a huge factor, said Van Buren coach Austin Trembley.
Trembley said his team's lack of toughness was also a big difference.
"One word -- toughness. They out-toughed us," he said. "We'd been playing pretty well coming in, getting better, but for some reason I did not have our team ready to play. We knew it would come down to offensive rebounding and loose balls on offense and being tough on defense, but we weren't there."
West trailed 29-28 after Van Buren guard Jordan West cut back door for a layup with 1:50 left in the third quarter. The Pointers did not score again until the 3:56 mark of the fourth quarter. Over that time, the Wolverines went on an 11-0 run with Collier Blackburn, who scored just five points in the first half, scoring 10 to lock down an historic win for the program.
"Collier's got some dog in him. He's tough," White said. "He came by the bench one time, and I said, 'Don't miss again,' and his line is, 'I got you coach.' And he got me."
West will travel to Fayetteville on Tuesday, while Van Buren will travel to Bentonville High.
Girls
Van Buren 60, Bentonville West 35
Jamilyn Kinney scored a game-high 20 points, including a personal 6-0 run in the final 2.9 seconds of the first quarter, to get Van Buren off to a 1-0 start in 7A-West action.
Kinney hit a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left in the second quarter, then stole the in-bounds pass and hit a layup and was fouled. Kinney hit the free throw to complete the three-point play to give the Lady Pointers (10-3, 1-0) a 36-17 halftime lead.
Bailey Jones added 12 for Van Buren. Imani Montgomery led West (1-12, 0-1) with 11 points and Shania Wilson added 8.
Sports on 01/08/2017