ROGER -- Rogers struggled throughout Friday night from the free-throw line, but the Mounties got big defensive stops late to come away with a 49-44 6A-West Conference victory over Bentonville at King Arena.
Colton Simmons scored to pull the Tigers within 45-44 with more than two minutes left but never scored again.
The Mounties (15-1, 4-1 6A-West) missed the front end of a pair of one-and-ones in the final 36.3 seconds, but Elliot Paschal came up with a big steal and hit two free throws with 18.7 seconds left to push the lead to 49-44.
Rogers' defense ultimately helped the Mounties come away with the victory.
"That's just our guys," Rogers Coach Lamont Frazier said. "We preach the whole game about just staying locked in. That's one of those points we could have looked up at the score and saw it was a one-point game and just caved to the fact that we might or might not win the game.
"Our guys, they fought. They did what they needed to do to win. I'm proud of them for that."
Rogers hit just 12 of 21 free throws in the game, which surprised Frazier.
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"I was a little taken off-guard by our free-throw shooting because we missed quite a few in the first half, then missed some big ones down the stretch that could have really extended the game," Frazier said. "I give Bentonville credit. They hung in there, and they fought.
"It was a game tonight of who could survive the adversity."
Paschal led all scorers with 17 points, while Derek Hobbs added 13 for Rogers. Brayden Freeman led Bentonville (11-6, 2-3) with 12 points, while Simmons added 11.
Bentonville held a 41-40 lead on Thane Spencer's driving layup with a little more than three minutes left, but Paschal drained a three-pointer to give Rogers the lead for good with 2:59 left.
Simmons had a three-point attempt to tie the game and rebounded his own miss, but he also missed the putback attempt. Seconds later he picked up his fifth foul with 40.4 seconds left.
Sports on 01/25/2020