HOT SPRINGS — North Little Rock’s Nick Smith will head to Chicago in a couple of weeks for the McDonald’s All-American game and has a couple of all-star classics to play before he heads off to the University of Arkansas in the summer.
But the senior guard had a state title on his mind Thursday, and he got it with a sterling performance at Bank OZK Arena.
Smith had 25 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists as the Charging Wildcats scurried away in the final quarter to beat Bentonville 65-47 and win the Class 6A championship.
Five players scored at least eight points for North Little Rock (28-3), which outscored the Tigers 33-20 in the second half to win its second straight title. For Smith, it capped a whirlwind year that began with him not even knowing if he’d be able to play after transferring from Sylvan Hills during the offseason.
“It’s been kind of like a roller coaster,” he said. “Coming in, everybody had high expectations, and then out of nowhere, I was ineligible. Then I was eligible. … people were constantly talking down me, on the whole team. It was real hard to deal with that, especially knowing that you’ve got to go out there every day and perform.
“We’re 17 years old. There were times when we just wanted to fight each other because we were so stressed out about what other people were saying. But we stepped up and were like forget what people are saying about us.[North Little Rock] Coach [Johnny] Rice did a good job of keeping us in check.”
The Charging Wildcats did an even better job of wrangling in Bentonville (22-9) after the way the Tigers came out.
Bentonville went right at North Little Rock in the first quarter, netting the first six points and led 11-8 following a floater from Jaylen Lee with 3:22 to go. That shot seemingly got the Charging Wildcats’ attention.
A scoop inside from North Little Rock’s Corey Washington started a closing 8-0 run, one that saw Smith push the pace every chance he got.
That push carried over into the second quarter when Kel’el Ware opened with a follow-up dunk, and Smith drained a three-pointer, leading directly to a Bentonville timeout. The Charging Wildcats ran into trouble when the 7-foot Ware had to sit for the rest of the first half after picking up his third foul with 6:14 showing.
The Tigers struck immediately. A pair of free throws from Abel Hutchinson started a string of seven straight points in a little over a minute. It was 24-22 with 1:58 remaining in the quarter until Smith found Charles Maris for three-pointers on two consecutive possessions to slow down Bentonville’s rush.
“We did things that were very uncharacteristic of us, but I told the guys we just got [Bentonville] best shot,” said Rice, whose team was outscored 16-11 when Ware went out but managed to hold a 32-27 lead at the half. “I thought they played as good as they could play, and we were still up five points. That was a positive, and I just told them that we had to just do what we do, and that’s keep defending, rebound the basketball, play fast and share the ball.”
North Little Rock was much smoother in the third quarter when Ware returned. The Charging Wildcats increased their lead to as big as 48-35 after Ware’s two free throws yet couldn’t put the Tigers completely away until Felix Wade personally delivered a riveting three-trip sequence in the fourth quarter.
A Hutchinson score pulled Bentonville within 48-39 with 6:29 remaining before Wade knocked down a three-pointer on North Little Rock’s next possession. After Lee answered with a three, Wade hit another one from the exact same spot.
Nineteen seconds later following a steal from Ty Frederick, Wade drained yet another 22-footer that powered the Charging Wildcats’ advantage to 57-42.
“That was the separation,” Rice explained in reference to Wade’s buckets. “It was eight, 10, 12 back and forth, and then Felix hit three huge ones. Charles hit big ones in the first half at times when we were struggling, too. Those were huge.”
While shots were falling for the Charging Wildcats, the same couldn’t be said for Bentonville.
The Tigers finished 17 of 54 (31.5%), including just 5 of 22 (22.7%) from behind the three-point line.
“I thought we were the aggressors early in the game, took it at them,” Bentonville Coach Dick Rippee said. “And I thought we got shots that we like to get, but they just didn’t go down for us. And for them, they had some guys step up and make shots. That’s what state champions do, so you’ve got to tip your cap to them.
“They proved they were a team [Thursday], it wasn’t just one guy. Nick and Kel’el were fantastic, but they had some other guys that really helped their team.”
Washington had 10 points and 8 rebounds while both Maris and Wade had 9 points apiece for the Charging Wildcats, who hit 22 of 54 (40.7%) shots. Ware added 8 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocks.
Lee had 12 points and 6 rebounds, and Caden Miller followed with 7 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks for the Tigers.