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Less than two minutes into the Berryville Bobcats’ game against visiting Green Forest on Friday, Jan. 9, the tone had been set.
The Bobcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead — with junior Hudson Norris accounting for all of Berryville’s scoring — in the first minute and 59 seconds of game time and went on to a 71-31 victory in a matchup of Carroll County rivals at Bobcat Arena.
The victory was the fifth in a row for Berryville, which followed up its CS Bank Holiday Hoops tournament championship with a 52-37 victory at Gravette on Tuesday, Jan. 6. During the winning streak, the Bobcats have allowed an average of 41 points per game.
“The main thing is the kids are playing extremely hard and they’re focused in on our game plan and they’re executing on that side of the floor really well,” Berryville coach Brent Compton said. “Defense and rebounding is all about effort. And I feel like we couldn’t ask any more out of our kids effort-wise. They’re just playing extremely hard.”
Norris opened the scoring with a basket 16 seconds into the game, then followed up with a pair of three-pointers — the first on a pass from junior John Butler with 6:36 left in the first quarter and the second on an assist from junior CT Hicks that made it 8-0 with 6:01 remaining in the quarter.
“I’m hoping Friday night was a sign of everything starting to come together for Hudson,” Compton said. “His effort’s always been there. It’s just about consistency.”
The three-pointers were the first of nine overall by the Bobcats, including six in the first half. Norris added another three in the third quarter and finished with 15 points, while senior Peyton Smith led Berryville with 18. Hicks finished with 12 as 10 Bobcats scored at least two points.
“I think our success is going to hinge on our offense this year,” Compton said. “We’re kind of hit or miss at times and if we can get consistent offensively, I feel pretty good about our chances every night.”
The Bobcats led 19-5 at the end of the first quarter and reeled off an 11-2 run in the second quarter for a 33-8 cushion on the way to a 42-13 halftime lead.
Green Forest, in rebuilding mode under first-year coach Ben Mc-Bryde, struggled offensively.
Ywa Hay Moo led the Tigers with 18 points, including eight in the fourth quarter.
“We went nine for 50 from the floor,” McBryde said. “We had two or three possessions where we got three shots and didn’t hit any of them. It looks worse than it actually was statistically. It’s just that they hit nine threes and shot 51 or 52 percent and we shot 18 percent. It feels like it was kind of a blend of what they did right and what we did wrong. Berryville’s good. I think they’re definitely a top two or three team in our conference.”
In its victory at Gravette on Jan. 6, Berryville outscored the Lions 29-15 in the second half after leading by a single point at halftime. Smith led the Bobcats with 13 points and Butler added 10.
Green Forest lost 65-54 at Pea Ridge on Jan. 6, with junior Jace Meador leading the Tigers with 16 points and classmate Grady Massengale adding 14. Moo scored 10.
Berryville travels to Huntsville on Tuesday, Jan. 13, before hosting Gentry on Friday, Jan. 16. Green Forest will play a pair of home games this week, hosting Gravette on Tuesday and Prairie Grove on Friday.
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