Boys basketball: Bartlesville clips East Central
BY BARRY LEWIS World Sports Writer
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
1/30/13 at 5:33 AM
Bartlesville forward Quinton Smith realized he had to pick up the slack in the fourth quarter as season scoring leader Jakob Hartsock was saddled with four fouls.
Smith scored nine of his 11 points in the final period to help the Class 6A No. 7 Bruins defeat 5A No. 16 East Central 59-48 on Tuesday night at East Central.
"I knew I had to lead the team like I do in practice," Smith said.
The 6-foot-4 Smith, a senior who averages 11 rebounds per game, is usually known more for his defense and rebounding.
"Since Christmas, Quinton has been unbelievable," said Bartlesville coach Tim Bart, whose team improved to 12-3. "Early in the season, he struggled trying to find his role as he went from being a role player last year to more of a leader. But since the holiday break he has been really good every game, playing with a lot of confidence and energy. To watch him grow and develop over the last three years has been a lot of fun."
Nick Shoemaker was Bartlesville's top scorer with 15 points while Hartsock, a Brigham Young signee, had 14 points and 12 rebounds.
East Central jumped ahead 9-4, but the Bruins bounced back to take a 25-23 lead into halftime on Hartsock's tiebreaking basket off a follow shot and were never caught.
"It was a good road victory against a quality opponent," Bart said. "We weren't very good in the first half. That's probably the worst half we've played this year. I don't know if we were tired coming off four games last week. But in the second half we were much better and played more under control. I thought we had a great effort but we didn't play as well mentally as we should have."
Hartsock had five points in Bartlesville's 8-0 run to begin the second half as the Bruins increased their lead to 33-23. East Central, however, never got closer than six points during the rest of the game even though Hartsock did not score again.
"That's what I like about this team," Bart said. "We have five guys who can lead us in scoring on any given night."
Hartsock picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter's final minute with the Bruins leading 42-36. He sat out the next four minutes, but East Central could not reduce its deficit.
"That's probably the longest he (Hartsock) has sat on the bench all year," Bart said. "Calan (Crowder) came in and gave us a good 4-to-5 minutes although he fouled out in the shortest period of time I've ever seen. He's a tremendous athlete and gives us a little different dimension when he's in the game.
Bartlesville led 51-45 with 2:13 left before closing the game with an 8-3 run. Smith made 5-of-6 free throws in the fourth quarter. William Goree led the Cardinals (4-12) with 12 points.
East Central 60, Bartlesville 44 (girls): Darreion Clark scored 14 and Janee Arnold added 11 points to help the 5A No. 2 Cardinals (13-6) romp past the 6A No. 5 Bruins (13-2), who suffered their second straight loss after winning their first 13 games.
East Central was coming off two losses by a combined five points to 6A teams Jenks and Sapulpa in the Jenks/Union Invitational.
"This is the way we should have been playing all year long," East Central coach Samy Mack said. "We've had a lot of injuries, a long road trip to St. Louis and a tough tournament at Jenks, but it's all worth it to get ready for the state playoffs."
Clark had eight points in the first half as the Cardinals surged to a 31-13 lead at intermission.
Bartlesville opened the second half with a 7-0 run to cut its deficit to 11, but could not get any closer as the Cardinals answered with six straight points to ignite a 19-5 run.
Paige Wilson paced Bartlesville with 13 points.
BARTLESVILLE 59, EAST CENTRAL 48
| Bartlesville |
9 |
16 |
17 |
17 |
- |
59 |
| East Central |
11 |
12 |
13 |
12 |
- |
48 |
Bartlesville (12-3): Shoemaker 15, Hartsock 14, Smith 11, Castillo 11, Bart 4, Crowder 4.
East Central (4-12): Goree 12, Rushing 10, Taylor 9, Thompson 7, Johnson 6, Givens 2, Pitts 2.
EAST CENTRAL 60, BARTLESVILLE 44 (girls)
| Bartlesville |
5 |
8 |
12 |
19 |
- |
44 |
| East Central |
20 |
11 |
18 |
11 |
- |
60 |
Bartlesville (13-2): Wilson 13, O.Culver 7, Crow 5, Tucker 5, Keleher 4, G.Culver 2, Rodgers 2, Benyshek 2, Behar 2, Kent 2.
East Central (13-6): Clark 14, Arnold 11, Pitts 10, White 9, Mack 7, Williams 5, Brown 2, Hurd 2.
Original Print Headline: Smith, Bruins clip Cards
Barry Lewis 918-581-8393
barry.lewis@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
East Central's D.C. Pitts attempts a shot over Bartlesville's Quinton Smith during Tuesday night's boys basketball game at East Central. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World
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