Bruins pull away, drop Mustangs

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS

PULASKI ACADEMY 71, CENTRAL ARK. CHRISTIAN 55

Overcoming foul troubles and a mid-game lull, Pulaski Academy’s boys pulled out a 71-55 victory over host Central Arkansas Christian on Tuesday night in North Little Rock.

Junior guard E.J. Anderson — who made a steal, a lay up and a three-pointer just moments after CAC had rallied to tie the game at 45-45 — led the Bruins with 18 points and five assists.

“We depend a lot on him,” Pulaski Academy Coach Roger Franks said. “He’s not real big, but he’s got a big, big heart. He’ll fight you to the very end. Those were definitely big plays.”

The Bruins (3-1) connected on 7 of their first 9 threepoint attempts and held a 24-9 lead after the first quarter. But behind sophomore Brock Hendrix, the Mustangs (1-4) fought back to tie the game at 45-45 with 3:27 left in the third quarter.

Hendrix finished with a game-high 23 points, getting one three-pointer and hitting 8 of 10 free-throw attempts, but he did not score in the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t think he disappeared in the fourth quarter,” CAC Coach Matt Hall said of Hendrix, who is averaging 22.4 points per game. “I just thought he tried to do too much. … Brock’s a really good player. We’re glad to have him.”

Two free throws by CAC senior Davis Gatling tied the game at 45-45. Pulaski Academy responded by scoring 14 of the next 16 points and the Bruins’ lead never fell below 10 points again.

“CAC came at us really hard and we got into some foul trouble,” Franks said. “They were hard to guard and playing a zone against them is not a really good thing. And one thing that’s impossible to guard is free throws. We sent them to the line way too much.”

Alex Brogdon, Pulaski Academy’s 6-7 senior post player, collected three fouls in the first half. He was held to zero points and one rebound in the first half. He finished with seven points and 10 rebounds.

“They were doing a very good job on our bigs,” Franks said. “I just thought late that [Brogdon] just went and got the ball. … That was really huge.”

Grayson Koller added 15 points for Pulaski Academy, while Griffen Newby scored 9 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and handed out 3 assist. Gatling scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half. He also had five rebounds.