SPRINGDALE -- Playing with four fouls for most of the second half always poses a challenge, but Springdale Har-Ber's Charlie Bockelman managed to avoid that last call for most of the game, leading the Wildcats to a 57-43 win against Rogers Heritage on Tuesday.
The win was Har-Ber's first 6A-West Conference win of the season.
Bockelman picked up his fourth foul about one-third of the way through the third quarter and started to come out during a dead ball, but Har-Ber coach Scott Bowlin kept the first-year varsity member out on the court because of the impact he was making.
"There comes a point in the ball game that you have to quit worrying about who's got what and how many fouls you have. You just have to make sure you have the right players out there," Bowlin said. "He did a great job."
Bockelman finished with 10 points in Har-Ber's 57-43 win over Rogers Heritage (4-8, 0-2) on Tuesday night. Lawson Jenkins scored a team-high 18 points for the Wildcats, which put 10 different Wildcats in the scoring column.
"Charlie Bockelman was the difference in the game," Bowlin said. "He sparked us offensively, got some rebounds. It was good. Charlie needed a game like that."
Bockelman came up big on both sides of the court for the Wildcats (6-8, 1-1), corralling in offensive rebounds and usually guarding Heritage's best shooters. The junior even stopped a fast break opportunity by the War Eagles that would have cut Har-Ber's lead to single digits if it had not been for Bockelman getting a charge call.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 17-7 start after the first quarter and would never surrender the lead the rest of the game. The team pushed its lead in the third behind the duo of Jenkins and Bockelman, who combined for 13 of the team's 18 points in the quarter.
Rogers Heritage seemed to never be far behind the Wildcats, keeping the game close until the last few minutes of the fourth. Har-Ber went 12-12 from the free-throw line to end the game and perfect overall in the second half, which frustrated a Heritage defense that was forced to foul with the Wildcats having the lead.
Jenkins and Nick Buchanon both went 4-4 on free throws in the fourth quarter to lead the team.
Heritage had eight players score for the War Eagles with Jason Kimball scoring a team-high 13, which included a pair of threes in the second half.
Rogers Heritage 7 8 11 17 -- 43
Springdale Har-Ber 17 6 18 16 -- 57
Rogers Heritage (4-8, 0-2): Kimball 13, Clines 8, Hill 6, Ingram 5, Furuseth 4, Carpenter 3, Saucier 2, Brown 2.
Springdale Har-Ber (6-8, 1-1): Jenkins 18, Bockelman 10, Buchanon 8, McRae 6, Bishop 5, Pieroni 4, Gibson 3, Seawood 2, Bowen 1.
Bentonville High 49, Van Buren 33
Bentonville High didn't miss often in the second quarter and used that hot shooting to build a big halftime lead Tuesday night at Clair Bates Arena.
The Tigers were able to make six of seven attempts in the second quarter, which allowed them to build on their 13-6 lead after the first quarter.
Bentonville (12-3, 2-0 6A-West) used an 11-1 run to close out the second quarter to take a 30-12 advantage into halftime.
Michael Shanks had a nine-point second quarter for Bentonville, including scoring all but two points in the key run.
"Our guys did a good job and played really hard," Bentonville coach Rippee said. "We were a little tight early and settling for some outside shots. We decided to get it inside and got some easy baskets. That gets you going."
The Tigers were led by a team-high 13 points from both Shanks and Colton Simmons. Brayden Freeman also added eight points for Bentonville.
Van Buren (4-10, 0-2) got a team-high 13 points from Gary Phillips, while Brayden Gilmore added 10 for the Pointers.
Bentonville 13 17 9 10 -- 49
Van Buren 6 6 14 7 -- 33
Bentonville (12-3, 2-0): Simmons 13, Shanks 13, Freeman 8, Deffenbaugh 6, Price 6, Spencer 3.
Van Buren (4-10, 0-2): Phillips 13, Gilmore 10, Brothers 6, Ball 3, Moore 1.
Fayetteville 75, Rogers High 51
Rogers answered an early Fayetteville run, but the Purple Bulldogs scored both inside and out and ultimately blew out the Mounties in 6A-West Conference play on Tuesday night at King Arena.
Tamaury Releford, a 6-foot-6 sophomore poured in 25 points, while senior Collin Cooper added 25 more, including five 3-pointers, to help the Purple'Dogs (11-3, 2-0) pick up the win.
Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said his team had a nice inside-outside connection.
"You always look like you play pretty well when you shoot the ball like we did," Adams said. "I know Tamaury kinda dominated the paint in there early and Coop got it going in the second half shooting the ball from the perimeter. One thing I was really pleased with was our defense. We lost (Drew) Miller a couple times. He's just a tremendous talent."
Fayetteville jumped to an 11-0 lead only to have Rogers (11-3, 1-1) clawed back to within is early in the second quarter. But Releford couldn't be stopped in the paint with 11 second-quarter points to push the Purple'Dogs' lead back to double digits by halftime.
Cooper then took over, scoring 16 in the second half to keep Fayetteville's lead comfortable.
Junior Drew Miller led Rogers with 23, including six 3-pointers, while Elliott Paschal added 11.
Fayetteville 23 16 16 20 -- 75
Rogers 15 11 16 9 -- 51
Fayetteville (11-3, 2-0): Cooper 25, T. Releford 25, Barnett 8, Garret 5, I. Releford 5, A. Releford 3, Bowers 2. Blake 2.
Rogers (11-3, 1-1): Miller 23, Pascal 11, Austin 5, Rhame 4, Uecker 4, Park 2, Garner 2.
Springdale High 60, Bentonville West 55 (OT)
John Paul Hignite hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 27 seconds left in regulation, then hit another one to start overtime to give Springdale the lead for good.
Vincent Mason scored seven of his team-high 17 points in overtime, including a dunk and another bucket as the Bulldogs (8-5, 2-0) jumped out to a 53-46 lead and West (6-9, 0-2) never recovered in a game that featured 59 fouls and 82 free throws attempted.
"It was a very physical game, and we know that coming here," Springdale coach Jeremy Price said. "We didn't respond to that good early, but we hit some big shots late and got some stops late. We were able to find a way to win in a tough environment.
Hignite was the only other Springdale player in double figures with 11. Dawson Bailey had 19 to lead West, which missed two possible game-winning free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining, while Traven Hardiman chipped in 18.
SPRINGDALE HIGH 60, BENTONVILLE WEST 55 (OT)
Springdale 9 13 8 15 15 -- 60
West 8 19 7 11 10 -- 55
Springdale (8-5, 2-0): Mason 17, Hignite 11, Boyd 9, Henry 8, Sanders 8, Eckwood 6, Sikes 1.
West (6-9, 0-2): Bailey 19, Hardiman 18, Conner 6, Swoboda 4, Higson 3, Buccino 3, Honeycutt 2.
Sports on 01/09/2019