Charleston shooter ends with bang
COVE — It took three full quarters before Charleston found its shooting touch Friday against Jessieville. Better late than never. Matthew Ward scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the final quarter as Charleston held off Jessieville 47-41 in the first round of the Class 3A boys basketball state tournament.
“We did our job defensively, but I knew the ball would fall eventually at some point,” Charleston Coach B.J. Ross said. “Matthew came in here [at halftime] and said, ‘Coach, they’re just not falling.’ But our kids gave the effort on defense, and that’s what kept us in the game.”
Charleston (24-8) shot 18 percent (6 of 34) over the game’s first 24 minutes but made 7 of 9 in the fourth quarter to move into the quarterfinals against Valley Springs or Fordyce at 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Hunter Daley finished with a team-high 18 points and Desani Neal had 16 for Jessieville (22-11), which made only 14 of its 48 shots from the floor.
“Early, it was kind of a grind for both teams,” Jessieville Coach Eddie Lamb said. “Neither team was really just outstanding offensively. I think we were sensing each other out.
“We were kind of mirror images of each other. We wanted to try to stop Ward coming in, and we did a pretty good job on him for the most part. But we had to spread it out later, and kids like that excel when you have to guard him one-on-one.”
Jessieville held Charleston’s leading scorer to five points in the first half. Ward missed his first six shots before nailing an 18-footer with 1:48 left in the second quarter. As a group, the Tigers were just 3 of 18 from the field over the first two quarters and trailed 15-9 at halftime.
The cold shooting continued in the third quarter for both teams, but Charleston managed to score the first eight points of the period to grab its first lead. Jessieville regained the advantage later on a basket from Daley and two free throws from Neal, but the Lions missed their final six shots of the quarter and trailed 24-22 going into the fourth.
Ward opened the final quarter with a short jumper to start the Tigers’ final offensive surge.
The senior either scored or assisted on 22 of the team’s 23 fourth-quarter points, including a nifty over-the-shoulder pass to Hayden Newhart that resulted in a three-point play to give Charleston a 41-33 lead with 1:13 remaining.
MAYFLOWER 61, LAMAR 48
J. P. Perry turned in a game-high 20 points to carry Mayflower (19-10) into the quarterfinals with a 13-point victory over Lamar.
Justin Bailey finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Drew Duncan chipped in 9 points, 6 steals and 5 rebounds for the Eagles, who ran off 14 consecutive points midway through the first quarter to take control.
Daniel McCarley scored 17 points for Lamar, which trailed by as many as 26 in the second half. Blake Kern added 11 points and six rebounds.
TWO RIVERS 80, BENTON HARMONY GROVE 70
Garrot Brimm, Morgan Yates and Logan Jones combined to score 47 of Two Rivers’ 52 second-half points to carry the Gators past Benton Harmony Grove.
Yates finished with 24 points, Jones had 25 and Brimm 17 for Two Rivers (22-8). The Gators shot 84 percent (16 of 19) from the floor in the second half after trailing 32-28 at halftime.
Drake Wilks scored 31 points for Benton Harmony Grove (19-12). Christian Brown and Austin Brown each had 12.