Patriot guards shoot down Tigers
BOYS
LITTLE ROCK PARKVIEW 63,
LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 57
Little Rock Parkview straddled the shoulders of two of its sharp-shooting guards to take down a crosstown rival and advance to the finals of the inaugural Charles Ripley Holiday Tournament.
J.T. Miller and Nate Coley combined to score 11 points during a deciding run late in the game to catapult the Patriots to a 63-57 victory over Little Rock Central on Friday night.
Coley finished with a game-high 17 points, and Miller added 8 of his 11 points during a 58-second span of the second half for Parkview (51), which couldn’t get out of its own way for much of the night. Thankfully for the Patriots, their backcourt tandem got hot at the right time.
Central (3-2) led 50-44 after a pair of free throws from Gavin Snyder with 2:56 left, but Miller scored the next eight points, including backto-back three-pointers, to give Parkview a 52-50 lead. Snyder tied it on the ensuing possession, and Coley’s 22-footer from the left-wing shortly thereafter started a closing 11-5 spurt that helped send the Patriots into today’s title game against Pine Bluff.
“Those two guys were big,” Parkview Coach Scotty Thurman said of Miller and Coley. “That’s one of the differences with our team. We’re battle tested, and in this one, I knew we had a run in us. I just didn’t know when.
“I’m glad it came when it did, though. During that three or four-minute period, I really thought our guys grew up.”
Cam Wallace added 10 points and seven rebounds for Parkview, which has beaten the Tigers 14 consecutive times dating back to the 201011 season. Jeff Kamanga, who made several key free throws down the stretch to keep Parkview ahead, had 5 points, 7 rebounds and 7 blocks.
Snyder and Annor Boateng each had 13 points, while Daniel Culberson had 10 points for Central.
Both teams experienced rocky starts for various reasons.
There were an abundance of fouls called in the first half, which kept either from establishing any prolonged success. Parkview also hurt itself with turnovers, nine of which came during the first eight minutes. The Patriots ended up turning it over 15 times in the half but remained step for step with their rivals because of the Tigers’ own struggles.
Central, which threw the ball away eight times in the opening half itself, missed 10 of its first 15 shots.
“I thought both teams played pretty good defense actually,” Thurman explained. “We did a better job of rebounding than what we’ve done the last three or four games. But the thing is, when we did get some stops and when they missed shots, we were too eager to get rid of the ball, and we turned it over when we should’ve been scoring.”
Those miscues made for plenty of back-and-forth between the two. There were seven lead changes in the first 16 minutes, with the final one coming on Coley’s three-pointer just seconds before the buzzer to give Parkview a 2322 lead at the break.
That same seesaw trend continued well into the second half. It wasn’t until the Tigers put together their most impressive stretch of the night that they finally shook free – momentarily.
Wallace’s putback with 8:21 left gave Parkview a 37-36 lead, but Culberson’s driving lay-up on the following trip started a 10-2 run for the Tigers. Central’s lead grew before Miller and Coley began the Patriots’ comeback.
PINE BLUFF 66,
LITTLE ROCK SOUTHWEST 48
Troy’reon Ramos’ hot start guided Pine Bluff (4-4) to the tournament finals with a wire-to-wire victory.
The Zebras scored 15 of the first 17 points and attempted twice as many shots as Southwest (2-5) did in the first half. Still, the Gryphons hung around and trailed 27-21 at halftime. But Pine Bluff went 8 of 10 (80%) from the floor in the first eight minutes of the second half — a span that included a 12-0 run — to bust open the game.
Ramos, along with Courtney Crutchfield, both finished with 14 points for Pine Bluff. Jordan Harris had 13 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks. Robert Alexander scored 11 points to lead Southwest.
HOT SPRINGS 59, MILLS 52
Tyrell Honey notched 12 of his 15 points in the first half as Hot Springs (2-3) led from the outset to put an end to a three-game losing streak.
Octavious Rhodes had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Trojans, who hit 10 of their first 12 field goal of the second half to keep Mills (1-4) from staging any sustained rallies. Nasir Hannah added 14 points, including a three-point play with just over two minutes to play that locked up the win.
Q.J. King had 21 of his game-high 27 points after halftime for the Comets, who have lost three games in a row. Allen Dixon added nine points.