By ANN THARP
Special to The Leader
The Beebe Badgers made it five straight wins on Friday night at Badger Arena on senior night by defeating the Mountain Home Bombers 37-33. The win puts the Badgers tied for second place in the conference with a conference record of 7-3 and an overall record of 13-10.
The low scoring game was tied 14-14 at the half, and the Bombers led by two at the end of the third quarter, but Beebe outscored the visitors 12-6 in the final period to take the victory.
“We’re still in the process of we want to get better each day, get better each game, and get ready for our district tournament,” Beebe coach Ryan Marshall commented. “We had a great rhythm going into this week. It was good to see the way they grinded it out. Our defense the second half and rebounds are what won that ballgame. They’ve got to understand, too, the more you win, the bigger the game gets. Each one down the stretch here just keeps getting bigger and bigger for them.”
Beebe jumped out to an early lead. A free throw by Senior Brad Worthington and a 3-point basket by senior K.J. O’Neill started the scoring. Worthington then went the length of the floor for a driving lay-up, and senior Grant Jackson scored from under the basket. The Badgers thenforced a 5-second count with 2:39 on the first quarter clock and leading 8-0. The Bombers answered with four points, and the lead at the end of the period had been cut to 8-4.
Four points by Mountain Homes’ big man down low, David Wehmeyer, tied the game to start the second frame. Senior Tyler Long scored on a layup for Beebe, but again the Bombers tied the game.
D’andre Butler sank both ends of a one and one, but once more Mountain Home came back to tie and then take the lead on another bucket by Wehmeyer. E.J. Smith then had an offensive rebound put back for the Badgers to tie the game at 14 all at intermission.
After a free throw by the Bombers to take the lead in the third, Worthington had a steal and layup. Mountain Home answered with a two by Luke Kruse. For Beebe, it was Butler with a score and then, after a turnover by the Bombers, O’Neill scored under the basket for a three point Badger edge.
Kruse hit a pair of free throws, Garrett Dietsche an offensive rebound put back, and the Bombers were up by one. O’Neill turned a steal at one end into two made free throws at the other for Beebe. Mountain Home scored six more points, O’Neill scored the last two of the quarter, and the Bombers led 27-25 when the third quarter expired.
Senior Grant Brown sank a 3-point basket from the corner to give the Badgers the lead back to start the final frame. The lead went back and forth three times before senior Landon Davis gave Beebe the lead with a 3-pointer.
An offensive rebound put back by Kruse tied the game at 33-33 with 3:00 remaining in the contest.
Another steal and layup by Worthington gave Beebe the lead for good at 35-33 and after the defense forced a 5-second count on Mountain Home, O’Neill iced the game by sinking both ends of a one and one setting the final score of 37-33 Beebe.
O’Neill led the Badgers in scoring with 13 points, and Worthington was next with seven. Wehmeyer led Mountain Home with 15, and Dietsche had ten points.
