Leopards’ Allen with C. Martin, Culp and Lock post double-figures in heartbreaking loss to rivals’ Arkadelphia in blockbuster overtime showdown, 72-68
ARKADELPHIA — To continue another top-notch rivalry showdown on the hardwood, the hometown Malvern Leopards traveled to familiar territory in Clark County— A-Town Tuesday and faced their longtime arch rivals’ Arkadelphia “Fighting” Badgers in a blockbuster senior high boys basketball matchup at Arkadelphia High School Gymnasium.
Despite the COVID-19 guidelines, the Leopards fans supported their hometown hoopsters to witness a classic basketball contest against a talented Arkadelphia squad. The hype and heated rivalry had both small town rival fans on the edge of their seats that produced an extra period of competition.
Unfortunately, deja vu struck the Leopards again and Arkadelphia prevailed against Malvern, 72-68 in overtime. At the end of regulation, Malvern and Arkadelphia were tied 59-59. It was the overtime period that made the difference as the
Badgers managed to outscore the Leopards 13-9—resulting in the A-town hoopsters to secure the four-point victory to take game 1 of their two-game season meetings in 4A-7 Conference play.
The Leopards provided a hard fought effort that had four Leopards post in double-figures to lead the scoring department. Senior and veteran leader Braxton Allen produced the overall top performance to lead all scorers with a productive 18 points and drained two triples from downtown beyond the arc. Following Allen’s performance with the hard hustle play of Carter Martin and DJ Culp both dropping 13 points apiece on the scoreboard and Jacoby Lock finishing with 11 points to round out the Leopard “Fantastic Four” in double-digits. Division-I standout athlete Cedric “Ced” Simmons contributed eight points and Kaleb Bright added five points for Malvern.
Veteran and commander-in-chief of the hardwood Malvern Leopards basketball head coach Jess Martin anticipated this game to be tough, close and competitive. Due to the history of Malvern’s rivalry with Arkadelphia, Martin knew the little things fundamentally would have to be executed in big battles of these caliber contests. With several lead changes throughout the game, Martin thought free-throws the Badgers made down the stretch propelled Arkadelphia in victory. Martin also felt a few missed shots at the charity stripe from the Leopards affected the outcome that may have gone in favor of the hometown Leopards to secure victory.
“It’s always a heated game with Arkadelphia no matter what the records are. I thought we played really well and competed hard. The kids really laid it on the line,” Martin said.
He mentioned Malvern held an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, but several turnovers hurt the Leopards in the final quarter. During overtime, the Leopards made trips to the foul line but fell short to connect and that haunted Malvern’s advantage to take
command for the lead.
“I felt like if we made our
free-throws and didn’t turn
over the ball we would have won the game—but Arkadelphia made shots in the end,” Martin said.
The Leopards are young this season and competing in big games of this magnitude is where Malvern will have to progress—but Martin knows its productive experience that can help later during the season.
Martin feels at crucial and critical times that Leopards will need to play smarter and make better decisions in their execution. He mentioned Malvern needs to take better care of the ball in order to finish strong to close out ball games.
But, overall, despite the circumstances, Martin believes his Leopards are playing good and appreciates their work ethic.
“I’m proud of our kids’ effort and their good energy last night. I feel like we are progressing and hopefully we can
regroup and be playing our best ball at the end of the year,” Martin said.
The Leopards are scheduled to return home tonight and host Mena for conference play at the Leopard Center.
GAME NOTES:
In the first half, Malvern held a 30-28 lead against Arkadelphia at the break. In the second half, Arkadelphia outscored the Leopards 3129—but both teams provided double-digit scoring in all four quarters at the end of regulation during the 32 minutes of play.