Hornets fight off Hamburg to win at home
Martin Couch Sports editor

PASS KEVIN NAGLE PHOTO Bryant's Tim Floyd makes a pass through the lane against Hamburg.

The Bryant Hornets would have rather finished last week 2-0, but a narrow loss at Hot Springs to an undefeated Trojans team was unexpected after a strong finish the week before at the Arvest Mountaineer Classic tournament in Rogers.

"It was a hard place for us to play," Bryant head coach Mark Smith said of Hot Springs. "Some of the things we did were in our own hands. We missed several easy shots, especially in the first quarter."

Despite missing those shots, Bryant held a slim 21-20 halftime lead on Hot Springs.

"We felt like we could have been up by 10 if we'd of converted some of those easy shots in the first part of the game," Smith said. "They made 14 field goals for the game, and 10 of those were threes. They hit 12 free throws in the fourth quarter, so 42 of their 50 points came out of the paint. Even with that, we never gave up."

Bryant trailed 9-8 after the first quarter, but came back to lead by one at halftime. Hot Springs came out of the break to hit 3-pointers in the third quarter and outscore the Hornets 19- 9 to take a 39-29 lead. The Hornets retaliated by putting up 17 points in the fourth period and cut the Hot Springs lead to three points by the end of the game. The final was Hot Springs 50, Bryant 47.

LAYING IT IN KEVIN NAGLE PHOTO Bryant's Taylor Masters lays in the ball for two points against Hamburg.

"We were down eight late and cut it to three at one time," Smith said. "We couldn't catch them because it was hard to match three for three they way they were shooting the ball. Everything we did, we executed well but we couldn't finish a couple of times around the rim and the game was so physical. They let us play out and it wasn't to our advantage at all. They way that we played - the physicality - was detrimental to us and what we were trying to do. The guys obviously played hard and kept us going."

Zack Lewis led Bryant with 21 points on the night and Hunter Sample scored 11 points, while Chad Knight and Dijon Benton both had five points. Taylor Masters added three points and Brandon Cowart added two.

HITTING THE BOARDS KEVIN NAGLE PHOTO Bryant's Hunter Sample comes down with a rebound against Hamburg.

Against Hamburg, the Hornets rebounded to win 51-37.

"We knew that, in the second half, we had to play with some energy because Hamburg was going to chip away at our lead and they did," Smith said. "We came out flat. Mentally we started forcing the issue a little bit when we shouldn't have. Our guys showed good composure and hit some shots and went to the boards hard. Our defense was pretty good, too. We had a couple of traps and forced some turnovers that changed the tone and got us going again."

The Hornets scored 20 points in the first quarter to put a statement on winning the game early on. Knight hit for eight points, while Sample scored seven to lead Bryant in the quarter. In the second period, Andrew Tilley came on for six points, while Knight, Cowart and Lewis all added baskets to boost the Hornets lead to 35-20 by the break.

In the second half, Hamburg fought back, but Lewis scored on a drive through the lane and Sample scored to put the Hornets up 40-30 by the end of the quarter. Free throws by Benton, a basket from Knight and a 3- pointer by Knight engineered a 47-32 lead with 4:31 to play in the game. Knight added two more free throws, while Hamburg made one final push to the end.

"When Chad hit that three pointer, it got our blood flowing again," Smith said. "That helped put it out of reach. I was glad to see that we had guys like Andrew Tilley come off the bench to hit a couple of threes and Tim Cameron gave us a little spark in there with his energy. Dijon played well on his slashes to the basket and finished around the rim. He was able to get some good offensive boards for us."

Knight led Bryant with 17 points, while Lewis added 15, Sample finished with nine, Tilley had six and Cowart scored four points, while Masters and Benton each scored a basket.

"I would have liked to have gone 2-0 this week, but it was important for us to come back in the second game to get another win," Smith said. "We've got two next week that are going to be tough. It's going to take a good effort against Sheridan and Benton. Hopefully we can take care of business and go into the Christmas break in a good mood."