Basketball Notebook: Van Buren returns home

Van Buren celebrated its first home game in six weeks Friday night with its first 7A-West win behind a fast start for a 56-43 win against Rogers Heritage. "It was a great start; mindset," Van Buren head coach Austin Trembley said. "We gave them a couple of simple game plans. I told them I thought for the first time this season they had a focus to take from the practice court to the game. They carried it out." Southpaw Jordan West scored Van Buren's first seven points of the game, and Beau Beckner converted a three-point play for a 10-2 lead just 5:41 into the game. "It was just a mentality," Trembley said. "The young guys are starting to figure some things out." Van Buren was stellar, defensively. Heritage's biggest scoring run of the night was just a 5-0 spurt in the second quarter while the Pointers had runs of 10-0 and a pair of 6-0 runs. "Those runs were defensively, I thought we were super-disciplined all night," Trembley said. "There were a couple of stretches where we weren't as disciplined as we were, and we'd give up some buckets and then we'd get our easy shots. They've got some good players. Our kids did a good job on defense and making them earn everything." When Heritage scored to open the fourth quarter to cut Van Buren's lead to five points, the Pointers answered with six straight points from Beckner. When Heritage was within, 46-39, with 1:23 left, Van Buren answered with 10 free throws down the stretch. "That's where we're maturing," Trembley said. "Two weeks ago, we probably wouldn't have had that. We would have lost our composure, and not executed the game plan. They're going to make runs, but we have to get organized and do what we do. That was real encouraging to see that." Van Buren gave up a height advantage Friday, yet held a 27-21 edge on the boards. Heritage started 6-6, 6-5 and 6-4 and came off the bench with 6-4. Friday marked the first home game since their own Citizens Bank Classic the first weekend of December. "It feels like it's been a year since we've been here," Trembley said. "We've played some good teams. We've played quality teams whether it's North Little Rock, Conway or Maumelle and we got better. It's amazing how much better you feel on your home court, there's no doubt about that. The Dawg Pound is awesome, they're involved, they're active during the game. The players really like that. They get jacked up for that. We really do appreciate our home fans." Tuesday, Van Buren heads north again, traveling to Benton County for the third time in four games to play Rogers. Lady Pointers Remain Undefeated The Pointerettes led Rogers Heritage, 21-1, 1:43 into the second quarter Friday night but had some lulls in the second and third quarter before finally winning via the mercy-rule, 58-27. "It was good to get some different combinations on the floor," Van Buren head coach Chris Bryant said. "With the foul trouble we were in in the post, it gave us a chance to play some young kids there. There are a lot of things that we can take away that's going to help us down the stretch." Irasema Sandoval, Kayleigh Evans and Zaiyah Frazier all came off the bench to contribute for Van Buren, and Jentry Myers earned a start for injured Bailey Jones. "If you look out there and see some of the combinations, you probably haven't seen them for those extended minutes," Bryant said. "We feel really good about it." Despite some foul trouble and extended minutes from the bench, Van Buren held a 25-6 scoring edge during the final nine minutes. "It's a chance for some of those kids, you know you're going to get in foul trouble on the road later in this conference run," Bryant said. "It's a positive to have those kids in the game to give them those opportunities." Jamilyn Kinney notched her third-straight game of 20 or more points with 23 points Friday. "Once conference starts, the teams are going to play scouting-report defense," Bryant said. "Things that we relied on and were really good at in the first semester, teams watch film and take that stuff away. As a result, it's allowed Jamilyn the opportunity to come out, you see the kind of mentality she's had. That's been the last three or four games. She's had high double digits."

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BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: VAN BUREN RETURNS HOME

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Times Record | 1/17/2017