Bryant sweeps Little Rock Central in 6A-Central doubleheader

The Hornets and Lady Hornets win the battles of Top 25 teams.

By Jeff Halpern | Photos by Tommy Land

BRYANT — Gabe George’s two 3-pointers down the stretch helped lift the Bryant Hornets (15-5, 8-1 6A-Central) to a 50-45 victory over the Little Rock Central Tigers (9-10, 2-4) on Tuesday night.

With less than two minutes to play, George tied the game at 43-43. Central came back to take its last lead of the game at 45-43 when Annor Boateng, who led the Tigers with 18 points and 13 rebounds, scored on alley-oop with Luke Moore delivering the pass at the 1:39 mark.

After Central called a timeout, George made his second 3from the right side with 1:20 to go put the Hornets up for good at 46-45.

“I felt like Gabe was passing up some shots in the middle of the game, especially in the first half,” said Bryant Coach Mike Abrahamson. “We need Gabe to do what he does best.”

Central Coach Brian Ross felt his team blew a defensive assignment on the play.

“We know 24 is a good shooter, and we lose him and that’s our mistake” Ross said.

George led the Hornets in scoring with 15 points while making three treys.

Central then got called for a shot-clock violation when Gavin Snyder’s shot off the glass failed to hit the rim. Daniel Culbertson got the rebound but didn’t have any time to get a shot off with 47.3 seconds left.

“That shot clock violation was big,” said Abrahamson. “It seemed like they were trying to take some time off the clock. “Our defense stuck it out for whole 35 seconds. We moved and anticipated better and forced the action.”

Ross said, “That last shot clock violation was a credit to their defense. It’s hard to get into the paint against them.”

After getting the inbounds pass, Khassen Robinson called timeout with 40.3 seconds left and with 26.0 seconds left, Landyn Newburn made two free throws to make it 48-45. 

Cody Robinson missed a 3-pointer with and T.J. Lindsey secured the rebound with 3.7 seconds left. Newburn made two free throws to seal the victory.

The Hornets trailed 37-31 going into the fourth quarter and trailed 41-33 before Newburn scored to close it to 41-35 and Lindsey made a three-pointer with 4:20 left to close it to 41-38. Lindsey made two free throws with 3:35 left to close it to 41-40.

“I don’t know what stat line on TJ, but he played well and stuck with it and got some big rebounds,” said Abrahamson.

Lindsey finished with 8 points and 13 rebounds while making 5-of-6 free throws.

The Hornets won the game by making 21-of-25 free throws including 16-of-17 in the second half.

“I just thought we stuck to the plan,” said Abrahamson. “We just stuck to what we believed in. I thought we were getting decent shots, but not making them. We scored 21 in the fourth quarter (actually 19). It was really about sticking to our standard.

The Hornets won the game despite shooting 12-of-42 from the floor, including 6-of-22 on three-pointers.

Central shot 20-of-41 from the floor, but made 3-of-17 three pointers.

“It’s always tough to score on Bryant,” Ross said. “They are very well-coached and plays very hard. We were in control going into the fourth quarter. They went to the free throw line a bunch and made them all. That’s a big deal when they outscore you by 16 points from the line.

Central made 4-of-5 free throws in the game.

BRYANT 63, LR CENTRAL 57 (GIRLS)

Bryant (13-7, 4-5 6A-Central) wiped away a 29-19 halftime deficit in the first 3:30 of the third quarter to go on to a victory over Little Rock Central (15-6, 4-4)

Parris Atkins, who led the Lady Hornets with 25 points, opened the scoring in the second half with a 3-pointer and was followed by Natalie Edmonson to close it to 29-25.

After Central’s Aven Sasser made two free throws at the 6:48 mark to make it 31-25, Atkins made 1-of-2 free throws at the 6:28 mark to close it to 31-26 and Emleigh Muse made two free throws at the 5:05 mark to close it to 31-28 and then Lauren Lain scored off a turnover to make it 31-30 and Brilynn Findley did the same thing to give the Lady Hornets the lead at 32-31.

Central’s Jordan Marshall made a 3-point play at the 4:29 mark to put the Lady Tigers ahead 34-32 and Sasser pushed it to 36-32. The Lady Hornets came back again when Atkins scored off an inbounds play to make it 36-34 and followed with a three-pointer to put the Lady Hornets up 37-36. After two free throws by Sasser put the Lady Tigers up 38-37 and Marshall scored on the break to make it 40-37, Findley tied it at 40-40 with a three-pointer and Atkins made two free throws at the 1:04 mark to give Bryant the lead for good at 42-40. Another three-pointer by Findley and a basket by Aystyn Oholendt gave Bryant a 47-40 at the end of the third quarter.

Central closed to 49-48 on a three-point play by Lillian Jackson with 5:33 left and 51-50 on a basket by Silondra Ingraham with 4:40 to play, but Atkins made a three-pointer to make it 54-50 and that was as close as the Lady Tigers would get.

“How do I say this,” said Bryant Coach Brad Matthews. “As coaches we study a lot and watch a lot of film, but sometimes it comes down to kids to making shots. When the shots are better, the defensive is better, the rebounds are better and the deflection are better. In the first half, we couldn’t make any shots and we took a few bad ones.”

The Lady Hornets made 8-of-19 shots in the third quarter, including 5-of-10 3-pointers. They shot 8-of-28 in the first half, including 2-of-14 on three-pointers.

They also forced 16 turnovers in the game.

Marshall led the Lady Tigers with 17 points and 6 rebounds while Sasser and Ashlyn Kimble had 11.