Har-Ber turns up pressure, breaks West

With his team leading by five points early in the second quarter and Springdale Har-Ber coach Scotty Bowlin calling time, Bentonville West boys coach Greg White knew what was coming and issued a warning to his players. "We told our guys here they come," White said. Har-Ber turned up the defensive pressure at that point and dominated the next 26 minutes as the Wildcats maintained sole possession of first place in the 7A-West Conference standings with a convincing 75-49 victory Tuesday in Wolverine Arena. "These are the type of games we're concerned about," Bowlin said. "When you haven't won anything big in 10 years, you're still trying to learn how to win games. We told them you have to go on the road and win games like this if you want to have a chance to do something in conference. "We wanted to play a little more up-tempo, and I had to have a little meeting with Tylor Perry. Once we had the meeting, he started figuring it out and started playing. We just have a lot of weapons and a lot of different ways we can score. Good win for us, and we're excited about the next game." Collin Blackburn's bucket and two free throws after a technical foul on Har-Ber allowed West (9-8, 2-2) to extend a one-point lead into 17-12 with 6 minutes, 5 seconds remaining in the first half before Har-Ber (13-5, 4-0) took control. Perry, who played on despite dealing with a migraine headache, spearheaded a 12-2 Wildcat run with eight points, including a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left that gave Har-Ber a 24-19 halftime cushion. The Wildcats then opened the second half with seven straight points for a 31-21 lead on a Tyler Garrett bucket with 5:38 left in the third quarter. Gabe Hornsby stopped that run with four points, only to have Har-Ber run off nine more, with another Garrett bucket making it a 40-23 lead at the 3:11 mark. "Har-Ber dictates pressure better than anybody we have faced all year," White said. "We had some foul trouble early and had to go deeper into our rotation. "This was the first time our guys have seen this pressure because we can't mimic it in practice. That 7-0 run to end the first half and a 7-0 run to start the third quarter -- that was our downfall right there." Perry continued his scoring surge with 21 points to lead the Wildcats, while Ryan Taylor was the only other Har-Ber player in double figures with 16. Blackburn had 11 points for West, followed by twin brother, Collier Blackburn, with nine.

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HAR-BER TURNS UP PRESSURE, BREAKS WEST

HENRY APPLE

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 1/18/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Bentonville West High School Athletics