Packnett s layup gives West win
HENRY APPLE
NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

BENTONVILLE — One of the few things that Bentonville and Bentonville West haven’t done in the short time they have played each other is to play an overtime game.

The two boys teams took that off the list Tuesday night in Tiger Arena, and that only meant extra time for somebody to pull off last-second heroics.

Cade Packnett turned out to be the hero as the senior fielded a long downcourt pass from Tucker Anderson and hit a breakaway layup with 1.5 seconds left and gave West a 54-52 victory over Bentonville in 6A-West Conference play.

“I was saying ‘This is our game. We won it,’” Packnett said as he recalled the ball leaving his hand and going into the basket. “This was my first game-winning basket, so it feels really good.

“We knew we were tired. We just knew we needed one more stop — just guard and go.”

West (16-6, 7-4) tied the game at 52 on Jaxson Brust’s 3-pointer — his third —with 39 seconds remaining. Bentonville (16-8, 6-5) then ran the clock down before Jaylen Lee drove the lane, but a momentary bobble before his shot gave the 6-8 Anderson a chance to position himself and block it.

Anderson grabbed the ball after the block and drove to his left, then launched a two-handed pass to Packnett, who caught the ball near the free-throw line and scored. Bentonville had one last chance after a timeout, but never got a shot off in time.

“I saw Jaylen driving to the basket, and I knew he was going to go up with it,” Anderson said. “So I just went up and tried to make a play out of it.

“It helped that he bobbled the ball a little bit. He hesitated for a moment, and that allowed me to get more on the top of the ball. I then saw C.P. racing down the floor, and my eyes just lit up. I was telling myself to hit him in transition, and that’s something we work on every day.”

Bentonville downed a 43-35 lead after a Lee bucket with 6:20 left in regulation, but West scored the next eight points and tied the game at 43 on Riley Buccino’s bucket with 1:31 on the clock. The Tigers regained the lead with a Owen Dehrmann 3-pointer at the 1:11 mark, only to have Anderson hit a 3 and tie the game with 23 seconds left and send the game into overtime.

“It was a crazy game,” said Buccino, who finished with 23 points and was the only Wolverine in double figures. “It’s a good Bentonville team, and they got us by one at our place. It was a crazy game through and through, and Tuck getting the block and throwing the touchdown pass at the end of the game, it was a crazy play. It just worked out for the best.”

Dehrmann led a trio of Bentonville players in double figures with 16 points, followed by Harrison Hicks with 12 and Abel Hutchinson with 10.

BENTONVILLE WEST 54, BENTONVILLE 52, OT
