JACKSONVILLE can’t overcome fourth-quarter surge.

PINE BLUFF — A fourth-quarter lull by Jacksonville gave Centennial, Calif., the opening it was looking for to advance to the championship game of the King Cotton Classic.

The Huskies reeled off nine consecutive points in the final period to take a lead it wouldn’t surrender in their 58-54 victory over the Titans on Saturday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.

Junior guard Paris Dawson scored 14 points to pace Centennial (12-2), which will play in the championship game at 7 p.m. Monday. Sophomore guard Donovan Dent had 12 points, while freshman guard Jared McClain finished with 11 points.

Huskies Coach Josh Giles didn’t like the way his team played against the Titans for the first three-and-a-half quarters, but he said his team started playing the right way in the final eight minutes.

“We turned things up a bit on defense there during that time frame, and that was the key,” Giles said. “A couple of guys that are usually good players for us have been struggling, especially in this

game. But we’ve been finding ways to win games here.

“In that stretch in the fourth, we sped the game up, which is what we like to do, and I thought it made Jacksonville a little uncomfortable.”

The Huskies were faced with a 50-47 deficit with 5:05 remaining when they tightened up defensively, forcing Jacksonville to deviate from running the same offensive schemes that allowed the Titans to build a lead.

“We had about six possessions where we needed to be more poised,” Jacksonville Coach Victor Joyner said. “[Centennial] is the seventh-ranked team in the nation. They come down, they run their stuff, and they’re veterans that are well coached.

“If we come down and execute during those possessions, like we had been doing earlier, we take the game. You’ve got to be able to execute, and we didn’t do that when the game was on the line.”

Jacksonville went through a nearly four-minute span where it didn’t score on eight consecutive trips. Before that drought, the Titans held a 50-47 lead after a 4-footer in the lane from senior guard Davonte Davis with 5:05 left in the game. The Titans didn’t score again until the 1:11 mark when junior forward Jordan Maxwell’s basket got them within 56-52.

Junior forward Ryan Maxwell hit a short runner with 31 seconds remaining to cut Centennial’s lead to 56-54.

Dent added a free throw to push the Huskies’ lead to three, and Jacksonville turned the ball over on its next opportunity with nine seconds to go. Senior forward Freddy Dybala tacked on another foul shot for the Huskies.

“I’ve told some of our guys that are chaperoning and driving us around that we’re a better team that what we’ve showed,” Giles said. “I haven’t liked how we’ve played these first two games, but a lot of that credit goes to Bryant and Jacksonville. We’ve haven’t played at the fast pace that we normally play at, yet, we’ve been able to win, and that’s the name of the game.”

Davis and Ryan Maxwell each scored 12 points for the Titans.

RAYMOND (MISS.) 73, LR PARKVIEW 69, OT

Jabarie Robinson finished with an unconventional triple-double for Raymond, Miss., as the Rangers staged an overtime victory.

Robinson had 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 turnovers for Raymond (10-4). The sophomore also had six assists and two steals. Tremaine Dixon added 15 points for the Rangers, who turned the ball over 25 times and allowed the Patriots to come away with 16 steals but shot 66.7% (6 of 9) in the fourth quarter and overtime to win.

Sophomore forward Cameron Wallace had 27 points and 9 rebounds, and junior guard Keylon Harris ended with 15 points and 9 boards for Parkview (4-5).

The Patriots led 34-29 at halftime and held a 63-61 lead with 29 seconds left in regulation after Harris hit the second of two free throws. But Robinson raced down the floor and scored with 3.7 ticks remaining to send the game to an extra session.

There were three ties in the overtime until Keith Miller hit a free throw with less than a minute to go to give the Rangers a 70-69 lead. The Patriots missed a shot on the other end, and Robinson added an additional foul shot before a late Parkview turnover with four seconds showing led to a game-clinching basket for Raymond.

WOODDALE (TENN.) 81, BRYANT 72

The Cardinals shot 61.2% (19 of 31) in the second half to erase a 42-32 halftime deficit and beat Bryant.

Jonathan Lawson had 27 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists and 4 steals for Wooddale (8-4), which withstood an early barrage from the Hornets. Jalen Brown scored 20 points and Jonathan Duncan added 16 for Wooddale.

Bryant (6-5) led the entire first half thanks to 62.9% (17 of 27) shooting but couldn’t duplicate that after the break. The Cardinals used a 16-4 run over a three-minute span to take a 49-46 lead in the third quarter, and reeled off nine points in a row during the fourth quarter to stay ahead.

Camren Hunter had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Hornets. Treylon Payne had 15 points and Khasen Robinson finished with 12.

NSU UNIVERSITY (FLA.) 62, ORR ACADEMY (ILL.) 48

Roger McFarlane scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds as NSU University (10-2) punched its ticket to the title game.

The Sharks, who also got a 17-point, 10-rebound effort from Taylor Hendricks, outscored Orr Academy, Ill., 2914 in the fourth quarter. Jace Howard added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Norvell Meadows scored 14 points to lead the Spartans (7-4), who held the Sharks to just five points in the third quarter but struggled to keep up in the final frame. Bryce Hall had 11 points and Demarius Splunge finished with 10 points.

YAZOO COUNTY (MISS.) 64, PINE BLUFF 55

Martarius Burrell scored 21 of his game-high 25 points after halftime for Yazoo County, which left the King Cotton with back-to-back victories over the local teams.

Lakevion Dixon had 14 points for the Panthers (9-4), who beat Dollarway on Friday. Yazoo County was outrebounded 39-29 and had only three assists on its 19 made field goals, but the Panthers hit 22 of 33 free throws compared to just 2-of-8 shooting from the line for the Zebras.

Jordan Harris, a freshman, had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks for Pine Bluff (3-4), which turned the ball over 18 times. Xavier Turner had 12 points and 16 rebounds, while Jalen Tatum had 10 points and 5 boards.

FORT BEND HIGHTOWER (TEXAS) 76, DOLLARWAY 32

Eleven players got in on the scoring as Fort Bend Hightower blasted Dollarway.

Bryce Griggs scored 20 points for the Hurricanes (16-4), who averaged 77 points in both of their blowout victories. Kristopher O’Neal, Christopher Harris and Ja Robertson all had 10 points for Fort Bend Hightower. Aaron Bland added nine points.

Pince Okojie had 11 points to lead Dollarway (4-8). The Cardinals made 11 of 49 shots, including just one in the fourth quarter.