FORT SMITH -- North Little Rock junior Collin Moore set the tone early Friday night with a first-quarter dunk, and the Charging Wildcats didn't look back after that
Moore finished with a game-high 24 points to lead the way for North Little Rock in a 71-44 victory against Fort Smith Southside in a 7A-Central conference matchup in Southside Gym.
"I think we did a good job attacking and getting the ball in the paint," North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice said. "We created a lot of good looks. We got athletes that can finish and that's a big advantage."
Moore's jam gave North Little Rock a 9-2 lead early, but he was able to make a shot from behind the arc later to extend the lead to 17-2. Moore finished with five total three-point baskets to provide inside and outside scoring for the offense.
"This is kind of his coming out party hitting the three-pointers," Rice said. "He hadn't been hitting many of those. He has always been able to run the floor and finish. But it's taken a little while to get his legs back since coming back from an injury."
The Charging Wildcats (13-4, 2-1) jumped out to a 21-4 advantage in the first quarter using their up-tempo offense finding good shots under the basket.
"We haven't started games in full-court man, but we wanted to get going early," Rice said. "We wanted to get the first shot lick in. It was good because it got us going."
Southside (8-9, 0-3) was able to battle back to cut it to 25-15 early in the second quarter aided by scoring the last five points of the first quarter.
Moore again was there for North Little Rock when he was needed, answering the scoring stretch with a three-point basket then an alley-oop from teammate Moses Moody. That helped push the lead back out to 30-15.
"He is big part of what we have," Rice said of Moore. "He was one of our leading guys coming back from last year. He has played really well for us so far this season as well."
North Little Rock took a 56-32 lead into the fourth quarter putting the game well out of reach by outscoring Southside 21-12 in the third quarter.
"We were able to battle back," Southside Coach Charlie Cooper said. "They jumped on us early, but we were able to come back at them there. I'm proud of our guys for that. North Little Rock seemed like a team on a mission tonight."
Moore again was a big part of the offense in the third quarter, finishing with a team-high eight points in the quarter with two three-point baskets.
Ike Moore scored a team-high 18 points to lead the way for Southside. Dillon Hamilton added 13 for the Mavericks.
North Little Rock's offense was balanced out with 13 points from Spencer Simes and 10 points from Moody.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK 71, FS SOUTHSIDE 44
North Little Rock 21 14 21 15 -- 71
FS Southside 10 10 12 12 -- 44
North Little Rock (13-4, 2-1): Moore 24, Simes 13, Moody 10, Sheppard 8, Fresh 5, Jordan 5, M. Moody 3, Watkins 2, Washington 1.
Fort Smith Southside (8-9, 0-3): Moore 18, Hamilton 13, Gatewood 6, Brewer 3, Solomon 2, Jackson 2.
Girls: North Little Rock 74, Fort Smith Southside 36
North Little Rock led from start to finish Friday on the road at Southside Gym to bounce back from a home loss earlier this week.
The Lady Charging Wildcats were able to jump out to a 15-3 lead after the initial quarter of the game while making just six of 17 shots from the field.
North Little Rock (13-3, 2-1 7A-Central) was able to find high-percentage shots in the second quarter, making eight of 10 from the field. That helped push North Little Rock's advantage out to 35-8 heading into the break.
Fort Smith Southside (1-12, 0-3) was held to two of 22 shooting while committing 13 turnovers in the first half.
North Little Rock took a 61-24 lead into the fourth quarter after making 11 of 16 shots from the field in the third quarter.
Demyla Brown scored a team-high 15 points to lead the way for North Little Rock. Yomyris Morris added 12, while Yasmin Ott finished with 11 for the Wildcats.
Southside was led by Kelly Carson with a game-high 16 points.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK 74, FS SOUTHSIDE 36
North Little Rock 15 20 26 13 -- 74
FS Southside 3 5 16 12 -- 36
North Little Rock (74): Brown 15, Morris 12, Ott 11, Pettus 9, Neal 7, Hawkison 7, Tucker 7, Mackey 2, Carnagie 2, Morris 2.
Southside (36): Carson 16, Smith 6, Kleck 5, Graham 5, Rainwater 3, Jones 1.
Sports on 01/13/2018