By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Sylvan Hills boys beat Beebe 68-65 Tuesday night in Sherwood, but it may have been the Badgers who sent a shot across the bow. The Bears, who return five starters from last year’s state runner-up team, has added talented sophomores and two transfers, and boasts one of the top prospects in the nation, are favored by most to win the class 5A state title.
Beebe has four starters back and are expected to be good, but maybe not as good as it has looked so far. What the Badgers have done in their first two games is send a message that they are a real force this season.
“We’d like to think that we have that type of group,” Beebe coach Ryan Marshall said. Going into the season we felt like we had a team that could compete for a conference championship and get to state. Tuesday I think proved to our kids that they could play with the big boys. After that there’s really nothing we’re going to be wide-eyed by.”
Sylvan Hills scored the first four points of the game, but Beebe went on a 10-3 run to take a 10-7 lead with 4:05 left in the first quarter. Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis called timeout, and his squad took control immediately afterwards.
The Bears went on an 11-2 run to take an 18-12 lead. It was first of several small runs the Bears would make and threaten to take control of the game, but Beebe had an answer each time.
“We handled some adversity pretty well,” Marshall said. “We handle their runs well. I thought that was a sign that we’re a better team than last year. They beat us by 17 last year and have that same team back, plus some. It was a great game and great learning experience. We made some mistakes, but you’re not going to win a state championship in November.”
Sylvan Hills led 21-15 after one quarter, but the Badgers scored the first six points of the second quarter to tie the game. The run included an alley-oop dunk from Austin Burroughs to Dayton Scott, who also got a defensive rebound and went the length of the court for a layup that tied the game.
From there, Sylvan Hills again took control, thanks largely to the defensive pressure of point guard Dion Patton. The Bears gradually built a 34-25 lead with about three minutes left in the half. Beebe closed the half with a mini-run and cut the margin to 36-32 at the break.
The Badgers picked up where they left off to start the third, scoring the first seven points of the second half and taking a 39-36 lead. Another Scott dunk made it 41-38, but the Bears again took control after that. Sylvan Hills went on an 11-0 run, capped off by back-to-back three pointers by Trey Smith, the second one from about 28 feet, that put the home team up 49-41.
Foul trouble then began to plague the Bears. Kentucky-bound Archie Goodwin picked up his third foul with 5:02 left in the third quarter. Shortly afterwards, starters Larry Zeigler and Devin Pearson also picked up their third fouls. Another alley-oop from Burroughs to Scott came at the buzzer to end the third quarter with Sylvan Hills leading 51-47.
Beebe quickly tied it early in the fourth but Sylvan Hills went on an 8-0 run to take a 59-51 lead off a steal by Patton and an assist to Goodwin. In the process of the run, Pearson picked up his fourth foul and was forced to take a seat. Beebe then began working it inside to Scott and again climbed back into the game. Scott scored six straight points from the Beebe’s halfcourt set and pulled to within 59-58 halfway through the fourth quarter.
Sylvan Hills got it to 63-58 on two free throws by Patton and a layup by Smith, but Beebe got it back to one with 1:00 remaining on a layup by point guard Brandon Fuller.
Goodwin hit two free throws with 37 seconds left. Patton then made the play of the game, picking Fuller’s pocket at midcourt with 15 seconds left and drawing a foul. He hit both ends of a one-and-one trip to the free-throw line to put the Bears up by four with 13 seconds remaining.
Scott hit a layup and was fouled. He hit the free throw with 2.4 seconds left and Beebe fouled Smith with one second on the clock. Smith hit both free throws and Goodwin stole the inbounds pass to seal the victory.
The Bears hit 21 of 27 free throws while Beebe made just nine of 17.
“Obviously if we’re better from the line we give ourselves a much better chance to win the game,” Marshall said.
Goodwin finished with 31 points to lead all scorers. Payton scored 29 for the Badgers. Patton and Smith added 12 apiece for the Bears, who are now 4-1. Burroughs and Zach May added 12 each for the Badgers, who are now 1-1.
The Lady Badgers had very little trouble with their hosts Tuesday, beating the Lady Bears 56-26. Beebe scored the game’s first six points, but Sylvan Hills scored the next five, indicating the game would be at least as competitive as the previous matchup between the two teams at the Mount St. Mary’s tournament. Beebe won that game 56-26, but Tuesday’s game looked like a mismatch.
Beebe coach Greg Richey called timeout after the Lady Bears’ run made it 6-5. Beebe came out of the break and scored 13 straight, and the Lady Bears never threatened after that.
Kamesha Wright hit a three pointer to make it 18-8, but Beebe then scored the next 12 in a row to go up 30-8 with five minutes left in the second quarter.
The Lady Badgers led 38-12 at halftime and 54-17 after three periods.
Whitney Emison led Beebe with 14 points. Jamie Jackson added 10 for the Lady Badgers, who are now 3-2. Wright led Sylvan Hills, 0-4, with 10 points.
