Zebras advance to state title game
SEARCY — With seconds left on the clock in overtime, some of the players on Pine Bluff High School’s bench thought their season was over.
“Guys were taking their shirts out, this, that,” Coach Billy Dixon said. “I’m like, ‘2.5 seconds. Guys, anything can happen. You can’t stop. Anything can happen.’ I just kept saying, ‘Listen, if you play hard enough, anything can happen.’ It wasn’t what we wanted. It wasn’t what we drew up, but the ball went in, and that’s all that matters.”
Senior Courtney Crutchfield beat the overtime buzzer with a running 3-point shot to send Saturday’s state semifinal to double overtime, after which the Zebras defeated Lake Hamilton 85-82 to clinch a date against Benton in Friday’s Class 5A state championship game. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 1:45 p.m at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs.
Pine Bluff (23-6) called a timeout with 2.5 seconds remaining in the first overtime with Lake Hamilton senior Jerome Johnson in the middle of two free throws. He made both, giving the Wolves a 73-70 lead.
Crutchfield took the ball down the right sideline and got the ball out of his hands with 0.2 showing on the clock. His 3-pointer went in and saved Pine Bluff’s season.
Crutchfield said he had no doubt he could make it.
“When the ball touched my hand, I just knew the game wasn’t over,” Crutchfield said. “I had major confidence. I said I was going to shoot the shot and I was going to make it, and that’s what happened.”
The officials deemed the Zebras’ celebration excessive and called a technical foul, which allowed Lake Hamilton (26-7) to begin the second overtime ahead 74-73 after a free throw.
The teams traded the lead throughout the second overtime as they had in the first. In the end, Pine Bluff senior Braylen Hall went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 10 seconds, and the Wolves couldn’t replicate Crutchfield’s heroics.
Hall said he stepped to the line thinking about nothing more than making those shots.
“I work on them every day, after every game,” Hall said. “It was my time to show I can make free throws.”
Lake Hamilton’s loss came despite a heroic playoff showing from senior Ty Robinson. He finished with 49 points after scoring 38 in regulation.
Pine Bluff’s largest lead came early in the third quarter, 41-27. Robinson scored 16 of Lake Hamilton’s next 18 points, leading the Wolves to a dramatic comeback. They took a 47-45 lead into the fourth quarter after outscoring the Zebras 23-9 in the third.
Dixon said during a timeout in the third quarter, he told his team Robinson was going to try and take the game if he could.
“He tried to really will his team to win and take the ball game,” Dixon said. “Seriously, we didn’t have anybody that could stop him. It’s obvious, he
got 49 points. We didn’t have anybody that could stop him. He was in one of those zones as a scorer, just as a baller that it didn’t matter. We went to the zone at the end. … The key was just kind of keep him out there. If he shoot it and he make it, we have just to live with it.”
After a hard-fought state semifinal game, both teams came together for prayer around the center court logo. Dixon said Pine Bluff and Lake Hamilton have a
lot of respect for one another, and that moment shows the character both teams possess.
“Not every team that we play, when we hug each other at the end of the game, and guys saying ‘I love you, Coach,’ you know those kids really mean it because of the relationships that we’ve built over the years,” Dixon said. “Battled, and battled with great sportsmanship. You see guys knocking guys down and still helping guys up. We respect the fact that guys put a spiritual moment in what we do and [are] grateful that they would allow us to be a part of that.”