FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith Northside boys' basketball coach Eric Burnett is really liking Southside's new arena, called "The Barn" by the students. His Grizzlies like winning there as well.
Thanks to its defense, Northside is back in the Coca-Cola Christmas Classic championship with a 65-55 win over Springdale Har-Ber on Wednesday night.
The Grizzlies (7-7) will face Putnam City (Okla.) West in the championship game tonight at 6 p.m. West beat Fort Smith Southside 74-62 in the other semifinal. Har-Ber (8-2) will play the Mavericks in a 4:20 p.m. third-place game today.
"We played (Putnam City West) at their place last year and they beat us by 35 (points)," Burnett said. "They are that good."
Northside (7-7) is now 3-0 at Southside's Arena this season.
"Playing well so far this week is big for us," Burnett said. "Right now, I am more worried about us because we are trying to fix some internal issues. We are taking steps to correct those things and, if we do, we have a chance when conference play starts."
In Tuesday's win over LR Hall, Har-Ber had 23 field goal with 15 assists. Tonight, Northside only allowed 17 field goals and only 9 of those were assisted while creating 18 turnovers. The Wildcats shot just 35 percent (17 of 48) from the floor, including 5-of-21 from beyond the 3-point line.
"We did a better job in our zone tonight than we have done in a while." Burnett said. "We made them take deep 3-point shots instead of penetrating and getting to the basket. We also got some turnovers in our run-and-jump (trapping pressure at midcourt)."
Denarion Whitmore scored a game-high 20 to pace the Grizzlies. Jacob Fotenopulos and Jermaine Tilford each scored 11 to lead Har-Ber.
Northside took control of the game with a 12-3 run to build a 26-20 lead with 6:10 left in the first half.
The Wildcats got to within 26-25 on a stickback by Jacob Fontenopulos with 4:50 left in the first half. Unfortunately, Har-Ber never got that close the rest of the game.
The Grizzlies finished the half on a 13-2 run, capped by a Luke Young basket with five second left, for a 39-27 halftime lead. Northside shot 64 percent from the field in the first half (14 of 22) and finished 51 percent (21 of 41) on the night with just 10 turnovers.
"For us to just have (10) turnovers is impressive for us," Burnett said. "We are still making little mistakes here and there. We also have some game situations that we must be smarter at. If we can correct those, we have a chance to be a good team."
Har-Ber could only get the lead under double digits once in the second half – with less than two minutes left in the game on a Mack Wright stickback. But Northside put the game away making 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute of play.
At a glance
Fort Smith Coca-Cola Classic at Southside High School Arena
Tuesday’s Scores
Game 1 Springdale Har-Ber 61, LR Hall 27
Game 2 Putnam City (Okla.) West 68, Bryant 54
Game 3 FS Northside 63, Sylvan Hills 62 (OT)
Game 4 FS Southside 66, Charleston 25
Wednesday’s Scores
Game 5 Sylvan Hills 68, LR Hall 22
Game 6 Bryant 62, Charleston 20
Game 7 Putnam City West 74, FS Southside 62
Game 8 FS Northside 65, Springdale Har-Ber 55
Today’s Games
SEVENTH-PLACE GAME
LR Hall vs. Charleston, 1 p.m.
CONSOLATION FINAL
Bryant vs. Sylvan Hills, 2:40 p.m.
THIRD-PLACE GAME
FS Southside vs. Springdale Har-Ber, 4:20 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Putnam City West vs. FS Northside, 6 p.m.