Fayetteville went on the defensive to make sure its unblemished 7A/6A-West Conference record stayed intact.
The Bulldogs forced six turnovers in the first quarter — and five more shortly after intermission — while getting key stops to pull away from Bentonville for a 56-35 win on Senior Night at Tiger Arena.
“That’s always been the case with us: Our defense comes first,” Fayetteville boys basketball coach Kyle Adams said. “If we play good defense, that just leads to easy baskets on offense.”
Fayetteville (24-3, 14-0 7A/6A-West) built a 16-5 lead with 1 minute, 43 seconds left in the first quarter, getting seven early points from Manuale Watkins.
But the Tigers rallied, pulling to within 25-22 at halftime and tying the score 25-25 on a Austin Heard 3-pointer soon after intermission.
“We strung together a bunch of stops there and got them into some perimeter shots they probably didn’t want to take,” Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. “And we were getting the rebounds during that stretch. That’s was a key.”
Bentonville’s rally didn’t last long past halftime, though, as the Purple’Dogs turned the Tigers’ turnovers into quick points. A 16-2 run was the result and Fayetteville was well on its way to a perfect conference season.
“Nick Smith is such a great player for them, but I thought Caleb Waitsman defended his tail off tonight against Nick,” Adams said. “I told him he could shoot some of those bad 3-pointers if he kept playing defense like that.”
Watkins had 12 points and six rebounds, and Waitsman added nine points and 10 rebounds to pace the Purple’Dogs.
Smith was held to six points, while Heard led Bentonville with 12.
Fayetteville now receives a bye in the first round of the state tournament and will play at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Bentonville, the No. 3 seed from the 7A/6A-West, faces Little Rock Central at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
FAYETTEVILLE 56, BENTONVILLE 35
Fayetteville 16 9 16 15 — 56
Bentonville 9 13 9 4 — 35
Fayetteville (24-3, 14-0): Watkins 12, Smith 10, Waitsman 9, McCullough 8, Paschke 8, Boyd 5, Williamson 4.
Bentonville (19-8, 9-5): Heard 12, Ward 8, Smith 6, Haggard 4, Head 3, Diehay 2.