Parkview on target in championship
Little Rock Parkview honored one of its famed coaches with a win over Pine Bluff earlier this week in its home opener.
It was only fitting the Patriots showed appreciation for another one by doing the same thing Saturday.
Dallas Thomas hit a free throw with no time left to send Parkview to a rousing 54-53 overtime victory in the final of the Charles Ripley Holiday Tournament at Little Rock Southwest’s Gryphon Arena.
The foul shot by the sophomore put the finishing touches on a full-circle week for the Parkview program. On Tuesday, the Patriots beat the Zebras 70-55 on a night when the school celebrated former coach Al Flanigan, who led the team to seven state titles, by displaying his name on their court. Four days later, Parkview paid respects to the late Ripley, who won five state championships with the Patriots, by winning the inaugural event that was named after him.
“This is big,” Parkview Coach Scotty Thurman said. “I really like the fact that we found a way to win. They stayed together even when things weren’t going our way and shots weren’t falling. But they stuck with it, and that’s huge because for young kids, it’s real easy to panic and go the wrong way.”
Things certainly flowed backward for Parkview (6-1) during the latter portion of the opening half.
The Patriots led 11-7 with 10:20 left after a long three-pointer from J.T. Miller, but baskets were hard to come by afterward. Parkview missed 18 consecutive shots and didn’t hit another field goal until Cam Wallace scored inside with 1:20 showing. In between that nine-minute time frame, the only points Parkview mustered were from the free-throw line, where it went 6 of 6.
“Things were rough there for a minute,” said a smiling Thurman, whose team shot 6 of 28 (21.4%) from the floor in that first half. “We were rushing things and making it tougher on ourselves than what it had to be.”
Pine Bluff (4-5) outscored Parkview 17-6 during that stretch, with Courtney Crutchfield and Troy’reon Ramos doing much of the damage. The Zebras had opportunities to build a larger advantage but were overly careless with the ball, resulting in either turnovers or forced shots.
The Patriots did make a serious push at the start of the second half, which was spurred by a pair of two rim-rattling dunks from Wallace. His spinning jam along the baseline with 12:21 to go got Parkview within 32-27, but X’zaevion Barnett canned consecutive three-pointers and fed Ramos for a lay-up on three possessions in a row during an 8-0 run to push Pine Bluff’s lead to 40-27.
Still, Parkview gradually nipped away at its deficit by capitalizing off Zebra mistakes and regained the lead, 48-46, on a free throw from Thomas until Barnett responded with a three-point play on the other end with 44 seconds remaining. Nate Coley, who finished with nine points for the Patriots, managed to send the game into the extra period when he hit one of two free throws with 6.6 seconds left.
The game was still knotted at 53-53 when both threw away chances to move ahead in the final 20 seconds. Parkview turned the ball over with 15.4 ticks left, but Pine Bluff did the same 12 seconds later when Barnett was whistled for a charge while trying to set up for a final shot.
On the following inbound play, the Patriots got the ball to Thomas, who was fouled in the corner just prior to the horn going off. The 6-7 forward, who has offers from Power 5 schools such as the University of Arkansas, Auburn, Memphis Texas Tech and Texas A&M, missed the first free throw but drilled the second, prompting a spirited on-court celebration.
“I knew he had two, and I knew he’d make one of them,” Thurman said. “I’d rather for him make the first one, of course. But Dallas is going to be a big-time player, and moments like this is a good experience for him. He came through in that pressure situation.
“Still for us, we can’t afford to play like we did all game and expect to win a lot. But an old man told me a long time ago that a raggedy ride is better than a smooth walk.”
Wallace finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for Parkview. Barnett had 21 points, Crutchfield scored 12 points and Ramos ended with 11 points for Pine Bluff.
LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 54, LITTLE ROCK SOUTHWEST 53
Daniel Culberson made two free throws with 13 seconds left to put Central (4-2) ahead for good in the third-place game.
Darren Fleming had 22 points, including 15 in the second half, and eight rebounds for the Tigers, who were down 53-51 with 1:23 left after Colman Page hit two free throws for Southwest (2-6). The Gryphons had a chance to win it on their final possession but missed a shot just time expired.
Gavin Snyder added 10 points for Central, which played without sophomore standout and leading scorer Annor Boateng, who was recovering from having stitches put in his eyelid. Culberson had 8 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.
Emir Siddiq had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Southwest. Michael Howard, Melvin Taylor and Robert Alexander all followed with eight points.
BRYANT 66, HOT SPRINGS 39
Gabe George rang up a game-high 23 points to lead Bryant (4-1) to a fifthplace finish.
Drake Fowler had 10 points and Landyn Newburn had eight points for the Hornets, who jumped out to a 10-0 lead and steadily increased it throughout. Cairon Allen also had eight points and pulled down 10 rebounds for Bryant.
Octavious Rhodes finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds for Hot Springs (2-4), which hit just 5 of 19 (26.3%) shots in the first half and trailed 26-12 at halftime. Beno Stephens had all 12 of his points in the second half.