CENTERTON -- Rogers took a major stride Thursday in its basketball rebuilding project under Coach Lamont Frazier.
Freshman Will Liddell scored 14 points as Rogers defeated Little Rock Central 53-50 in the Class 6A state tournament at Bentonville West. The victory is the first for Rogers in a state tournament game since 2011 when the Mounties won twice before being eliminated by a Little Rock Hall team led by Bobby Portis (Arkansas Razorbacks).
Rogers (21-6) advanced to a quarterfinal game tonight against Conway at 8:30.
Little Rock Central had a chance to tie after trailing 41-32 early in the fourth quarter. With 4.6 seconds left, Central wanted the ball in the hands of AJ Williams, who led the Tigers with 22 points. But Williams passed off while being closely guarded by Derek Hobbs, and Braxton Bowen did not get a shot off before the buzzer.
"We wanted to make sure with 4.6 seconds left that whatever they did, we contested," said Frazier, the Mounties' second-year head coach. "If they were going to make it, they would've had to make a contested shot."
Central led 25-23 at halftime on the strength of 14 points by Williams, a senior guard. But Rogers outscored Central 15-7 in the third quarter with six players contributing baskets. The Mounties extended their lead to 41-32 in the fourth quarter after Liddell hit a step-back three-pointer.
Central kept hustling and got to within 50-48 on a rebound basket from KD Arnett with 32 seconds left in the game. The Tigers were called for a charge after forcing a turnover in the backcourt and Hobbs answered with two free throws to put Rogers ahead 52-48 with 25 seconds left.
"Coming into it, I was really worried about how we were going to defend their size, defend their speed," Frazier said. "As the game went on, our guys really acclimated."
Elliot Pascal added 11 points for Rogers, while Jakalyn Jackson contributed 13 for Little Rock Central (16-11).
BRYANT 73, CABOT 39
The Hornets played like the No. 1 seed from the Central in their state-tournament opener.
Bryant (23-4) took control with a 25-0 first-half run and added a 24-2 spurt to start the second half for good measure to cap a dominating performance en route to an easy win over Cabot.
The Hornets have now won 14 consecutive games and advanced to Saturday's 1:30 p.m. semifinal against defending state champion North Little Rock.
Bryant did it with balance on offense as 6-foot junior Khalen Robinson led the way with 14 points, but he had plenty of help. Rodney Lambert and Camren Hunt added 11 each, while Khasen Robinson chipped 10 and Treylon Payne had nine.
Bryant coach Mike Abrahamson said his team has hung its hat on defense this season. That didn't change, playing Cabot for the third time this season.
"I think there was a comfort level between both teams," Abrahamson said. "But defensively our guys were locked in and ready to go. They had a nice performance and were able to turn some of that into offense.
"Of course, hitting shots makes everything better. It was a good performance by our guys. Look, Cabot got some open looks they didn't make. It wasn't all us. We had a good day. They had a rough day. We played two pretty close games earlier in the year. At the same time, I want to give credit to our guys, defensively they were really good, made some shots, moved the ball well at times and played well in transition."
Bryant took control early. After Cabot's Jacob Hudson hit a jumper to get the Panthers within 5-4, they wouldn't score again for quite a while.
The Hornets took off on a 25-0 run keyed by Robinson. He had 11 of his 14 points in that flurry. Robinson's driving layup gave Bryant a 30-4 advantage before Cabot's Weston Vaught scored inside to snap the streak with 3:41 left in the first half.
Zach Bates led Cabot (20-9), the No. 5 seed from the 6A-Central, with 10 points.
Sports on 03/01/2019