Texarkana surges by Wolves, 40- 38
PEARCY — Instead of a season sweep of Texarkana, Lake Hamilton let a conference victory get away Wednesday night.
Forward Darius Williams’ 10 points helped the Razorbacks close with a 15- 7 rush for a 40- 38 win at Wolf Fieldhouse, where the host team, after a 19- 7 run, led 31- 25 with 6: 36 to go.
“We were in it to the end, with a chance to either tie it or win it,” Lake Hamilton coach Scotty Pennington said after the Wolves’ fourth- straight setback. “It should have never gotten to that point, though. We played flat, really flat and lackadaisical for the first half. We were rusty and didn’t shoot the ball very well at all, which is something we had done very well at home every game. Give ( Texarkana) credit, though. They came out and showed us something a little different, going with a 1- 2- 2 defense that they hadn’t shown much.”
Texarkana, avenging a 57- 41 home loss to Lake Hamilton, improved to 7- 13 overall and 2- 6 in 6A- South. The Wolves are 10- 9 and 3- 5.
Senior guard Corey Worley hit his fourth trey of the game and sophomore guard Samuel Scott his third to give Lake
Hamilton its six- point cushion in the fourth quarter. Williams’ three started the game- winning run, which he capped with a free throw at the 18- second mark.
The Wolves had two chances to counter, turning the ball over when going inside to center Jason Burks and Andrew Broadbent’s running jumper glancing off the backboard.
“We were looking for Jason off an initial back screen,” Pennington said. “They had not defended it very well the play before and he got free. It is a last- second play for that situation where we set a back screen, try to go to ( Burks) at the rim, and then screen for the screener for a good shooter going to the corner. They did a good job of switching it, and Andrew was the next option to catch it, attack and try to make a play. … He got a decent look, but you don’t work much on running shots in those situations.”
Williams finished with 16 points. Worley scored 18, 12 from three- point range, Scott added nine and Broadbent seven.
“We turned the ball over ( six times) in the fourth quarter,” Pennington said. “Against a half- court zone, that just cannot happen. That’s just being careless with the ball. We didn’t play very physical inside and got nothing from there scoring wise.”
*** The Lady Wolves took sole possession of fourth place in the conference with a 58- 52 victory, completing a season sweep of Texarkana.
“With six conference games still remaining, it is nice to be in a position where we can control our own destiny,” Lady Wolf coach Blake Condley said. “And, if we win some more games, we can even move up a couple more places. We have to take care of business on the court, though.”
Kylie Frazier, hitting six threes, scored a game- high 23 points for Lake Hamilton ( 12- 8, 5- 3). Murray added nine points and Brandy Scott seven.
“I’m glad that we got the win,” Condley said, “but I came away frustrated. We shot very poorly from the free- throw line. If you count the one- and- ones, I had us at nine for 18. We are not going to win many games shooting 50 percent. Plus, even though we shot really well from the outside, I thought we became too dependent on that.”
Stacey Mansley scored 17 for Texarkana.
* Lake Hamilton’s games at Pine Bluff, postponed Tuesday, will be played Thursday.