Bobcats’ season ends with loss to Lizards, but future looks bright

The Berryville Bobcats faced a difficult challenge in the first round of the 4A Region 1 tournament, facing a talented Dardanelle team on its home floor.

A young Bobcats team held its own into the second quarter but couldn’t keep pace as the Sand Lizards pulled away for a 50-35 victory that ended Berryville’s season.

“I really thought our kids came out mentally prepared to play,” Berryville coach Brent Compton said. “I didn’t think they showed any nerves. They weren’t intimidated. They showed up and played as hard as they could, I felt like.”

Berryville entered the game as the No. 4 seed from the 4A-1, while Dardanelle was the No. 1 seed from the 4A-4. The Bobcats started four sophomores along with junior Peyton Smith.

Berryville led 8-4 at the end of the first quarter and was up 11-8 after sophomore CT Hicks made the second of two free throws with 6:08 remaining in the second quarter, but Dardanelle closed the first half with a 12-2 run for a 20-13 halftime lead. The Sand Lizards then outscored Berryville 10-2 to start the third quarter, extending their advantage to 30-15.

Berryville struggled to defend against Dardanelle’s powerful inside game after sophomore John Butler went to the bench with his second foul less than a minute into the second quarter.

“That was a killer,” Compton said. “We can’t put another guy in there like John that can defend that physical. That really hurt us, for sure.”

Berryville’s offense was stymied by Dardanelle’s 1-3-1 zone defense, which benefited from the 84-foot court — 10 feet shorter than the Bobcats’ home court. The Sand Lizards were able to cut off driving lanes to the basket while at the same time not allowing open looks from the outside.

“We were prepared, as much as you can be when you don’t play that defense,” Compton said. “We simulated it the best that we could in practice but you’re not going to have their size and athleticism and that sort of thing. I felt like our kids went into the game and gave it their best shot. They were just better than us.”

Still, the future looks bright for the Bobcats, who improved to 1517 after finishing the 2023-24 season with a record of 6-23. All five starters from the loss to Dardanelle will be back next season, along with Noah Houghton, who missed most of this season with a torn ACL after finishing second on the team in scoring as a sophomore last year.

“What we talked about daily, weekly throughout the whole season is daily improvement, weekly improvement,” Compton said. “We’ve got to focus on the end and not so much the present as far as where we want to be. And the kids really did a nice job. We had some stretches in there where we lost a few games in a row, but they never got down. They just kept plugging and at the end there I really feel like we were one of those teams in the league that nobody wanted to play.”

Smith led Berryville with 12 points, scoring his 1,000th career point on a driving bank shot in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Carson McMellon added eight, all in the fourth quarter, while Hicks had seven and sophomore Hudson Norris scored six.