Patriots hold steady late, down Wolves,
Lake Hamilton head coach Scotty Pennington did not mince words Friday afternoon.
“Parkview is the best team in Arkansas,” Pennington said. “Put that down.”
The Wolves (16-9) never let the game get out of control, but the Patriots (14-3) maintained control late to take a 75-65 win and advance to Monday’s Class 5A state basketball semifinal at Trojan Arena.
With the score knotted at 40 with 3:13 left in the third quarter, Lake Hamilton stuck with their zone defense that had kept them within no more than 13 points all game as the Patriots closed out the quarter on an 8-2 run.
“We knew this was gonna be similar to a home game for them considering that they’re here,” Parkview head coach Scotty Thurman said. “I think the fans kind of got involved, did a great job of trying to spearhead their team. My guys just stayed focused down to the end, and we’re able to knock down free throws that we need to seal the deal. We didn’t play particularly well. But in this point of the year, you’re not worried about playing well; it’s just survive and advance, and I’m glad we were able to do that.”
Parkview pressed out to as much as a 10-point lead with 5:17 left in the game, but a 6-0 spurt by the Wolves cut the spread back down to 57-53 at the 3:58 mark. The Patriots hit an 8-0 run to stretch to a 12-point lead on a dunk by Cameron Wallace with 1:28 to go.
“We decided to go man to man with about two and a half minutes left because Scotty was fixing to hold the ball,”
Pennington said. “He was pulling it out, and so we had to do that. At that point, it was going to be really tough … unless they just missed a lot of free throws.”
The offense moved to the perimeter to try to hack away at the deficit as Ty Robinson hit a 3-pointer with 1:20 remaining as Thurman called a timeout. Immediately out of the break, Wallace was fouled, hitting his two shots.
Zac Pennington drove the ball down, hitting a 3-pointer before stealing the inbounds pass and firing off an off-balance attempt to trim the spread down to 67-62 with a minute to go. Two more Wolves hit treys — Cade Robinson and Elijah Smith, but the Patriots did their duty at the line — going 9 for 10 in the fourth quarter — to secure the win.
After taking a 3-2 lead with 1:27 off the clock, the Wolves looked as if they were still tired from their come-from-behind overtime win Wednesday as Parkview hit a 9-0 spurt to take an 11-3 lead halfway through the quarter. Lake Hamilton made a run late to pull within 18-13 by the end of the frame.
The Patriots carried their early momentum into the second, Jeff Kamanga hitting the first two shots to take a 22-13 lead before the lid snapped closed on both baskets as the only points came from the line before Pennington hit a 25-foot
trey to end the 4:25 field goal drought and pull within 28-18.
Parkview held off a charge by the Wolves to take a 36-26 lead into the break.
Momentum shifted towards the Wolves early as Lake Hamilton opened the second half on a 14-4 run to knot the score at 40.
“People forget, this is still a young ballclub, so to speak,” Thurman said. “We’ve got two seniors, but some of these guys have never really been in a situation where they had to lead a team. So I think some of that experience, you know, we’re still trying to figure those things out. But they’ve been growing up all year, and this is just another moment to have to try to build off of.”
Wallace led all scorers with 30 points, seven rebounds and an assist, Kamanga added 12 points, two rebounds, a block and an assist, and Nate Coley had 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Pennington led the Wolves with 24 points, two assists and a rebound, Ty Robinson had 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block, and Elijah Smith had 11 points with an assist. KJ McDaniel added 10 points with two rebounds and an assist, Cade Robinson had six points and a block, and Chase Jessup rounded out the scoring with 2 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
The Patriots will face Jonesboro at 1 p.m. Monday in the semifinals.
MARION (G) 42, RUSSELLVILLE 29
Marion (12-15) came out
strong in the second half to advance to Monday’s semifinal round of the Class 5A state tournament at Trojan Arena.
Russellville (19-11) took an 11-8 lead in the first quarter while holding the Lady Patriots to 2 in the second while stretching to an 18-10 halftime lead. Marion turned the game around in the third, outscoring the Lady Cyclones 12-5 to pull within 2322 going into the final eight minutes. The Lady Patriots hit 8 of 10 at the free throw line in the fourth to help secure the win.
Daedriana Coil led Marion with 18 points. Jaidyn Koerdt led Russellville with 11.
The Lady Patriots will face Jonesboro Monday at 10 a.m. in the semifinals.
JONESBORO (G) 67, GREENWOOD 60
Ereauna Hardaway put up 25 points to lead the Lady Hurricanes (21-6) past the Lady Bulldogs (23-5) in the Class 5A state tournament Friday afternoon at Trojan Arena.
Jonesboro took a 17-14 lead in the first eight minutes, stretching to a 36-30 lead by halftime. The Lady Hurricanes outscored Greenwood 31-30 in the second half to secure the win.
Lakiya Scott had 17 points for Jonesboro, and Destiney Thomas had 10. Kinley Fisher led Greenwood with 25 points, Anna Trusty added 16, and Mady Cartwright finished with 10.
JONESBORO (B) 55, MOUNTAIN HOME 37
The Bombers (11-14) could not find a rhythm after taking
an early lead as the Hurricanes (22-3) held Mountain Home to single-digit scoring in each of the final three quarters to advance to Monday’s semifinal against Parkview.
Mountain Home took a 1211 lead in the first quarter, but Jonesboro pushed out to a 25-20 lead by intermission. The Hurricanes outscored the Bombers 30-17 in the second half.
Kavon Pointer led the Hurricanes with 14 points, Isaac Harrell added 12, and Amarion Wilson had 11. Mat Jones led the Bombers with 14 points, and Wyatt Gilbert added 12.