Springdale avoids upset by holding off pesky Cabot

By Jeff Halpern I Photos by Tommy Land

LITTLE ROCK — Trailing 32-25 with 4:45 left in the third quarter, the Springdale Bulldogs looked like they were going to be the biggest upset victim of the Class 6A State Tournament.

At that point, Springdale Coach Jeremy Price called timeout and his team came out with a sense of urgency, going on a 17-10 run to end the third quarter and pulling away for a 57-47 victory over Cabot (9-19) at Gryphon Arena.

As a result, they will meet North Little Rock at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals.

“It wasn’t anything I said,” Price said. “We started seeing the ball go in the basket and that makes things a lot easier.

“We had a hard time tonight because we had a lot of kids in their first state tournament, and we made some mistakes early on.”

The Bulldogs (19-8) were led by Isaiah Sealy, who scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter. He scored 12 of the Bulldogs final 17 points in the quarter.

“He hit some great shots,” said Price. “He’s capable and a great scorer and I’m glad we had him playing for us tonight.”

The Bulldogs finally took their first lead of the half when Anthony Thomas scored off the glass to open the fourth quarter to give the Bulldogs a 44-42 lead.

The game stayed close until Thomas scored to make it 48-46 with 4:03 left. Thomas came back with a three-pointer to make it 51-46 and Sealy scored on a runner to make it 53-46.

After Cabot called timeout with 2:12 left, the Panthers had chances. Gavin Muse had a shot blocked. After Thomas missed a three-pointer, Blake Seagers missed two free throws with 1:17 left. With 40.9 seconds, left, Tevin Tate fouled Seagers who made one of two at the line to make it 53-47.

After a 30 second timeout by Springdale, Muse stole Springdale’s inbounds pass, but stepped on the baseline giving the ball back to the Bulldogs.

Seagers then came up with a steal, but lost the ball and fouled out with 30 seconds left. Sealy went to the lien and made both free throws to amen it 55-47. Thomas added two free throws with 21.9 seconds left to close out the scoring.

Cabot took a 26-21 halftime lead, shooting 10-of-23 from the floor, but made 3-of-9 free throws. Landed Sitzmann came off the bench to scorer of nine of his 17 points.

In addition to Sealy, Thomas had 18 points for the Bulldogs. Tate had 14 points and 6 rebounds.

LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 62, ROGERS 36

The Little Rock Central Tigers (17-11) dominated the second and fourth quarters in a blowing out Rogers (13-15) in the first round of the Class 6A State Tournament.

Trailing 14-11 after the first quarter, Central outscored Rogers 24-6 in the second quarter to take a 35-20 halftime lead. After holding a 47-35 lead after three quarters, the Tigers outscored Rogers 15-2 in the final quarter to earn a date in the quarterfinals with Bentonville West at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Annor Boateng led the Tigers with 16 points, making all 6 field goals and collecting 8 rebounds. Cody Robinson had 14 points and 5 rebounds. Gavin Snyder had 11 points and Luke Moore had 10 points.

Ty Cunningham led Rogers with 10 points and Jansen Garner had nine points