Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams may be feeling a bit better after missing Wednesday’s game with Bentonville West because of illness.

Jon Conley scored 17 points and Collin Cooper 16 points to lead Fayetteville to a 69-63 victory over the Wolverines in 7A-West Conference action at the Bulldogs gym. Fayetteville was guided by assistant coach Brad Stamps, who filled in for Adams, who was sick on Wednesday.

“Kyle’s under the weather, running a fever, and he didn’t want to get anybody else sick,” Stamps said. “We told him it’s a collective responsibility for all of us and that we all have to do our job. Once he sees the score and how we held on, he’s going to be proud of us.”

The game matched Stamps against Bentonville West coach Greg White, who was an assistant under Stamps at Springdale High and Shiloh Christian.

West (14-8, 4-5) played much better after losing 65-49 to Fayetteville at home on Jan. 9. The Wolverines eased ahead 51-50 after a free throw by Gabe Hornsby midway through the fourth quarter. But Fayetteville regained the lead behind Conley and Cooper, who combined to make 13 of 16 free throws. The Bulldogs finished 25 of 34 from the free-throw line while West was 10 of 17.

“We made free throws when we had to and the guys made big defensive plays down the stretch,” Stamps said. “Give credit to West, they kept coming back and fighting.”

Hornsby scored 14 points for West while Frank Morgan added 11 for Fayetteville (14-7, 7-2), which has won four consecutive.

The lead changed a handful of times in the second quarter after Fayetteville grabbed a 17-13 lead after one quarter. Bentonville pulled ahead 23-21 with the help of 3-pointers by Collier Blackburn and Collin Blackburn and a fastbreak slam dunk by Gabe Hornsby that ignited the Wolverines’ bench.

Fayetteville regained a 32-31 lead at halftime behind the play of Conley, who had 21 points in the Bulldogs’ 50-37 victory over Bentonville High last Friday. West also had trouble containing Conley, who made aggressive moves to the basket from his guard position.

West had 10 points in the first half, including a steal and a layup followed seconds later by a baseline drive to put the Bulldogs ahead 32-31.

Bentonville West 13 18 17 15 — 63 Fayetteville....... 17 15 18 19 — 69 West (14-8, 4-5): Hornsby 14, Barron 13, Blackburn 12, Bailey 11, Larsen 7, Blackburn 6, Fayetteville (14-7, 7-2): Conley 17, Cooper 16, Morgan 12, Bowers 8, Schach 6, Johnson 5, Releford 5.
