Rough start, bumps in Zebras’ title run
Reality didn’t take long to settle in among Pine Bluff High School’s basketball players that they had won the 5A state championship.
Trusting their own system of attacking the rim to break down defenses and finding fast-break opportunities, the Zebras (25-7) built a dominating run through three state tournament games at the Pine Bluff Convention Center and Thursday night’s finale at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs. Pine Bluff won each playoff game by double-digit margins, a microcosm of which was a 67-51 victory over local favorite Lake Hamilton (27-5).
The Zebras’ success was apparent to a nearly full house in the downtown Hot Springs Convention Center gym. The challenges they endured were not – and the Zebras didn’t specify all of them – but after the game, Coach Billy Dixon and three of his top players shared how handling adversity helped them maintain their successful title hopes.
“We had to start off without having a full team,” Dixon said, referring to early-season injuries to senior center Jordon Harris and junior guard Courtney Crutchfield. “We’ve been faced with an enormous amount of challenges. We have. We’re not the only team that goes through that. You must find a way to persevere and get through, and that’s what these guys did.”
Two nights before the championship game, tragedy struck the city of Pine Bluff when two teenagers, aged 18 and 16, were shot to death while sitting in a vehicle with three others outside an apartment complex on 34th Avenue. The deceased were students in the Pine Bluff School District, one attending Pine Bluff High and the other attending Dollarway High.
“We take it a little bit different because it’s home for us,” Dixon said. “Outside people look at Pine Bluff, and a lot of times they don’t see the good. They only hear of the tragedy. They only hear the bad things that happened. So, it was really important for us all year. This was one time that everybody comes together. Athletics bring everybody together. Everybody can cheer and be happy.”
That, Pine Bluff fans were Thursday night.
Going back to the first part of the season, the Zebras took on a schedule that was no cakewalk and actually started 0-3, losing to 6A programs Little Rock Central, Fort Smith Northside and Conway. They turned it on winning
9 of their next 11 and came within a basket of winning a King Cotton Holiday Classic championship for the first time in program history.
Then came a near-perfect run through 5A-South Conference play.
“The most challenging part of the season was the first half,” said senior guard X’Zaevion Barnett, who scored a game-high 19 points Thursday. “We actually have two parts, the first season when we actually had Jordon gone at the beginning, then we had Crutch gone for a little while. A lot of guys stepped up and played. Deriyon [Graydon is] a sophomore, and the game started to come to him. He stepped up big while both of them were gone, and it showed on down the line.”
As the Zebras arrived in the Spa City for the championship game, Dixon revealed, Crutchfield and Barnett spent about $40 to $50 on medication just to feel well enough to play the game.
“Crutchfield walking in and throwing up all over the place and Barnett with nose strips on trying pull it all together, they struggled tonight physically, but they still came out and to have these guys sitting beside me tonight … all of that means a lot,” Dixon said.
There was no sign of sickness in their play Thursday night.
Crutchfield scored 16 points, making 8 of 12 shots from the field. He earned the 5A tournament’s Most Valuable Player award, receiving the mini-trophy from White Hall School District Superintendent Gary Williams, a member of the Arkansas Activities Association board.
“It would have never happened without the guys beside me and the people in the locker room,” Crutchfield said. “Shout out to all of them. I love them. Inside the gym, where no one knows what’s going on, it’s hard work.”
Pine Bluff made nearly 59% of its shots from the floor (27 of 46) and held Lake Hamilton to 33.3% (18 of 54), just a key ingredient in the winning recipe. The Zebras defeated the Wolves for the third time this season and put to any rest any notion of struggling to beat a team that many times.
“I thought our kids played their hearts out,” Lake Hamilton Coach Scotty Pennington said. “I thought their efforts were tremendous, but it was very apparent the entire game that it was not our night, but it was Pine Bluff’s. I have a lot of respect for Coach Dixon, who does things the right way. I’m excited for his kids and happy for his kids, although our kids are hurting.”