Levi Rutherford could be considered a battle-tested warrior on the basketball court, and he even has the scars to prove it.

Bentonville West boys basketball coach Greg White has a photo on his cell phone of the junior forward, depicting some of the hits he's taken this season. It includes the typical bloody nose and a scratch below one of his eyes, but he's also had a finger run into one of his eyes and even suffered a gash on the top of his head.

Yet Rutherford goes on without hardly missing a beat.

"I guess it's just inside of me," Rutherford said. "I just push through. The team just keeps me going."

He hasn't missed a single practice or a game this season, although he might have limited action in some of them. He even led the Wolverines with 13 points in last week's game against Springdale High despite suffering a sprained ankle in the previous game against Fayetteville.

It's that kind of physical toughness West needs in its inaugural season, and White considers Rutherford -- who is constantly guarding bigger opponents and plays larger than his 6-foot-1 frame -- to be the team's heart and soul.

"He's a throwback player," White said. "When you think of the late '80s and early '90s NBA, when it was rough and physical, Levi's that type of player. There's nothing he does that is pretty, other than the outcome.

"His toughness can't be matched. He's undersized at his position, and there are times in the year when we thought we couldn't play him there because he's overmatched. Now every time we see a team with a big scoring post, we say we have Levi. What he brings to our program is what we've preached from day one -- a toughness that won't be matched."

Some of the hits Rutherford has taken this season might be considered a result of "friendly fire" -- in other words, from his teammates. His bloody nose came from an elbow during a Wolverines practice, and so did the incident where a player's finger went into his eye and scratched the sclera but didn't affect Rutherford's vision.

The most gruesome incident, however, came last month when West played Greenwood. Rutherford actually took a elbow from teammate Gabe Hornsby in the head, and it caused a bloody gash that had to be temporarily patched and later glued.

"I was going up for a block and blocked it," Rutherford said. "Gabe came down with this elbow and hit me in the head. I realized the ball was on the floor, so I had to grab the ball first. I was running down the court and not realizing my head was bleeding.

"I started holding my head and coach subbed me out. He told me not to grab my head, and I asked why before I grabbed my head. I just saw this big patch of blood on my hand. It got scary from there, but once the trainer patched me up I was ready to play."

It's that never-say-quit attitude that has inspired his teammates, and White admits these things didn't cross his mind when he met the team shortly after being named the Wolverines' coach. Now he knows his team wouldn't enjoy the success it's had without Rutherford on the floor.

"When it's time to compete, there's nobody you would rather have," White said. "He sets bone-jarring screens, and he dives after loose balls. He's a guy that, every day, he gives you every ounce of what he has.

"He's the first guy we talk about when others want to talk about our team. We have some good players and some that can really shoot the ball, then there's Levi. He does everything for us, and some coaches call it 'the dirty work.' That would be his everyday job. There's no way to describe him except call him a warrior."
