Pine Bluff coach cites championship program for success
The 2023-24 Arkansas high school basketball season ended the same way as the 2022-23 season: with Pine Bluff on top.
On March 9, 2023, the Pine Bluff Zebras defeated the Lake Hamilton Wolves 67-51 to claim the Class 5A state championship in Hot Springs. Pine Bluff brought back just 33 of those 67 points for the following season with the loss of players such as Jordon Harris and X’Zaevion Barnett, but the goal remained the same — win.
Pine Bluff Coach Billy Dixon said winning back-toback state championships comes from having a championship program, not any one or two players.
“When you have a great program, guys like Braylen [Hall] that came in, and his junior high coach said that he was too slow to play for me, and you see what has happened from him,” Dixon said. “Deriyon [Graydon], his story is very interesting when he came over and started with us, and what that was like. … No one would truly believe what that process was like, but it’s not about that one person, that one whatever.”
The Zebras began their championship defense in Forrest City in the Rumble on the Ridge the same weekend the Pine Bluff football team wrapped up its 2023 season with a semifinal loss to Shiloh Christian. Despite not having football players such as Courtney Crutchfield and Austyn Dendy, the Zebras went 2-1, defeating Memphis Mitchell and Memphis Central.
Pine Bluff then returned home for its first home game, a rematch of the state championship. The Zebras avenged their only conference loss from the season prior by knocking off Lake Hamilton 65-50, beginning 5A-South play 1-0.
From there, the Zebras won five of their next six games leading into the King Cotton Holiday Classic, including a 75-40 win against crosstown rival Watson Chapel. The Zebras knocked off Duncanville (Texas) and St. Frances (Baltimore), losing only to eventual tournament champion Gonzaga College Prep (Washington, D.C.).
But as the Zebras took the court in front of huge crowds at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, few may have realized the biggest threat to their goal of repeating as state champs was also spending the week in Pine Bluff.
Benton quietly went 1-2 at King Cotton with a win against Silsbee (Texas), but the Panthers had brought an impressive record into the tournament, having only lost to Class 6A foes Springdale Har-Ber and Bryant.
A week into 2024, the Panthers made their first statement: a 66-57 road win against the Zebras.
Three days later, Benton went to Lake Hamilton and prevailed 71-66, setting up a 16-0 conference season which gave the Panthers the 5A-South championship.
The loss to Benton would be Pine Bluff’s only home loss, but the Zebras’ conference title hopes were taken out after losing at Lake Hamilton, then at Benton. Nevertheless, Pine Bluff won its final three regular season games and entered the 5A state tournament as the No. 3 seed from the 5A-South.
The Zebras had gone 15-1 in conference play the year prior but fell to 13-3 this year. That didn’t stop them, however, as they knocked off Van Buren and Jacksonville to reach a state semifinal against their old foe, Lake Hamilton.
An incredible game which saw Lake Hamilton’s Ty Robinson score 49 points nearly ended the Zebras’ season, but Crutchfield beat the overtime buzzer with a deep 3-pointer. Pine Bluff went on to win 85-82 in double overtime to return to Hot Springs.
Meanwhile, Benton cruised past Mountain Home, Maumelle and Little Rock Parkview to give itself a shot at its first state championship.
During the second quarter of the March 8 championship game at Bank OZK Arena, the Panthers seemed to be headed for a third win of the season against the Zebras. Benton led 37-23 with less than a minute remaining in the first half.
However, the Zebras finished the half on a 9-0 run. Pine Bluff trailed 54-52 after the third quarter but outscored the Panthers 169 in the fourth to win their 15th state championship and second straight.
After the game, Crutchfield laughed while declaring the PBHS class of 2024 to be the best to come through the school, but then got serious for a moment while talking about his classmates.
“Besides the basketball and with the classification that I’m in, I can say that we all be at school,” Crutchfield said. “We all family around there, so I can say that I’ve enjoyed my four years throughout Pine Bluff High school district. I’ll always be a Zebra.”
Crutchfield was named 5A state tournament MVP, while Graydon and Hall were named to the all-tournament team. Graydon was also named 5A all-state.
The Zebras lost some talented players from that 2023 championship team but found a way to repeat. In 2025, it will be an even bigger challenge with only one starter, Graydon, returning from a senior-heavy class.
Hall said this group of seniors is close, a group which includes himself, Crutchfield, Dendy, JaiKori Phillips, Kaden Higgins, Omar Covington, Randy Emerson Jr., Jamaal Hickman, Taureen Sprinkle and Antoino Madison.
“The class of ’24, we created a brotherhood at a young age,” Hall said. “We been started since like, pre-K, kindergarten. We brothers, so, they got my back. I got theirs.”