NORTHSIDE’S DUANGDARA CLAIMS 6A-CENTRAL BOWLING TITLE

Despite winning the 6A-Central individual bowling championship last week, Northside senior bowler Andy Duangdara took it all in stride. He was happier with the fact that his Grizzly teammates were able to qualify for this week’s 6A State Tournament. “My team did really good, I’m proud of them,” Duangdara said. “The whole season, we won about two games and we didn’t actually do good but (at conference), I had to encourage them a little bit and I’m really proud of them and what they had done out there.” The Grizzlies finished second in the team standings behind Southside, with Duangdara a big reason for his team’s performance. Duangdara, named the Times Record’s Athlete of the Week, rolled an average score of 220 for three games plus four Baker Format games. He added he averaged about eight strikes per game at last week’s conference tournament, held at Allfam Bowling and Entertainment Center in Cabot. “I’ve been bowling for quite a while, so it wasn’t really much of a big deal,” Duangdara said. “Last year, I got second in conference and I’ve been working my way up and (winning conference) felt nice, but I knew I had it.” Duangdara actually finished in first place winning by just one pin. “There really wasn’t much difference (in getting the win),” he said. “I was calm and patient, and I bowled the best game I could.” Duangdara said his specialty is being able to adjust to the lanes where he is bowling. That was definitely the case in last week’s win. “I know when to adjust and when to slow down or speed up the ball,” Duangdara said. ?(At last week’s conference tourney) it was not that much of a hook on the ball, which if there’s no hook, there’s a lot of oil. So I had to slow down the ball more, so it would be able to hook in.” It was Duangdara’s second time in his career he bowled at the facility in Cabot. “I think it was my first year joining (varsity), and we went and traveled to Cabot and I came out around a 170 average,” he said. “It wasn’t as good as I shot last week.” Duangdara and his Grizzly teammates will be heading to the 6A tournament, which takes place Friday in Jonesboro, and Duangdara is eager to duplicate the success he had last week. It’s also the culmination of a longtime passion of bowling, which Duangdara picked up at an early age. “Growing up, I watched my dad bowl and I thought it was interesting, and I picked up after him, so I was at the age of 5 maybe, and I’ve been bowling ever since,” Duangdara said. ?(What I like about bowling is) throwing the ball and hitting the pins. When you hit a strike, it sounds beautiful, it just amazes you. And being good at it, and going against my friends, I’m really competitive, and this is probably the sport where I can beat most of my friends at, so (that’s what I like about bowling).” Duangdara said he practices at least three times a week, and sometimes four. He had played soccer at Northside before leaving the team to fully concentrate on bowling. Following graduation from Northside, Duangdara plans to go to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and study engineering. He said he will continue to bowl as a hobby, and maybe even continue to harbor hopes of bowling at the professional level. “I’m going to miss bowling a lot; it’s been there since I was 5 years old, so going to state means a lot to me and bringing the team with me, I didn’t want to go individually. ... I’m really proud of my team, and just bringing them along means a lot,” Duangdara said. Honorable Mentions • Taelon Peter hit two free throws with seven seconds left and finished with 26 points in Alma’s key 67-66 win against Little Rock Christian last week. • Booneville senior Grant Goers had 13 points in the Bearcats’ conference finale at Perryville. • Cedarville’s Chanel Kattich scored 16 points and the Lady Pirates pulled away late for a 42-36 win against West Fork last week. • Central’s Courtney Lee had 17 points as the Lady Tigers claimed the Big 8 conference title by winning at Keys on Friday, 50-33. • Charleston senior Alli Green scored 18 points in the Lady Tigers’ 51-27 win against Elkins, capping a perfect 14-0 run in the District 3A-1 West. • Clarksville senior Bob Hurley had 15 points in the Panthers’ win against Heber Springs in the regular season finale for both teams. • County Line’s Tyler Young scored 11 points and capped a 53-50 win against Booneville with a 3-pointer as the Indians snapped the Bearcats’ 23-game winning streak. • Greenwood’s Dylan Wilson, a senior wrestler, raised his record to 26-6 after winning the 160-pound weight class at last weekend’s 5A-West tournament, getting first place via pin in a time of 1:24. • Hackett’s Brady Hester had 13 points in the Hornets’ 59-28 win against Johnson County Westside. • Howe’s Jalei Oglesby moved into fourth place in the all-time Oklahoma 5-on-5 girls basketball career scoring list with a 29-point performance Friday. Oglesby needs two points to vault into third place all-time. • Lavaca junior Matt Melton scored 22 points the Golden Arrows’ win against Danville last week, capping a perfect 12-0 conference record. • Mena senior Connor Harvey scored 31 points in his home finale, helping the Bearcats clinch the No. 1 seed in the 4A-7. • Muldrow’s Taylen Collins tallied 12 points as the Lady Bulldogs finished with a perfect NOAA Conference record, defeating Checotah on Friday, 69-33. • Ozark’s Anna Grace Gibbons scored eight points in the Lady Hillbillies’ 25-12 win against Dardanelle. • Poteau’s Atticus Pate scored 33 points and hit eight 3-pointers in the Pirates’ 73-53 win against Sallisaw on Feb. 5. • Roland junior Jaxon Wiggins had 39 points, 23 coming in the second half, as the Rangers claimed the outright NOAA championship with a 76-58 home win Friday against Poteau. • Sallisaw’s Mia Maxwell scored 17 points and had a double-double with 14 rebounds to help the Lady Diamonds defeat Stigler, 52-37, on Thursday. • Southside senior wrestler Shawn Smith improved to 18-5 overall with his first-place showing at last week’s conference tournament at Cabot. Smith won his first-place match via pin in a time of 2:30. • Spiro’s Tylor Perry hit eight 3s and finished with 27 points in the Bulldogs’ 80-52 win against Muldrow on Feb. 5. Perry had five of his eight treys in the third quarter. • Van Buren’s Lexi Miller had 21 points in the team’s 59-53 upset of Fayetteville, snapping Fayetteville’s 48-game conference winning streak. • Waldron’s Payton Brown scored 75 points in a pair of Bulldog games, including a 35-point effort in the team’s 55-40 win against Greenland — the team’s 20th victory of the season.

NORTHSIDE’S DUANGDARA CLAIMS 6A-CENTRAL BOWLING TITLE

BUCK RINGGOLD

Times Record | 2/12/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Mitchell