Maumelle 85, Little Rock Parkview 80
Little Rock Parkview’s Keylon Harris (left) puts up a shot while being guarded by Maumelle’s Josh Denton during Friday night’s game at Maumelle.
5A-CENTRAL BOYS MAUMELLE 85, LR PARKVIEW 80
Maumelle went outside in to take momentum and an 85-80 victory over Little Rock Parkview at Hornet Arena in Maumelle on Friday night.
Parkview led 67-55 after a three-point play by senior guard Keylon Harris with 2:12 left in the third quarter, but Maumelle senior guard Josh Denton hit two long-range jump shots on consecutive possessions to open the lane for junior forward Nico Davillier and senior forward Darvis Rasberry.
“Josh is one of several guys who can get hot at any point,” Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said. “When he shot the first one and made it, the next time down, I was, ‘Get it, Josh. Get it, Josh.’ That was huge. That was a big swing for us.”
A layup by Rasberry tied the score at 80-80 with 1:10 left. A free throw by Denton gave Maumelle (10-2, 2-0 5A-Central) an 81-80 lead, its first of the game, with 40.9 seconds left.
Parkview (6-2, 1-1) missed its final five field-goal attempts, as free throws by Rasberry followed by Davillier’s three-point play with 5.9 seconds left clinched the game for Maumelle.
“The big kid, Nico, is a great athlete,” Parkview Coach Scotty Thurman said.
“Big-time football player who’s got great footwork and plays with a ton of confidence. They got some other guys who came on and played well for them.”
“Coach was on us hard,” Davillier said. “He told us we just had to go out there and play, and I think we did that. We started to work the ball inside, and I thought that worked in our favor.”
Parkview took command early, as three-pointers by senior Christian Winkler and Harris helped give the Patriots a 10-3 lead. Maumelle played nearly even through the remainder of the first quarter, but Parkview led 22-14 to start the second. A three-pointer by junior Jaylen Thomas-Miller gave Parkview a 28-16 lead early in the second quarter and led to a timeout by Shook. “Our guys thought their guys were going to go away,”
Thurman said. “I knew they weren’t.”
Maumelle responded with three-point plays on consecutive possessions by Rasberry and Davillier. A layup by Rasberry pulled Maumelle within 29-24 with 4:29 left in the second quarter.
A three-pointer by Thomas-Miller gave Parkview a 34-28 lead, but Maumelle responded with a three-pointer by junior guard Carl Daughtery and two free throws from Rasberry on its next two possessions to pull within 34-33 with 2:31 left before halftime.
Parkview answered the run by outscoring Maumelle 14-4 through the halftime buzzer. A layup in the final second gave Parkview a 4837 lead.
“We had a couple of guys who normally step up for us who didn’t,” Thurman said. “Our defense in the second half was not as good as it was in the first half, and then our team leadership didn’t really calm our young guys down, but we’ll be fine.”
Rasberry led Maumelle with 23 points. Daughtery had 20. Davillier and Denton each scored 18.
Harris scored 28 points to lead Parkview. Junior guard J.K. Sanders scored 11 and Winkler 10.
“I was really impressed with the way our big guys pushed the tempo and got all the way to the basket,” Shook said. “I knew they could walk it up, but they did a really good pushing it.”