Parkview prevails
HOT SPRINGS 75, LR PARKVIEW 65
Little Rock Parkview’s Jordyn Williams (11) takes a shot over Lake Hamilton’s Hayleigh Wyrick on Tuesday during the Lady Patriots’ 56-47 victory over the Lady Wolves at the Class 5A girls state tournament in Russellville.
RUSSELLVILLE — Hot Springs entered the Class 5A boys state basketball tournament with a 22-game winning streak.
The 5A-South Conference champion Trojans extended that streak to 23, despite a late push from Little Rock Parkview.
Behind 21-point efforts from Jadyn Walker and Caleb Campbell, Hot Springs defeated Little Rock Parkview 75-65 in the first round of the state tournament at Cyclone Arena.
Hot Springs (26-5) will play Marion or Vilonia at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals.
“It’s one thing to go undefeated in conference, then if you come in here and lose, it means absolutely nothing,” Hot Springs Coach Ant Lasker said. “That’s something we talked about a lot.”
Santair Thomas added 11 points for the Trojans.
Parkview (12-16) trailed 60-49 with 5:00 left to play, but the Patriots cut the lead to 63-61 with 2:16 left on two free throws from Keighland Young.
The Trojans answered with Thomas’ layup, which started an 11-0 run that put away the Patriots.
Kaleb Hughley’s threepoint play made it 70-61 with 1:13 remaining.
“It was a huge run,” Lasker said. “Guys made plays down the stretch. It was an overall, good team effort.”
Hot Springs led 32-29 at halftime, then extended its lead to 48-38 with 1:16 left in the third quarter. The Trojans entered the fourth quarter with a 49-43 edge.
Cameron Wallace led Parkview with 16 points. Ryan Gordon had 12 points, and Jared Presley added 10 points.
Parkview Coach Scotty Thurman said his team had a chance to pull off the upset, but Hot Springs’ late run was too much.
“Inexperience really showed down the stretch,” Thurman said. “It’s a little different style of play once you get to this part of the season. I thought we kind of panicked. Our guys forgot there was still time. Guys were trying to take it on their own instead of staying together within the team.”