Bombers hit late run, hold off Rams
Lakeside was unable to find enough runs to get past Mountain Home as the Bombers took a 57-46 win in the first round of the Class 5A state basketball tournament at Trojan Arena.
Both teams relied on runs to get through the game, but the fourth quarter belonged to the Bombers.
“We knew we had our hands full like sides and extremely talented and well coached team,” said Mountain Home head coach Josh Fulcher. “I’ve got the utmost respect for Eddie Lamb and all his teams. You know, we kind of go way, way back, and I’ve always enjoyed watching and playing against and coaching against his teams, but we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We knew it was gonna be a one possession at a time. I felt that we had to do a good job on the boards.”
Caleb Campbell had a steal and bucket with 6:27 left, but his game-tying free throw rimmed out to pull within 35-34 with 6:27 to go, Mountain Home took control with a 10-point run to push out to a 45-34 lead with 4:11 left in the game.
Tyler Frederick was sent to the line after Mountain Home’s Luke Proctor drew a technical foul following Frederick’s foul on his shot. While Proctor missed his opportunity, Frederick made his two count to pull within 4739 with 2:12 to go. Campbell was sent to the line 6 seconds later to cut the spread down to six, but the Bombers did not relent.
Mountain Home closed out the game on a 10-3 run at the line, the only break coming with 55 seconds remaining as Campbell hit a 3-point fader. The Bombers sank 19 of 21 from the line on the night, all but seven made attempts coming in the fourth quarter.
“We talked about at halftime that the team that might could go on a 10-2 run, instead of 3-0 run or 5-0 run, or you know, maybe 10-2, 11-3 because whoever got ahead is gonna be tough for somebody because then you … can bring them out, play a little different, you know, bring them out of defense a little bit differently,” said Lakeside head coach Eddie Lamb. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t us; it was them that got ahead. And then of course, we had to go out and do some things. They made their free throws, and I thought late they hit some offensive rebounding, and they executed well. And they were just tough there late. And then when they did go on their little run, we didn’t score it as well as we should have.”
The Rams jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before a 3-point fader by Wyatt Gilbert gave the Bombers a 6-4 lead. Campbell hit a trey followed by a jumper by Taevon Johnson pushed Lakeside out to a 9-6 edge with 3:50 remaining.
That was the last bucket for the Rams in the first eight minutes as Mountain Home went on a 9-0 run to take a 15-9 lead into the second.
Campbell opened the second quarter with a big 3-pointer from the top
of the key, just 15 seconds in to pull within 3. Mountain Home stretched their lead out to 1912 before Campbell found his rhythm, helping to knot the score with 2:05 left as Johnson sank a pair at the line.
After a pair of free throws from Jake McGehee, Campbell sank one last bucket in the half before Gilbert hit two attempts with 50 seconds remaining for the slight edge at intermission.
The Rams took an early lead in the third before a 3-pointer by Proctor put the Bombers up
26-25 with 1:29 off the clock. Lakeside tried to draw the game in close, but it could only get within 3 going into the final eight minutes.
Regardless of the outcome, Lamb is pleased with the effort shown, and he believes the future is bright for the Rams.
“We’ve got a good group coming back,” he said. “We love our junior class, and Tyler was just a sophomore and we’ve got some ninth grade kids coming up. So we’re excited. I mean, you know, we’re excited to be here this year, and we felt good about this game. Four years ago, when I was fortunate enough to take the job, this is something we wanted to do.”
Mat Jones led the Bombers with 16 points, 15 rebounds and one assist, Gilbert added 13 points, a rebound and a steal, and Dawson Tabor had 8 points, four rebounds and an assist.
“He’s only been with us like two weeks,” Fulcher said of Jones. “He come back from a broken fibula that he suffered in December, late De- cember. And so, he wasn’t doing any basketball stuff until like, you know, two and a half weeks ago, so we’re happy to have him back. He’s still not
100%. When he’s 100%, you look out because that cat can play, and he makes us a lot better. So getting him back has been really key for us, and it’s made everybody better.”
Campbell led the Rams with
31 points, three steals and a rebound, Johnson added 6 points with a steal and a rebound, Seth Poindexter had 5 points and four rebounds and Frederick finished with 4 points, three rebounds and an assist.
The Bombers face Jonesboro Friday at 7 p.m. in the second round.