3A-5 TOURNAMENT CAC’s win streak grows to 20 games
Playing for the second time in a week, the Baptist Prep Eagles keep getting closer to defeating the Central Arkansas Christian Mustangs.
A week ago it was a threepoint loss in the regular season finale and in the finals of the 3A-5 Tournament the Mustangs (22-6) escaped with a 57-55 victory at the Maumelle Charter School.
It was CAC’s 20th consecutive victory.
“It is really hard to defeat a good team three times,’’ CAC Coach Matt Hall said. “Everybody knows that. And Austin [Trembley, Baptist Prep coach] he does as good a job as anyone in the state coaching his team. We knew that they were going to be prepared. We knew they were going to come out and throw a punch early. I didn’t expect it to be that big but I did expect them to come out gunning.”
Baptist Prep (21-7) hit nine of 14 shots in the first quarter, five of them three-pointers, and had a 22-13 lead after the opening period. They ended it on a 9-0 run with a pair of three-pointers from Reid Maddox.
In their opening quarter, the Eagles committed two turnovers. Turnovers would be an issue the rest of the game, including a pair in the final 38 seconds when they did not get off a shot.”
Sam Maddox’s high off the glass reverse layup with three minutes left gave CAC a 56-55 lead. Kevin Williams hit a free throw with 38.1 seconds left. The Eagles got two more possessions but scrappy defense, including a steal by Jacob Henry in the closing seconds sealed the victory.
Baptist Prep led by as many as 11 in the second quarter but the half ended with just a 34-31 lead after 10 turnovers in the quarter.
Going into the final quarter, Baptist Prep led 47-44.
CAC led early 7-2 but fell behind in the first quarter and did not regain the lead until 54-53 on a steal and layup by Henry with 4:08 left in the game. The Mustangs got as close as 43-42 in the third.
CAC was led by Grayson Wilson, the Mustangs’ highly touted quarterback, with 17 points. Maddux had 13 and Williams scored eight.
Harrison Likens led Baptist with 23 points and Reid Maddox had 13.
Baptist Prep had 23 turnovers in the game.
“That is what we do,’’ Hall said. “We try to push the tempo and they have to make decisions at full speed and thankfully we were able to turn them over some but they played really well tonight. It was a good basketball game.
“We’ve won 20 in a row. It is hard not to feel good when you have won 20 in a row.”
GIRLS
LAMAR 49, ATKINS 37
Sophomore Kori Sanders scored 13 points — 11 in the second half — the Lady Warriors defeated the Lady Red Devils in the girls 3A-5 district finals.
Leading 23-17 at the half, Atkins, the regular season runner-up, scored the first four points of the second half to trim the 23-21 within the first two minutes. The Warriors responded with back-toback three-pointers, one by Sanders and the other by senior Shae Taylor. Karley Williams added a layup and it was 31-21 with 2:40 left in the third quarter. The third quarter ended 31-24. Atkins’ junior AbbiGrace Cunningham scored off a rebound to open the final quarter but the Lady Warriors quickly rebuilt the lead to double figures.
Lamar (24-3) defeated Atkins (168) for the third time this season. Both teams advance to the regional next week at Rose Bud.
“It wasn’t the prettiest thing,” Lamar Coach Brandon Schluterman said. “We didn’t make as many shots as we usually do but we made the ones that we needed to. We had a few kids who needed to see the ball go through the hoop tonight and they did. It was a total team effort all the way around.”
Cunningham led the Red Devils with 14 points.