Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LR CENTRAL, NLR carry long and lasting rivalry into today’s Class 6A boys final.
Little Rock Central Coach Brian Ross was catching up on some reading before practice Tuesday when he came across a score line from an old article that piqued his interest.
Little Rock Central 97, North Little Rock 52.
“I just so happened to be looking at the newspaper,” said a grinning Ross, whose Tigers will defend their Class 6A state title in Hot Springs today against North Little Rock. “Not that I was looking for anything in particular from that day.”
The day in question was March 13, 1999, one that Central supporters will never forget. North Little Rock fans probably prefer to bury that date deep in their memory banks.
The two teams played for what was then the Class 5A state championship at the Pine Bluff Convention Center in front of a crowd of 8,316 — the sixth largest to ever witness a high school boys final in state history.
There was a great deal of hype surrounding the game.
Central went in 28-3, ranked No. 1 and loaded with Division I players such as Jarrett Hart, who played at both the University of Oklahoma and Kansas State University, and Mark Green, who put together a noteworthy career at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. And then there was Joe Johnson, a 6-7 guard who became an All-American at the University of Arkansas before becoming a seven-time All-Star during 18 seasons in the NBA.
The Charging Wildcats were 27-3, ranked No. 2 and had their own future collegians in Justin Stuckey (UALR) and the late K.J. Lawrence (Louisiana-Lafayette).
And North Little Rock had beaten Central 83-73 a little more than a month earlier to avenge a 71-58 loss to the Tigers weeks prior.
“But the thing about the game we won against them at home was that Joe was sick,” said North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice, who was a middle school coach in the district at the time. “He never even left the dressing room.”
Johnson emerged for the rubber match, and Central left little doubt about who was the better team. The Tigers led 29-4 after the first quarter, but Rice said it didn’t take an eight-minute period for anyone in attendance to know who was going to win that game.
“The suspense lasted until after the opening tip,” he said. “They got a steal after the jump, went down the court and dunked the fire out of the ball. They were good, had five D-I guys, actually more than that. That game was over quick.”
Johnson won’t be walking through the Bank OZK Arena doors to play today at 1 p.m. today, but the Tigers do have top-shelf talent who’ll try to take down a North Little Rock team that’s dominated the state’s largest classification for the past eight years.
Central (23-4), ranked No. 1 in the preseason, had lost nine games in a row to North Little Rock (20-2) until winning both regular-season meetings this year. Sophomore guard Bryson Warren, who’s been offered scholarships by such schools as Arkansas, Auburn, Georgetown and St. John’s, averaged 29 points against the Charging Wildcats, including 30 in a 7567 victory Feb. 2.
Senior guards Corey Camper and Hudson Likens, and junior guard Cody Robinson have all shouldered scoring loads at different points of the season. The play of freshman forward Annor Boateng has attracted attention from Power 5 schools, and senior forward Kiyler Hudson has made an abundance of plays.
“I think the big thing that we’ve given teams problems with is the number of really good offensive players we can put out there on the floor,” Ross said. “It just makes it hard for them to help off. In the two games we’ve played against [North Little Rock], in one of them we hit 14 threes and in the other, we got to the rim and scored 36 points in the paint.”
The Charging Wildcats, who’ve won four state titles (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018) since 2013 and were ranked No. 2 in the preseason, haven’t had problems scoring. Senior guards D.J. Smith and Tracey Steele form one of the better backcourts in the state, and junior center Kel’el Ware has been a force on both ends of the floor. He has offers from Florida, Missouri and Kansas State just to name a few.
Despite the success, Rice says team consistency has been an issue.
“We have those games where we just don’t play with the type of effort, the type of togetherness we need to,” he said. “That affects everything you do. We have those lulls, even in games we’ve won.”
The rivalry adds that much more fire to a game with so much on the line already. And neither is expecting the same 45-point spread that unfolded 22 years ago.
“Anytime you’re playing in the state title game, it’s a big deal,” Ross said. “But to get to do it with Central vs. North Little Rock, we know it’s going to be special.”