Central’s 2nd-half press wears down Southside

6A-CENTRAL BOYS

LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 65, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 51

Little Rock Central got good news before it took the floor Tuesday night to play Fort Smith Southside.

The Tigers waited until the second half to play really good basketball.

Central, leading last-place Southside 27-26 at the half, used a zone press to rattle the Mavericks, outscoring them 22-8 in the third quarter en route to a 65-51 6A-Central victory.

The victory ended a fivegame losing streak for the Tigers (15-10, 5-8), who clinched a spot in next week’s 6A state tournament. Truth be told, the Tigers found out they were in the tournament before they even took their home floor.

Coach Brian Ross told the Tigers before the game that Little Rock Catholic had lost earlier in the evening, and that the Tigers were in.

“It took a little weight off their shoulders,” Ross said. “I told them because I wanted them to play with some confidence and play loose.”

The Tigers started out fine, leading 16-10 after one quarter and 21-12 early in the second quarter before the Mavericks (5-22, 1-12) scrambled back.

Southside closed to within one point on Tyrese Solomon’s shot at the buzzer.

“We started taking a lot of quick shots, outside shots,” Ross said. “We hit a little lull on the offensive end.”

Senior forward Rajhon McIntosh helped wake up the Tigers.

McIntosh, keying the zone press, scored 11 of his 15 team-high points in the third quarter, adding 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, and the Tigers were ready to pose for pictures with their families afterward.

“I felt like I needed to do whatever I could do to get my team up and going,” McIntosh said. “Give them great energy. and keep doing what I do best.”

It was no surprise to Ross. “That’s just Ray,” Ross said. “He’s been doing that kind of stuff all season.”

Ross said nothing special was talked about at halftime.

“When you’ve got five seniors on the floor right there, they don’t want to spend their senior night in a bad way,” he said. “They wanted to come out and win and make a statement. I didn’t have to fire them up. They came out fired up. They’re competitive guys, they came out hungry.”