The Fordland Eagles traveled to Conway for a matchup with the Bears on Friday, Nov. 15.
“We knew coming in that this was going to be a tough matchup,” said Fordland head coach John Vickers. “I call the Summit Conference ‘Murderers Row’ for Class 3 and Conway is no exception to that.”
The Bears stood at 3-4 coming into the game. The Eagles were 2-4.
Brixon Bilyeu, a junior, started the game with some heat. In the first quarter alone, he scored 13 of Conway’s 17 points. The Bears kept pressure on the ball defensively for the entire game to speed the Eagles up.
Tyler Vaughn picked up his shooting in second quarter, ending the half with 11 points. He hit one more three in the third before being benched due to foul trouble.
At the half, the score was 43-36. Fordland clawed their way back to tie the score led by sophomore Matt Hart in the third quarter.
With the score tied, Bilyeu went on a 12-0 run to give Conway the lead. He scored 15 in the third quarter in total.
“Our goal was to stop their big three,” said Vickers. “Issac Freeman, Vaughn, and Bilyeu are some really good players. They were hitting shots with a hand in their face and us all over them.”
The story of the game was lights out shooting from behind the arc with Bilyeu and senior Tyler Vaughn each knocking down four three-pointers a piece over the course of the game. Bilyeu ended the night with 32 points. Vaughn had 20 points. Seniors Issac Vaughn and Cade Archer both picked up 10 points.
“If foul trouble hadn’t caught Vaughn, he would’ve kept scoring even more,” said Conway head coach Dayton Robison.
Fordland made a good run in the fourth quarter to make it close, but ultimately fell to the Conway Bears 73-69. Hart finished with 19 points. Issac Vickers, a senior, had 13 points.
“Fordland shot the ball well and played hard to the very end,” added Robison. “The Summit Conference is a gauntlet with several state ranked teams. Any time we can scratch a win out, it’s a big deal.”
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