West Memphis escapes Central

Senior Gary Henderson scored a game-high 29 points to lead West Memphis to a 69-64 victory over Little Rock Central.

Henderson, who hit five three-pointers, scored seven points in the final 5:39 of the game and the Blue Devils defense had three key defensive stops in the final 1:23.

“I don’t know where we’d been without Gary tonight,” West Memphis Coach Larry Bray said. “He had the hot hand and our guys did a good job of finding him in along the baseline.”

Little Rock Central (4-12, 2-3 7A/6A-East) led 56-54 after a rebound basket by Rayquan Rodgers. But Henderson tied the score with a mid-range jumper at the 5:39 mark of the fourth quarter.

Central’s last lead of the game was 64-63 when Jacobia Platt converted two free throws with 2:52 to play.

Henderson gave West Memphis (8-10, 3-2) the lead for good with a layup with 1:57 to play. Teammate Darius Williams, who hit for 12 points, hit a shot in the lane to make it 67-64 with 1:25 to play.

The Blue Devils defense then went to work with three consecutive stops, two of which ended in Central turnovers. Henderson got the key steal with 53 seconds left and it led to two free throws by Williams to make it a two-possession game.

Williams then stole a pass on the other end to seal the decision.

“This has to be one of our hardest-fought wins,” Bray said. “We not only took a lot of bumps and hits to the floor, we had to stay mentally tough down the stretch.”

Platt’s had 16 points to lead Little Rock Central. Zack McFadden added 15 points and Rodgers, a sophomore, scored 11.