Little Rock Hall claims Coca-Cola Classic title

LITTLE ROCK HALL 49, BRYANT 42

FORT SMITH — It was a slow start to the game for Little Rock Hall junior Greg Johnson, but he more than made up for the slow start after that Saturday at the Stubblefield Center.

Johnson had just two points in the first half but helped lead the way after that finishing with 17 in a 4942 victory against Bryant in the championship game of the Coca-Cola Classic.

Johnson, who was named the MVP of the tournament, started the second half with a dunk to help spark the Hall offense.

“We just had to get him going with telling our guards to get him touches,” Hall coach Jon Coleman said. “I think emotionally he had a big game last night and maybe came out a little sluggish. But once he got the dunk, he got it going.”

Bryant was able to take a 22-18 lead heading into the break by finding good shots in the first quarter. The Hornets then used their defense to limit the Warriors on offense when shots weren’t falling after that in the second quarter.

Hall (13-2) was able to turn the momentum in the third quarter by forcing eight turnovers that helped spark a 12-0 run to close out the period. That allowed the Warriors to take a 34-30 lead heading into the final quarter.

“They really mix it up on defense,” Bryant coach Mike Abrahamson said. “I thought the difference was their run-and-jump press. They did that really well. It was one of those things were we made some mistakes in that situation.”

Bryant (9-4) was able get back into the game by cutting the lead to 41-39 late in the fourth quarter with a basket from senior Deron Canada. But the Hornets couldn’t get any closer after that.

“We came back at them there in the fourth quarter and made a run at them,” Abrahamson said. “We handled their press a lot better. But they were able to take advantage of that in the third quarter and that was the difference.”

Hall outscored Bryant 8-3 down the stretch and got a big dunk from Ke’Von Cooper to close out the game strong.

“One thing we said is that was probably as bad as we could have played the first half,” Coleman said. “So we felt good just being down a couple possessions. We knew we were in good shape. We knew we would play well after the break.”

Bryant was led by Canada, who finished with a gamehigh 18 point. Khalen Robinson also added 15 before fouling out for the Hornets.

Hall captured its first Coca-Cola Classic tournament championship since 2011 with the victory, which has Coleman excited for his team for the rest of the season. “It feels good to win it again,” Coleman said. “This usually tells us where we are at. This shows us the potential of our team moving forward. This was a good tournament for us.”

The Hornets were able to jump out to a 14-9 lead after the first quarter making six of 10 shots from the field. Bryant was limited to eight second-quarter points, but Hall had eight turnovers in the period.

The Warriors were able to find high-percentage shots, making seven of 12 in the first half, but they had 12 turnovers in the initial two quarters.

“Last night we played a really emotional basketball game,” Coleman said. “We didn’t want to come out flat. We wanted to just get into the flow of the game and make adjustments after that.”