Pinion rallies Morrilton past Rogers Heritage
ROGERS — Arkansas commitment Joseph Pinion didn’t get off to a great start, but the 6-6 junior finished well to help Morrilton earn a 53-48 season-opening road victory over Rogers Heritage on Tuesday night.
Pinion scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, and drilled the go-ahead three-pointer late to give the Devil Dogs the lead for good.
Morrilton Coach Keith Zackery said his team tightened up its defense in the second half and started looking more specifically for Pinion in the final two quarters.
“We tried to play early within the flow of the team, but we know when it comes money time he’s gonna have the ball,” Zackery said. “He came through for us, hit some big shots and got some big rebounds for us. He played well in the second half.”
Pinion, who missed the last eight games of last season because of a left knee injury and was wearing a brace, came up with big plays. But Morrilton’s defense shut down Heritage late to earn the victory.
The Devil Dogs held Heritage without a field goal over the final 4:31, and just one point in more than three minutes when they went from two points down to four points up. Heritage also struggled from the free-throw line during that stretch, making just 1 of 4 and missing two front ends of oneand-ones.
Pinion’s three-pointer on a step-out play gave Morrilton the lead for good, 48-45, with 2:23 left in the fourth quarter.
Heritage Coach Tom Olsen thought his team did a good job defensively on Pinion in the first half, but the second half was a different story.
“He had a great third quarter, 10 in the quarter, I think,” Olsen said. “For the most part, I thought we kinda held him down a little bit. We kinda broke down and lost him, which is a credit to Coach Zackery. They did some nice things execution-wise.
“Give them credit, they made some plays down late. I thought defensively they took us out of some things we like to do with a little pressure.
We’ve gotta execute a little better and play with a little more fierceness.”
Brock Hendrix added 11 for Morrilton.
Micah Hill, a 6-3 junior, led Heritage with 15. His last basket came with 4:31 left in the fourth quarter and gave Heritage a 45-43 lead. Kyle Ingram also added 10.
Heritage took its biggest lead of the game at 41-34 on a driving layup by Kirees Sampson, but Pinion hit a three-pointer late in the quarter to trim the lead to four.
He then opened the fourth quarter with a three-point play. Pinion also chased down a loose ball and fired a long outlet pass, which resulted in a layup and a 42-41 Morrilton lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter.