Nail-biter Match-up!
No. 4 seed Warriors come close to knocking down No. 1 seed Dierks 46-45; Outlaws survive from Warriors stout performance in first round at regionals WARRIOR HOOPSTERS CAMERON MATTINGLY AND RHETT LEE SURGES OUACHITA IN DOUBLE-FIGURES VS. NO. 1 SEED DIERKS
FORDYCE — In a nail-biter that went down to the wire in the closing seconds ended the season of hoops for the No. 4 seed Ouachita Warriors falling to No. 1 seed Dierks Outlaws 4645 Wednesday in the 2A South Boys Regionals Basketball Tournament hosted in Fordyce at FBT Redbug Arena.
Ouachita Warriors basketball head coach Clayton Ray thought his team fought hard to the end and raised the level of competitive play in a heartbreaking loss to the top-seeded Dierks Outlaws at regionals.
Wednesday’s match-up presented another close battle for the Warriors and Ray has been pleased of the fight by his Warriors’ squad all season long.
“The team was competitive all year and continued to get better,” Ray said. “We had a lot of close games in a tough conference—very proud of my guys this year.”
The Warriors took it to the top-seed Outlaws that came down to a tight match-up for the entire 32 minute contest in their state tournament qualifying game at regionals.
The Warriors only had a four point deficit at halftime 24-20 to Dierks. But coming out of the locker room for the second half, the Warriors won the scoring battle of execution to outplay the No. 1 seed Dierks—outscoring the Outlaws 13-12 in the third quarter and 12-10 in the fourth period. Ouachita outscored the Outlaws 25-22 for the second half—posting double-digit scoring periods for the third and fourth quarters.
After three quarters of action, the Warriors only trailed the Outlaws 36-33 with the momentum shifting towards Ouachita going into the final eight minutes to play. With the season on the line for both squads, the Warriors and Outlaws had an intense fourth quarter showdown—displaying a back and forth duel of competitive hoops on the court.
The Warriors journeyed back into the contest on a run and cut their deficit to a one-point contest—trailing the Outlaws 40-39. Ouachita’s Kaiden Bahr stepped up in the passing lane with a steal in the open court and drove
it across the halftime line to finish strong with the lay-up to give the Warriors the lead 4039 at the 5:00 minute mark.
As time continued to melt off the clock, both units were knotted at 42-42 with 1:38 left to play.
In these crucial minutes, the game would come down to execution in the pressure situation.
The Outlaws struck first and nailed a triple from beyond the arc to take a 45-42 lead with 49.9 seconds left to play. Then, from a Ouachita foul, the Outlaws went to the foul line and split a pair of free-throws to push their lead to a four-point advantage over the Warriors 46-42 with 23.3 seconds remaining in the game.
With the Outlaws creating a little breathing room, the Warriors didn’t give up and found a way to keep themselves alive.
As the closing seconds began to tick off the clock, the Warriors moved the ball across the halftime court line and sparked on their possession as Camron Mattingly swished a massive triple from beyond the arc to bring the Warriors within a one-point of the Outlaws lead—46-45 with 11.9 seconds remaining to play.
Now, the Warriors were forced to foul and send the Outlaws to the charity stripe to regain back possession to give themselves a chance. With 6.3 seconds remaining, finally the Outlaws were fouled and sent to the line in a one-and-one situation. Dierks missed the first free-throw attempt and the Warriors regained possession off the foul shot for the rebound. Now, the Warriors had a chance to extend their season with possession and only 2.5 seconds remaining for their season on the line.
Unfortunately, the Warriors fell short on an inbound pass, which turned over possession back to Dierks—where the Outlaws capitalized and escaped for the onepoint victory.
As a result, the Warriors’ hard fought season came to an end in their 2A South Regional match-up in Fordyce.
For the game, Warriors’ Mattingly led the way with 14 points that included nailing a triple to cut in the closing seconds to score Ouachita’s final points of the season. Rhett Lee followed up with 10 points. Mattingly and Lee finished as the Warrior duo to post in double-figures.
Bahr added nine points, Colton Braswell chipped in eight points and Caden Lee finished with four points. Ouachita officially qualified to make their postseason appearance at regionals by securing a 72-57 victory against Parkers Chapel in the 2A-8 Senior High Boys District Basketball Tournament hosted in Gurdon. The Warriors advanced to the semifinals round but fell short to top-seed Fordyce, earning the No. 4 seed at the 2A South Regional Tournament.
The Warriors finished the season 15-18 overall.