West boys join 7A-West logjam for first place

Bentonville West's boys refused to rest on the laurels of one good offensive run Friday night. The Wolverines put together a string of points in each quarter and asserted themselves in the first-place logjam in the 7A-West Conference standings with an impressive 62-32 blowout of Rogers Heritage in Wolverine Arena. "I told our guys I love them because they are an old-school team," West coach Greg White said. "They let me coach them. There are times I'm nose-to-nose with Boston Barron, Gabe Hornsby and Collier Blackburn, and they take it and take coaching. They look me in the eyes, and it's 'yes sir.' "We're a mature team with a lot of seniors. Hayden (White) came in and gave us great minutes. Seth Stanley is one of the best players in the league, and we hold him to 14 points, attacking him like we did. We don't take plays off. We coach and we play until the buzzer. We're coaching them, whether we are up 30 or down 30, and we'll continue to coach these kids." Stanley, whose 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Heritage a win on West's home floor last year, hit a 3-pointer to give Heritage (13-4, 2-2) a 7-5 lead before West took control. The Wolverines scored 10 of the next 12 points and took the lead for good, with Hornsby's two free throws making it a 17-9 game with a minute left in the first quarter. Hornsby, who finished with a game-high 24 points, continued the attack when he scored six points in a 10-2 run to end the first half and extended West's cushion to 29-18 at halftime. The Wolverines started the second half with another 8-1 spurt, then blew the game open when they scored the first nine points in the fourth quarter and eventually outscored Heritage 22-5 over the final 8 minutes. "Gabe, he's pretty good," White said. "I think he's an elite-level player, and he showed it." Hornsby was the only player to finish in double figures for West, who dedicated the game to starting sophomore point guard Dillon Bailey and reserve Dawson Bailey upon the death of their grandmother. Stanley finished with 14, all but one coming in the second half, while Ty Olsen added 11 for Heritage, which suffered its second straight loss in conference play. Girls: Bentonville West 49, Rogers Heritage 41 West scored the first eight points and withstood Heritage's second-half comeback attempt to pick up its first conference win in a game where a combined 53 fouls were whistled on both teams. "Hats off to Heritage," West coach Randy Richardson said. "You know, I didn't feel like they were good enough to beat us, so they had to turn the game ugly and did a fantastic job of it. "But my girls stayed focused and did what we had to. The nice thing about our depth showed through. We have five players that can go in the post, and we can go 11-deep. That really helped." The Lady Wolverines (8-8, 1-3) had a 26-14 halftime lead, and that margin grew to 32-16 after Kelsey Wood's bucket with 5:21 left in the third quarter before Heritage (5-11, 0-4) made it interesting. The Lady War Eagles closed out the third quarter with a 12-1 run and closed the gap to 33-28, then they pulled within 39-36 on Danielle Dickerson's bucket midway through the fourth quarter. Ashaundi Henry, however, helped West regroup by scoring five points in an 8-2 spurt that pushed the Lady Wolverines' lead to 47-38 with just under a minute to play. Despite all the fouls, neither team could take advantage of free-throw opportunities as West hit just 16 of 35 while Heritage connected on 11 of 30. Imani Montgomery had 10 points to lead West, followed by Ashaundi Henry with nine. Brooke Menke led Heritage with 14. BENTONVILLE WEST 49, ROGERS HERITAGE 41 Heritage 6 8 14 13 -- 41 West 12 14 10 13 -- 49 Heritage (5-11, 0-4): Menke 14, Dickerson 9, Frazier 5, Kinnamon 4, Seiler 4, Beuxler 2, Pabon 2, Richardson 1. West (8-8, 1-3): Montgomery 10, Henry 9, Kash 7, Mahone 6, Wilson 5, Clifton 5, Wood 5, Kultgen 2.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville West High School Athletics

WEST BOYS JOIN 7A-WEST LOGJAM FOR FIRST PLACE

HENRY APPLE

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 1/20/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Kaijo