Against the 7A defending champions Tuesday in North Little Rock, the Bryant Hornets routed one of the top teams in the state. With the Charging Wildcats ranked No. 1 in the state by maxpreps.com, the Hornets had little trouble in a 73-56 victory to put Bryant at 15-4 overall, 5-1 in the 6A Central tied with Conway atop the conference.
Bryant Coach Mike Abrahamson said he doesn’t bother himself with rankings.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know how people come up with these rankings. They’re (NLR) really good, I can say that. I don’t know who’s number one. It’ll play itself out. I don’t get caught up with all of that. We just play the game. They’re really good and our guys put on a good performance.”
The Hornets took a 5-0 lead early after junior Treylon Payne nailed a three assisted by lone senior Rodney Lambert, and junior Khalen Robinson had an offensive rebound and put back. Bryant pushed out to a 15-8 lead after a Robinson three and an offensive rebound and layup by sophomore Camren Hunter made it 17-8.
Bryant led 20-12 after one and pushed its lead to 36-17 after 2 of 2 free throws from Hunter to cap an 8-0 run. But, the Charging Wildcats (16-5, 4-2) would get some motivation after Bryant junior post player Catrell Wallace blocked a shot, but did a little too much celebration with trash talk, earning a technical foul. North Little Rock followed with a 9-0 run and trailed Bryant 37-28 at the half.
Bryant will now attempt to take the top spot in the Central all alone when the Hornets host the Conway Wampus Cats (5-1) Friday at the Hornet’s Nest in Bryant.
In the girls' game, North Little Rock jumped to a 13-0 lead over the Lady Hornets on their way to an 83-54 win. Bryant falls to 3-3 in the 6A Central, while North Little Rock goes to 4-2.