6A-WEST CHAMPS
Wolves use blistering third quarter to dominate Panthers
PEARCY — Entering Saturday’s game a perfect 16-0 at home, Lake Hamilton stretched a four-point halftime lead into an insurmountable advantage as the Wolves defeated Benton, 53-35, to claim the 6A-West conference title Saturday at Lake Hamilton Wolf Arena.
The Panthers (19-10) rallied in the second quarter to pull within 20-16 at the break. Lake Hamilton (27-4) opened the third quarter with 11 unanswered points to take a 31-16 lead at the 3:10 mark.
The Panthers hit a 5-2 run to pull within 12 at 33-21 one minute later. The Wolves did not relax their offensive pressure as Lane Kersey put up seven points to close out the period before Mondo Watkins was fouled at the buzzer, the junior guard making one of his two shots to give Lake Hamilton a 41-21 advantage entering the final frame.
“We’ve been a third-quarter team all year,” said head coach Scotty Pennington. “If we are ahead going into halftime, I feel like, the third quarter we put them away. It seems like we’ve played 31 games now, and it seems like every halftime it has been the same and here we are, right where we need to be.
“We are a third-quarter team, put them away. We told them, ‘Keep guarding, keep guarding, keep guarding,’ and they did. Malique (Hill) hit a big three. Attacked the basket. Mondo played great going to the rim, and Lane (did, too). We got the lead we needed and do a pretty good job of protecting leads when we get
ahead like that.”
Lake Hamilton added four early in the fourth quarter to increase its advantage to 45-21 by the 6:13 mark. The Wolves increased the lead to 50-27 with 3:44 remaining.
“Protecting home court has been something they have prided themselves on all year,” Pennington said. “A few years ago, when we built this place, we were a little concerned that the mistique and the atmosphere from the old gym was going to be lost with the size of all this, and it hasn’t been that way.
“It has turned into something, I think, completely opposite. It’s just the same atmosphere, if not better. The kids love playing here, and it is good for us because when you go to the state tournament, where are you going to play? You’re going to play in places like this. They are used to that.”
Lake Hamilton jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the opening frame, finally letting the Panthers onto the scoreboard at the 2:19 mark to make it 9-2. A pair of free throws by Kersey with 1:07 left put the Wolves ahead 11-2 before the Panthers’ Jai Peters hit a layup to take an 11-4 spread into the second period.
Peters put up three shots early in the second period, Lake Hamilton garnering just one on a free throw by Clyde Hill, as Benton pulled within 14-10 with 5:10 to go. Watkins and Malique Hill added four at the line for the Wolves to stretch to an 18-10 lead, but the Panthers added six unanswered to pull within two by the 13.4 mark. Malique Hill attempted a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but a foul by Connor Croft sent him to the stripe where he made two of three to give Lake Hamilton a 20-16 advantage going into the locker room.
The Wolves shot 41 percent from the field on the night, hitting 13 of 26 from inside the arc while nailing 2 of 10 from distance.
“We built this team on what can be there every night,” Pennington said. “If you build your team on 3-point shooting, some nights it is just not going to fall, so we wanted something consistent and steady, and that has been our defense.
“We pride ourselves on guarding people. We pride ourselves on preparing for people, how go guard them, how to stop them and playing smart when we’re ahead with leads, taking layups. You’re in control; stay in control. We didn’t take a lot of threes. The couple that we did hit were huge threes, but when you’re attacking the basket so hard, those things open up.”
Watkins led all scorers with 18 points with five rebounds, three steals and three assists.
“I thought Mondo Watkins played with a chip on his shoulder tonight,” Pennington said. “When we got the scouting reports from other school’s film, I contacted some other people and I said, ‘What’s your opinion? You’ve seen us both. What do you think?’ Everybody I talked to said they feel like (Benton) has the best player in Jai Peters, but your two through seven are better than theirs, so it’s going to be a good game.
“When I told our kids that, Mondo took real offense to that. I thought Mondo did a great job on the court proving that, he wanted to prove who the better player on the floor was. I give him a lot of credit for that. When we were going through matchups on who was going to guard who, there was no way on earth I could give Peters to anyone else. Mondo wanted him, and I think that showed tonight.”
Kersey added 11 with three boards, Clyde Hill had 10 with four rebounds and an assist and Malique Hill put up 10 with two boards.
Peters paced the Panthers with 13 points on the night with three rebounds, one steal and one assist, and Evan Sims added six with two rebounds.
The Wolves have a bye in the first round of the Class 6A state tournament, facing the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between Little Rock Hall (22-8) and Greenwood (14-12) on Friday.
Girls
SHERIDAN — Lake Hamilton was able to rally from scoring just two points in the opening quarter to take a 33-27 win over Sheridan Saturday afternoon at Oliver Williams Gymnasium.
The Lady Yellowjackets (22-7) allowed just one bucket by Logan Keener in the opening quarter while taking to a 7-2 lead after eight minutes. Sheridan continued to dominate in the second quarter, putting up a pair of 3-pointers among its 12-point second period, but Lake Hamilton (17-13) found its rhythm from the outside, hitting three treys as Sheridan carried a 19-11 lead into the break.
The Lady Wolves took control in the second half, putting up 10 points while giving up just one bucket in the third frame to knot the score at 21-21. Lake Hamilton held Sheridan to just six points in the final eight minutes to secure the win.
Grace Tedder paced the Lady Wolves with nine points, including a pair of
3-pointers. Jenny Peake and Keener added eight each.
Diamond Morris led all scorers with
11 points for Sheridan, and Savannah Howard added five.
“Their leading scorer, the Morris girl, had 31 against Siloam a couple games ago, and we held her to 11,” said head coach Blake Condley. “I was really proud of our defensive effort.”
Lake Hamilton claimed the No. 3 seed going into this week’s Class 6A state tournament in West Memphis. The Lady Wolves will take on Jacksonville (14-16) Thursday at 1 p.m. in the first round of the tournament.