Trojans advance to fourth straight 5A semifinals
MAUMELLE — Despite a lackluster offensive performance, the Hot Springs Trojans were able to use their powerful defense to advance to the semifinals of the Class 5A state basketball tournament for the fourth straight year after defeating Blytheville, 40-32, Thursday at Maumelle High School.
“They are growing; they’re growing before my eyes,” said Hot Springs head coach Rodney Echols of his team. “That’s the beauty of coaching. That’s the beauty of being around these guys. Nobody gave these guys a chance. I said, ‘Give them a chance.’
“They’re inexperienced; they’re young. We replaced five starters. The last two years, we’ve replaced 17 kids out of this program. You take nine sophomores and three juniors and a freshman; here we are in the semis for the fourth straight year. You can’t ask any more from them.”
It may have taken 2:25 to finally get points on the board, but after Eddie Miles hit a twopoint basket on the eighth trip down the court, the Trojans (24-11) never trailed the Chickasaws
(17-13).
Blytheville’s Winston Peace responded with a bucket of his own to knot to score with 5:09 left in the first period, but Santiair Thomas and Miles combined to put the Trojans up 7-2 at the
3:15 mark.
The Trojans stretched the lead back out to five points before a buzzer-beater by Michael Caruthers pulled the Chickasaws within 9-6 entering the second period.
Blytheville cut its deficit to one, 9-8, just 14 seconds into the second quarter, but the Trojans rolled off six unanswered points to take a 15-8 lead with 6:13 remaining. Hot Springs stretched their lead out to nine twice before the Chickasaws closed out the period making three of four free throws, leaving the Trojans to take a 20-14 lead into the locker room.
Blytheville came out hot in the second half, using a 7-2 run to pull within 22-21 at the 5:22 mark of the third frame, but both teams went cold for nearly two minutes before the Trojans cruised to a 28-21 lead with 1:15 to go.
Peace made another bucket for the Chickasaws with 49 seconds to go to make it 28-23 to close out the period.
Blytheville pulled within 30-28 by the 5:03 mark in the fourth before the Trojans moved to an eight-point lead with 40 seconds to go. The Chickasaws cut within six twice before Thomas was fouled with 20 seconds remaining, making both shots to set the final spread.
“Defensively, to hold an athletic team like Blytheville to 32 points, 14 at the half, we want to bear down defensively,” Echols said. “Defense wins championships. These guys have bought into that, and they have given us everything they can. We held their best player to two points, their second-best player maybe had seven.
“When we are defending like that, we can beat anybody. We struggled offensively, but we rolled our defense back. ‘Mello (Cason) stepped up big for us tonight. He took probably five charges. He’s been our defensive leader all year long.”
Thomas paced Hot Springs with 14 points and eight rebounds as the only Trojan in double-figures. Miles added nine while J.J. Walker put up eight with three steals, two boards and two assists.
Peace earned a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead Blytheville. Treay Jamison added nine with two rebounds, two assists and a steal, and Caruthers added five points with five boards and two steals.
The Trojans held Blytheville to just 25 percent from the field on the night. Blytheville hit 10 of 33, 30 percent, from the field while sinking just one of their 11 attempts from outside the arc for nine percent. The Chickasaws outrebounded Hot Springs, 27-22, but the Trojans won the turnover battle, giving up the ball 17 times to Blytheville’s 23.
Hot Springs hit 14 of 31, 45 percent, inside the arc, while going 38 percent from the field. The Trojans hit 9 of 15, 60 percent, from the charity stripe.
The Trojans will face Little Rock Parkview (23-8) at 1:30 p.m. today in the semifinals. Parkview advanced from the quarterfinal round with a 49-30 win over Harrison (26-5).