High school hoops
BOYS MAUMELLE 77, SYLVAN HILLS 61
Everything went according to plan Friday night for Maumelle Coach Michael Shook — the end result being a 77-61 victory over 5A-Central rival Sylvan Hills at the Hornets’ Nest.
It just took a while for the plan to take hold.
“I told them, ‘I normally wouldn’t do this, but I’m going to put the pressure on you,’ ” Shook said of his pregame talk. “If you want any chance at a conference championship or even second place in the conference, you have to win tonight.
“If you don’t, it’s over with. The best you can do is third.”
The Hornets responded with stage fright on their home court.
Maumelle started the game with eight consecutive turnovers and committed three fouls in the first 3:39, a display so ragged that Shook took out his starting five and brought in five new players with the Hornets trailing 5-0.
“I said, ‘You know I love you and you know you’re going to play, but we didn’t start the game off the way we wanted to,’ ” Shook said. “That’s not the way a team that is trying to compete for a championship plays.”
The Hornets made the first basket they attempted, a three-pointer by Tre Flowers, with 4:31 to play in the first quarter.
Flowers, a senior guard, ended as the Hornets’ leading scorer with 18 points. It was his eight first-quarter points, along with three from Carl Daughtery, that kept Maumelle from facing a much larger deficit.
“Maybe that was my fault for putting the pressure on them,” Shook said.
Sylvan Hills (17-5, 8-2) led 13-11 after the first eight minutes, but Maumelle’s jitters were gone. The Hornets buzzed through the second quarter, outscoring Sylvan Hills 25-9 to take a 36-22 halftime lead.
Sylvan Hills made 5 baskets and hit 12 of 17 free throws in the first half.
“Sometimes teams take advantage of opportunities,” Sylvan Hills Coach Kevin Davis said, “and I just thought we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities tonight.”
Sophomore guard Nick Smith did his part, finishing as the game’s leading scorer with 25 points for the Bears. DeShaun Fowlkes scored 14, but big men Danny Cartwright and Corey Washington fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Maumelle dominated the inside with 6-8 Mason Mathews, 6-6 Dreshaun Doyne and 6-3 junior Darvis Rasberry carrying much of the load.
“I didn’t feel like we had five guys on the defensive glass,” Davis said. “And you can’t do that.”
Maumelle led by as many as 18 in the third quarter and was still ahead 64-50 after a dunk by Doyne with 2:14 to play brought the crowd to its feet.
Sylvan Hills struck back behind Smith and Fowlkes, cutting Maumelle’s lead to 66-58 in less than a minute, but the Hornets put the game away at the free-throw line.
“We came out with a purpose,” Shook said of the Hornets, who are now tied for second with Sylvan Hills, two games behind Jacksonville.
Purpose was not the only thing Maumelle came out with as the Hornets employed a zone defense.
“We started the game in man, and it was foul, foul, foul,” Shook said.
It was also turnover, turnover, turnover.
“But you know what, they came back and responded,” he said. “They realized, let’s just settle down and play ball. Do what we do. We did that.”
GIRLS
SYLVAN HILLS 60, MAUMELLE 42
Daniya Cartwright scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half as the Lady Bears built a 29-18 halftime lead en route to a victory over the Lady Hornets.
Jianna Morris also scored 14 for Sylvan Hills (18-5, 9-1), and Jada Williams had 10.
Kennedi Borkins led Maumelle (8-16, 4-6) with 10 points.