RIVER VALLEY REPORT

RV REPORT: Burnett still feeling sting of first-round loss

Fort Smith Northside head coach Eric Burnett said he is still feeling the sting from the Grizzlies' first-round loss in the Class 6A state basketball tournament last week in Rogers. 
(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Fort Smith Northside head coach Eric Burnett said he is still feeling the sting from the Grizzlies' first-round loss in the Class 6A state basketball tournament last week in Rogers. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)


Even days later, Northside's season-ending loss to Cabot in the first round of the Class 6A state tournament still bothered Grizzlies' boys basketball coach Eric Burnett.

"We were up 12, and then to not score a basket in the third quarter," Burnett said. "We didn't finish the game. We didn't even score a bucket in the third quarter, just five free throws. Then, we came down to the end of the game and take two or three shots to tie it up, and get beat three. I don't think it was anything they did. It was 100% us."

Northside scored 21 points in the second quarter to increase a basket lead after a quarter to 37-25 at the half. The Grizzlies managed just five free throws in the third quarter, and Cabot led 54-48 with 2:57 left in the game. Northside cut Cabot's lead to 60-57 but missed three 3-point attempts in the waning seconds.

"During that time, you just can't make very many mistakes," Burnett said. "To go a whole quarter without putting the ball in the hole, it's a wonder we had two or three chances to put it into overtime and get beat three."

Northside (19-11) won four out of its final five 6A-West games, including 52-51 over Bentonville and 59-49 at Springdale in the final week. It provided the Grizzlies lots of momentum heading into the post-season tournament.

"I did, I felt really good, I felt like if we could take care of the first game, it's the most important game," Burnett said. "Once we got past that game, I really felt like we had a really good chance against Har-Ber based on winning the last four of the five games. We had some confidence about ourselves. I felt like we'd be playing on Saturday. I wanted a shot at Jonesboro. We didn't make it."

Denarion Whitmore, Pum Savoy and Marco Smith are the balanced scoring responsibilities for the Grizzlies. Whitmore finished with 367 points, Savoy 356 and Smith 340. Whitmore and Savoy are seniors.

LAVACA

The Golden Arrows backed up the first state championship in school history with another stellar performance this year.

Lavaca knocked off Sloan-Hendrix in the opening round of the Class 2A state tournament at Rector before losing to host Rector in the quarterfinals.

"I'm very pleased," Lavaca coach Renner Reed said. "I think probably the only ones that thought we could make a run like this was the team and the coaches. When you win a state championship and lose 80% of your starters, it's tough to replace, but these guys have always been kind of under the radar. They're winners, they've won conference championships since the eighth grade."

Lavaca finished nonconference play 14-4 and after a loss to Ozark in the Bank OZK Tournament didn't lose again until Thursday in the state tournament.

"I knew we were going to be good again, we had really talented seniors," Reed said. "Two of them played a lot in the state championship last year, not only played but played defense and scored. We were very similar in our toughness and level of competitiveness. It was just putting it together. They bonded throughout the season."

The Golden Arrows won 18 straight, including a seventh-straight conference title, a district title and regional championship and finished 32-5 overall.

"That's incredible," Reed said. "I'm proud of them. Overall, it was a great season. It will go down in history as one of the best seasons we ever had."

Jetson Wagner was Lavaca's lone returning starter but Alex Hobbs was a major contributor off the bench last year. Fellow seniors Parker Owen, Joe Johnson and Maddox Noel filled the bill this season as well as junior Andrew Johnson off the bench.

"We were very disappointed after the game," Reed said. "We felt like we were good enough to make another run, I know the players did for sure. We were hurting because the players felt like they had it in them to make another state championship. That's the standard. It's an incredible season, and they've accomplished so much in their career."

VAN BUREN

The Pointers also had chances at the end of a first-round loss of the Class 5A state tournament.

Van Buren trailed Nettleton, 62-59, and had the ball at the end of the game but committed a turnover.

Van Buren led 15-13 after a quarter, increased it to 32-24 at the half and led 44-29 midway of the third quarter.

"Sometimes, you have those years when you can't believe it's over because you feel like you're way better than that," Van Buren coach Brad Autry said. "I feel like we should still be playing and taking Pine Bluff to the last minute and seeing if we could win the whole thing. I felt like we were that close to being real good. I thought we were real close to being real good."

The Pointers earned the third seed from the 5A-West and was in the logjam near the top of the conference standings all season. They defeated Harrison and Russellville on consecutive Fridays at home to close out the regular season in dramatic fashion.

"I'm disappointed that it's over because I really enjoyed this group," Autry said. "They were fun to coach."

The improvement from last year was a marked one with the Pointers winning just four conference games a year ago.

"We were probably the youngest team in the history of Van Buren last year," Autry said. "We started four sophomores at times that had never played a minute of varsity basketball who were asked to be not only impact guys, but be 'the' guys. That's a hard step. Last year, it was a growing experience and we really improved this year. I thought from the beginning of the year to the end of the year that we became a very good team. We were two games away from a conference championship and two wins away from 20 wins."

Seniors Conner Myers and Malachi Henry finished their careers with the state tournament appearance. The Pointers will welcome back juniors Glavine McDonald, Jaxon Cazzell and Drew Brasuell.

GREENWOOD

Greenwood Bulldogs coach Donnie Husband has retired.

"I've fought the good fight at this point in time," Husband said. "I feel like it's time to go."

Husband has spent the last five years as head coach at Greenwood, taking over for Greg Nichols after the 2017-18 season.

The Bulldogs were 1-13 in the 5A-West this season but finished fourth in the conference last year and qualified for the Class 5A state tournament.

"That was an awesome deal," Husband said. "It was a great year. Obviously, it was short-lived but it would have been nice to have had time to prepare. We came in on Saturday and had to play on Tuesday. It was emotional. It was a lot of fun. I was really proud of those kids. They worked to get better, and it was a proud moment."

The conference was extremely balanced all year, and Greenwood's lone conference win was at Harrison, which ended up as the top seed from the conference in the state tournament and advanced to the semifinals on Saturday.

"You really can't pinpoint but we had some things that went wrong here and there," Husband said. "We just didn't get the job done. We didn't play well in certain stretches of the game; sometimes it was late and sometimes it was early. We just couldn't close out the deal. We had leads in eight or nine games, but we didn't have them when it didn't matter the most."

Husband was elected into the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in June. He coached Oklahoma high schools for 35 years in Rush Springs (7 seasons), Silo (9), Duncan (1), Blackwell (1), Latta (13), Merritt (3) and Keys (1). His Latta teams won consecutive state championships in 2013 and 2014.

He also coached girls basketball for four years at Silo in the old 3-on-3 halfcourt format and is a member of the Durant, Okla., Athletics Hall of Fame.


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