LH guards dominate in win over WM
SHERIDAN — Lake Hamilton held off a late West Memphis comeback in the Wolves’ 64-54 win in the first round of the Class 5A state basketball tournament at Yellowjacket Arena Wednesday night.
After 5A-South teams struggled on both the girls and boys side of the brackets, No. 2 seed Lake Hamilton joined the top-seeded Pine Bluff Zebras as the only two 5A-South squads to advance to the quarterfinals.
Zac Pennington and Demetrius Sharp combined to power the Wolves (22-6) past the Blue Devils (15-11). Pennington led Lake Hamilton with 23 points, and Sharp scored 21 in an electric night for the duo.
“I thought our two guards, Zac and Dee, played really well,” Lake Hamilton head coach Scotty Pennington said. “We made some shots, and when we make shots, we can be a pretty good basketball team. I thought we did a good job of executing our stuff early on.”
West Memphis led 10-9 at the start of the second quarter, but things started to slip away from the Blue Devils before halftime.
“Got complacent,” West Memphis head coach Irving Clay said. “Got complacent running the offensive then we stopped running the offense. Everybody started to play hero ball, and that’s what happens when you start playing the individual stuff. And we started turning the ball over.”
Zac Pennington started the second quarter with a good pass to Ty Robinson before Robinson finished at the rim and completed a 3-point play for a 12-10 lead.
The scoring slowed down after Robinson’s basket, and Keairras Townsend managed to tie the game with 6:27 to play before halftime. However, Chase Jessup answered with a spin move past defenders to retake the lead, and Zac Pennington juked out a few Blue Devils on his way to the basket.
Easton Hurley closed out the half with a 3-pointer on an assist from Sharp as Lake Hamilton took a 26-18 lead into the third quarter.
“They wanted it badder than we did,” Clay said. “They outhustled us and got to every 5050 ball. That was the difference. They played harder in the first half anyways.”
Lake Hamilton continued to play great defense in the third quarter, forcing West Memphis into three turnovers early. One giveaway led to a Sharp free throw and another led to a Zac Pennington layup in transition.
Scotty Pennington said West Memphis likes to get downhill, and that the Wolves did a good job of staying in front of the Blue Devils.
“They really like to drive to dump to their post players,” he said. “The way we guarded them, we did not help off of their post players. We helped off of their guards and forced them to shoot it. They don’t shoot it that well. They hit some at the end of the game, but the first three quarters you noticed they’re not a great shooting team, and I think that caused them problems.”
Lake Hamilton’s leading scores on the night continued to shine throughout the third quarter. Zac Pennington found Sharp with a great pass, and Sharp scored on the assist while also getting fouled, completing the 3-point play for a 43-25 edge.
The Wolves took a 45-25 lead into the fourth quarter, but West Memphis made a late run in the contest.
“Defensively in the first three quarters we were suffocating,” Scotty Pennington said. “They really played good defense. We kept them in front. We settled in and blocked out. The fourth quarter is when things went wrong. We just got tired. We stopped guarding and kind of relaxed a little bit with the lead. You cannot do that. This is the state tournament. People are not going to lay down.”
Johnny Washington and Davion Ivy got things rolling for the Blue Devils with a couple of early baskets in the paint, and Washington knocked down a 3-pointer to bring West Memphis within 13 points. With under 1:30 to play, Townsend added two free throws to bring West Memphis within eight points.
Despite the late push, Robinson and Zac Pennington gave the Wolves some breathing room at the free throw line.
West Memphis turned the ball over with 43.7 seconds left in the contest, and Lake Hamilton’s star duo connected again to truly put the game out of reach at 62-49.
Townsend led West Memphis with 13 points, and Washington and Kobe Williams scored 10 points apiece for the Blue Devils.
“Considering what we came with and how late we got into this and started, I think it was an excellent season,” Clay said. “Kids don’t have anything to have their head down about. We made a good run there. Just couldn’t finish it.”
West Memphis went into Wednesday night’s contest as
the No. 3 seed from the challenging 5A-East, but many of the Blue Devils were inexperienced in terms of the state tournament.
“A lot of these kids, it’s their first shot as far as playing in the state tournament,” Clay said. “They’ve done a heck of a job all season long, but that experience catches up with you, and that was part of it tonight. When you have kids that match up with just as quick as you are and now they can go around you, you kind of panic a little bit, and it’s kind of like a deer in headlights.”
With the win over West Memphis, Lake Hamilton will play the No. 1 seed from the 5A-Central, Little Rock Parkview, this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with a trip to the semifinals on the line.
Parkview (24-3) blew out Greenwood 72-29 in the first round of the tournament, and the Patriots beat Lake Hamilton 75-65 in last year’s quarterfinal matchup between the two teams.
“It’s just survive and advance,” Scotty Pennington said. “We know all about Parkview. We played them last year. Our kids know their kids. Some of our guys play AAU with some of their guys. They’re a great team. They’re well coached. They’ve got a lot of talent — Division I players walking everywhere. But we won’t be intimidated, and our kids believe they can win the game.”