CONLEY'S BOUNCEBACK LEADS FAYETTEVILLE PAST HARRISON

Jon Conley's game Thursday night against Jacksonville didn't sit well with him. On day two of the Bulldog Classic he turned things around. Less than 24 hours after missing on all seven of his shots, Conley finished with a team-high 16 points in Fayetteville's 67-62 win against Harrison, setting up an pre-conference meeting with Springdale today at 11:30 a.m. in the Bulldog Arena auxiliary gym. "It was tough (against Jacksonville)," Conley said. "For some reason my shot wasn't falling, but tonight I just worked on picking my spots better, and it all worked out." Conley particularly controlled the second quarter, scoring eight points in transition and on dribble drives against mismatches. The senior's bounce-back effort was much-needed, too, as Bulldogs leading scorer Collin Cooper -- 22 points per game entering Friday -- hit just one of his first seven shots and had four first-half points. "If Coop is not our leading scorer or RJ Johnson is not our leading scorer, to have someone step up like Jon did, that's a big deal to have that third scorer," said Adams, whose team shot 52 percent. "That's kind of the way Jon was last year. He started out trying to do so much early, and once he got comfortable everything kind of started clicking for him." Another bonus for Fayetteville was the play of Frank Morgan, who, alongside Conley, Darius Bowers and others, is two weeks removed from football. Morgan gave the Bulldogs a lift early, scoring eight of his 10 points in the first quarter as Fayetteville grabbed a 15-13 lead after one and a 32-28 edge at the half. The team's 3-point shooting has been a strong point during the Bulldog Classic, knocking down 16 through two games. Morgan alone has four makes on seven attempts. "He's starting to (play with more confidence)," Adams said. "He's our leader. He's the guy the kids will respond to. We're playing him in spurts and trying to give him 4-5 minutes at a time and I've really been impressed with him." Cooper did finish with 10 points in the win, and offensive balance played a big role for Fayetteville. Five Bulldogs scored at least eight points, and perhaps none were bigger than Quinn Schach's eight in the fourth quarter. The senior guard buried two corner threes and, after the first, which put Fayetteville up nine, took a charge on Harrison's ensuing possession, adding to the four he drew Thursday. "That's what he does," Adams said. "His forte is defense. And that's the other part, the kids feed off of him, too. I thought several kids came in and did a good job." The Bulldogs led by as many as 13 on two occasions, but a late Harrison push in the final 1:30 closed the gap. Colton Youngblood led the Goblins with a game-high 21 points on 8 of 18 shooting. Skyler Young added 15, sinking 7 of his 10 shots. As a team, Harrison was 1 of 5 from three in the loss -- its lone make coming in the fourth quarter.

CONLEY'S BOUNCEBACK LEADS FAYETTEVILLE PAST HARRISON

Photo Credit: Fayetteville High School Athletics

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