FAYETTEVILLE -- Fayetteville-North Little Rock round two wasn't at all like the first meeting, but the end result was the same.
Nearly a month after opening the season with a 78-48 win over the Charging Wildcats, Fayetteville won the rematch 69-66 Saturday to win its Bulldog Classic tournament.
How They Scored
Boys
Fayetteville 69, North Little Rock 66
NLR^20^17^9^20^—^66
Fayetteville^26^12^13^18^—^69
NLR (2-5): Ricks 17, Moore 16, D. Dobbins 9, Walker 6, Talbert 5, Taylor 4, Nixon 4, Duckworth 3, M. Dobbins 2.
Fayetteville (8-0): Willis 16, Carlson 15, Breathitt 14, Brown 11, Youngblood 7, Roth 3, Rainey 3.
Girls
Little Rock Central 55, Fayetteville 44
LR Central^20^12^9^14^—^55
Fayetteville^13^12^8^11^—^44
LR Central (9-0): Williams 20, Brown 11, Ready 7, Jackson 6, Greenwood 4, Williams 3, Allen 2, Tucker 2.
Fayetteville (6-2): B. Jones 8, Ratcliff 7, P. Jones 6, Franklin 6, Holmes 6, Mayberry 4, Spangler 3, Coulter 3, Osbourn 1.
Bank of Fayetteville Bulldog Classic
Thursday’s Games
Boys
Springdale High 56, Springfield (Mo.) Hillcrest 54
North Little Rock 74, Harrison 59
Lee’s Summit West, Mo. 75, Jacksonville 71
Fayetteville 76, Hot Springs 70 (4 OT)
Girls
LR Central 75, Farmington 27
Springfield, (Mo.) Hillcrest 61, Collierville, Tenn. 53
Fayetteville 50, Mountain Home 39
Prairie Grove 50, Germantown, Tenn. 19
Friday’s Games
Boys
Harrison 61, Springfield Hillcrest 56
North Little Rock 54, Springdale High, 42
Hot Springs 55, Jacksonville 54
Fayetteville 66, Lee’s Summit, Mo. 48
Girls
LR Central 61, Springfield Hillcrest 18
Collierville, Tenn 60, Farmington 53
Fayetteville 56, Germantown, Tenn. 22
Mountain Home 50, Prairie Grove 33
Saturday’s Games
Boys
Jacksonville 72, Springfield (Mo.) Hillcrest 58
Hot Springs 64, Harrison 50
Lee’s Summit, Mo. 48, Springdale High 43
Fayetteville 69, North Little Rock 66
Girls
Prairie Grove vs. Farmington - Cancelled
Mountain Home 66, Collierville, Tenn. 64 (OT)
Springfield, (Mo.) Hillcrest 43, Germantown, Tenn. 34
LR Central 55, Fayetteville 44
Vanderbilt signee Payton Willis scored a team-high 16 points and was named tournament MVP, while talented senior Josh Breathitt added 14 for Fayetteville (8-0). The Bulldogs also got key contributions from a number of their more unsung players. Senior forward August Carlson scored 15, senior guard Spencer Brown added 11 and Fayetteville got timely contributions off the bench from junior guard Tyler Roth and senior J.J. Rainey, who joined the team after helping Fayetteville win a football state title.
"I think it's going to be something that helps us all the way down the road," Fayetteville coach Kyle Adams said of his team's depth. "We played three state tournament games, in my opinion, right now (this week), so the depth is a really big deal."
There were three ties and three lead changes in the fourth quarter, and the game was tied at 56 late before Fayetteville went on a 10-4 run to seize control. Roth had an impressive layup in traffic and a steal that led to a Willis dunk during the run. Willis hit a few free throws, and the Bulldogs iced the game against an athletic North Little Rock team that scored 15 points off turnovers and made it tough sledding for Fayetteville's offense at times.
"We won't see many teams as athletic as they are," Adams said. "The first game, they just didn't shoot it very well. That was the difference. We shot it extremely well and they didn't. It made us look better than we are and them worse than they are. I knew they'd come in tonight and play well. And they did."
Jarvis Ricks scored a game-high 17 for North Little Rock and Adrian Moore added 16. The Charging Wildcats (2-5) stayed in it by making 6-of-12 3-pointers in the first half and eight total, continuing their hot shooting after making a combined 15 3-pointers in their first two tournament wins.
"We're streaky shooters, and that's the reason we were in games and won games," North Little Rock coach Johnny Rice said. "That's got to be a strength of ours."
Lee's Summit (Mo.) West 48, Springdale High 43
Mario Goodrich scored 17 points and had a key late transition basket as Lee's Summit (Mo.) West closed with an 8-3 run in the final three minutes to beat Springdale High 48-43 in the Bulldog Classic third-place game.
The Titans earned a third-place win over Springdale (5-2) for the second straight year.
Lee's Summit West routinely got to the foul line all game, hitting 23-of-34. Goodrich and junior forward Elijah Childs, who scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, led the way.
Lee's Summit West led most of the game and was up 10 midway through the third quarter before Springdale rallied. The Bulldogs tied the game on a Jack Lindsey 3-pointer with a little more than three minutes remaining but struggled to get good looks late.
Senior guard David Carachure was a bright spot with the Bulldogs missing senior Devon Young, who was taking the ACT. Carachure scored a career-high 14. Senior forward Kyler Mahar was named to the all-tournament team.
Girls
Little Rock Central 55, Fayetteville 44
For the second time in two weeks, Fayetteville struggled on offense against the long, tall lineup from Little Rock Central before making a furious rally late.
But just like its previous loss to the Lady Tigers at the Rutherford Turkey Classic on Nov. 28, Fayetteville fell short, 55-44, in the finals of the Bulldog Classic on Saturday at Bulldog Arena.
"It wasn't anything poor execution or scheme," Fayetteville coach Vic Rimmer said. "Little Central is just better than us right now. (Kiara) Williams had a great game for them, and they're just better than us.
"Right now everyone knows they're the team to beat. I haven't seen Conway or Northside and some other teams, but Central is the top team right now. But we have to get better to beat a team like them."
LR Central (9-0) used a 13-0 run in the first quarter to set the tone. Fayetteville (6-2) finally settled in and pulled within 32-25 at half, but an 1-for-14 day on 3-pointers and Central's big size advantage was too much to overcome.
"Early it looked like Fayetteville's shooters didn't have their legs. I don't know why that was, but I just told my girls we're just going to play solid defense with our bigs," Lady Tigers coach Michael Green said. "We've got those big 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-1 kids in there in the middle, and they stepped up big and played extremely well today."
Fayetteville pulled within 45-40 in the fourth quarter with 3:33 left, but three consecutive turnovers allowed LR Central to pull away for good.
Williams led the lady Tigers with 20 points and six rebounds. Blu Jones scored eight points for Fayetteville and Hailey Ratcliff added seven.
LR Central has now won the Bulldog Classic four years in a row.
"That's why we come up here," Green said. "Is for the great competition."
Sports on 12/13/2015