Bears top Titans
After a slow start, Sylvan Hills got help from its bench as it came back to take a 70-68 victory at Jacksonville on Friday night.
5A-CENTRAL BOYS SYLVAN HILLS 70, JACKSONVILLE 68
Visiting Sylvan Hills was held scoreless the first three minutes of the game but overcame the slow start to escape Titans Arena with a 70-68 victory over Jacksonville on Friday night.
The Bears (10-2, 2-0 5A-Central) were hampered by rebounding woes in the first quarter, then faced some problems with free throws in the fourth quarter against the Titans (4-6, 0-2).
“Shooting free throws is something we are going to work on before next week,” Sylvan Hills Coach Kevin Davis said. “That and rebounding. We’ve placed an emphasis on rebounding all year, but we still have problems in that area.”
Fouls were a problem for the Bears in the first quarter, which led to two starters missing much of the first half.
But Davis had high praise for his bench.
“We had some guys come off the bench and get us back in the game to lead at the half,” he said. “In the second half, everyone started contributing and we were able to hang on, despite our freethrow problems.”
The Bears’ two conference victories both came on the road, having defeated Benton 55-51 on Tuesday.
“You really have to be able to win on the road if you want to succeed in this conference,” Davis said. “It’s a long conference race, and with the pandemic making everything uncertain, we’re certainly happy to win these two games.”
When the Bears scored at the 5:01 mark, that left Jacksonville with a 7-3 lead. With 2:39 left in the first quarter, Amarion Watson was fouled on a basket and added the free throw to trim the Titans’ lead to 14-11.
By the time the quarter was over, Sylvan Hills had taken a 21-16 lead, thanks in part to a two-point shot by Tony Cribbs with three seconds left.
Sylvan Hills was outscored in the second quarter 18-14, but the Bears managed a onepoint edge, 35-34, at halftime.
The teams traded baskets in the third quarter, but Jacksonville took another lead at 43-41 with 4:20 left in the quarter. With 1:29 left, the Bears had trimmed the Titans’ lead to 49-47. They scored the final three points of the quarter to take a 5049 lead going into the final quarter.
With 3:30 to play in the game, Sylvan Hills had expanded the lead to 61-54 when Shamar Womack hit two free throws. Two free throws by Trent Clark gave the Bears a 65-58 margin with 1:34 left.
Then the Bears ran into free-throw problems, hitting only one of two shots three times in the final 56.9 seconds, leading to a 68-65 lead with 20.2 second left.
Still up 68-65 with 4.8 seconds left, Corey Washington hit his two free throws, giving the Bears a five-point edge at 70-65. A three-pointer by Jacksonville’s Christian Moore with 1.5 seconds left set the final margin.
Watson led a balanced attack for the Bears with 12 points. Womack and Cribbs added 10 points each.
Moore had a game-high 28 points for the Titans while Jordan Maxwell and Braxton Brown added 10 points apiece.
GIRLS SYLVAN HILLS 55, JACKSONVILLE 51, OT
The Lady Bears (6-2, 2-0 5A-Central) scored only two points in the first quarter – two free throws with 18.4 seconds left – but managed to escape with an overtime victory over the Lady Titans (0-2, 2-7).
Sylvan Hills came alive in the second quarter and held a 26-23 edge at the half.
In the third quarter, the Lady Bears held the Lady Titans to five points while scoring nine for a 35-28 lead starting the fourth quarter.
The Lady Bears tied the game 45-45 when Karsyn Morgan made two free throws with 2.5 seconds left to force overtime.
Sylvan Hills got four points from Daniya Cartwright and six from Jianna Morris, including two free throws with 9.7 seconds left to seal the game.
Morris led Sylvan Hills with 15 points while Morgan had 13 and Cartwright 10. Alexis Rowe led Jacksonville with a game-high 16, and Brooklyn Roland added 12.