Maumelle sets up big week with victory

MAUMELLE 74, JACKSONVILLE 52

Clear on a breakaway, Josh Denton peered back over his left shoulder and slowed down, waiting for the pursuing Jacksonville defender to get just a few steps closer. He then propelled himself toward the rim, cocking back before throwing down a powerful jam.

One possession later, the senior snared a ball in the corner and raised up right in front of his team’s bench.

Denton’s three-pointer, one of his eight, was his purest yet, sending the boisterous visiting contingent from Maumelle into a frenzy.

The Hornets rolled past Jacksonville 74-52 on Friday nigh at Titan Arena behind 25 points from Denton and 23 from Riley Wade. Maumelle stretched out an early advantage in the second quarter, carrying a 33-21 lead into the locker room.

That’s when they dropped the hammer, dropping 22 points in the third — all from Denton and Wade.

“I was just trying to get that one,” Denton said of his dunk. “I knew it would get the team hyped up and playing our best.”

By that point, Maumelle (14-2, 6-0 5A-Central) already had turned in its best run of the night. After scoring the opening bucket of the second half, Jacksonville (4-10, 1-5) pulled to within 10 — the closest it would get at any point the rest of the way — before the Hornets had an 8-2 spurt in just two minutes that forced Titans Coach Victor Joyner to take a timeout.

Maumelle leaned on its 3-2 zone to neutralize Jacksonville’s size and length advantage, and the Hornets forced plenty of turnovers, many of which led to transition opportunities.

“[I was most pleased with] our defensive effort, and we did it for four quarters,” Hornets Coach Michael Shook said. “Tonight was probably the most complete game we’ve played all year as far as playing defense and then playing hard for 32 minutes. That’s what’s big — they’ve hopefully got to see the results of it and keep it up going forward.”

Maumelle, which went two weeks without playing in the middle of January, has taken care of business in conference play since knocking off Little Rock Parkview 8580 on Jan. 8. But outside of their lone victory against the Patriots, Maumelle has yet to challenge the league’s other top contenders.

That’ll change next week when they hit the road for games at Sylvan Hills and Little Rock Christian.

“We know that we’re good, but we know we haven’t done anything,” Shook said.

Games like Friday show that even when the Hornets’ top scorers aren’t clicking — Carl Daughtery, who entered the night averaging better than 18 points per game, scored just eight and Darvis Raspberry logged only three — they’re still plenty dangerous.

“Josh can get hot at any time,” Shook said. “I don’t know how many threes he knocked down … but he was able to get in the paint, make several good passes and he did a really good job playing at the top of the zone.”

Shook emphasized the work Raspberry and Nico Davillier, who scored 11, did on the glass. They combined for 16 rebounds and gave Maumelle several second-chance opportunities.

A dozen players scored at least two points for Jacksonville, which was led by Christian Moore with 13 points. Jordan Maxwell added 10.

GIRLS JACKSONVILLE 60, MAUMELLE 28

The Lady Titans jumped out to an early double-digit advantage and never looked back against the Lady Hornets.

Junior Alexis Rowe scored a gamehigh 17 points for Jacksonville, classmate Brooklyn Rowland added 14 and sophomore Mariah Fudge had 12 for Jacksonville.

The Lady Titans (3-9, 1-3 5A-Central) limited Maumelle (3-9, 0-5) to 11-of-39 shooting.

Kennedi Borkins and London Robinson each scored 10 to carry the Lady Hornets’ offense.