Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Dagger from deep
Barnett’s three spurs Zebras to title
HOT SPRINGS — With six seconds left on the shot clock during a fourth-quarter possession, the Pine Bluff bench started yelling and gesturing to the bright red numbers counting down above the basket.
With four seconds left, Pine Bluff’s X’Zaevion Barnett took one dribble forward and stepped into an attempt well beyond the three-point line and took his shot.
That three-pointer put to bed any last hope for Lake Hamilton on Thursday night in the Class 5A boys state championship game at Bank OZK Arena — a game Pine Bluff won 67-51 in front of 6,500 fans.
Barnett’s shot gave Pine Bluff a 53-34 lead with 5 minutes, 10 seconds remaining. He led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. But it was his shots from deep, making 3-of-4, that rounded out the Zebras’ (25-7) offense.
“X’Zaevion Barnett hitting a 40-footer at the end of the shot clock in the fourth quarter, that’s just kind of a dagger when you’re playing defense that well,” Lake Hamilton Coach Scotty Pennington said. “They’re bigger, faster, probably stronger in every spot than we are. So our skill level and our IQ has got to take us over the top. The physicality of the game I think hurt us in that we weren’t able to do that.”
Barnett tore his anterior cruciate ligament chest-bumping a teammate during a quarterfinal victory over Vilonia in March 2022. He missed the entire spring football season and is unmistakable on the basketball court with a bulky left knee brace. One year later, in his final game, the senior got to close out his career with a win that marked Pine Bluff’s first state championship since 2015 and 14th overall.
“This is the redeeming grace for him to be able to get to where he really wanted to make it happen out there and making it happen here [in the state championship],” said Pine Bluff Coach Billy Dixon. “… I thought that meant a lot for him to score the points and knock that shot down.”
Barnett got some help from fellow senior Jordan Harris, who had 13 points, a game-high 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. He had five of the Zebra’s first seven points as they looked to take advantage of the size mismatch he provided.
“That was the gameplan. They had nobody to match up with us physically inside,” Barnett said.
Pine Bluff outscored Lake Hamilton 40-28 inside. Ten of Harris’ 13 points came inside the three-point arc. Courtney Crutchfield, the game’s most valuable player, had all 16 of his points come near the rim.
Lake Hamilton’s Ty Robinson came up limping after a no-call collision in the second quarter. He returned with less than two minutes before halftime and played the remainder of the contest noticeably hobbled. The junior finished with 17 points, 12 coming in the second half.
“It’s just a lot harder to move and hit shots when you can’t really do as much, when you can’t move and do what you usually do,” Robinson said.
Lake Hamilton shot 33.3% from the field and 18.2% from behind the arc. Pennington had a pretty clear idea of why his squad had such a cold night on offense.
“It was called the Pine Bluff Zebras,” Pennington said. “They got after us ,and they did a great job defensively. They made it the emphasis to guard the three, not give us any open looks and to be physical with us, and they did what they needed to do.”