FORT SMITH — Another Coca-Cola Classic, another championship for Little Rock Hall.
David Rivers scored 15 points as Hall defended its tournament title with a 47-40 victory over Subiaco Academy on Wednesday at the Stubblefield Center on the Arkansas-Fort Smith campus.
It’s the third title in five years for Hall, which also beat Fort Smith Southside and Clarksville in this year’s tournament.
Rivers was named the Most Valuable Player after scoring a combined 48 points in three games for the Warriors (12-1). Raheem Dickerson and Jeff Drew added nine points each for Hall.
Hall appeared headed for an easy victory but the Warriors became sloppy in the fourth quarter and the Trojans almost completed a comeback. Subiaco Academy outscored Hall 15-9 in the final quarter and pulled to within 44-39 after two free throws by Keon Walters. But Myles Taylor blocked a shot and Rivers followed with two free throws to secure the victory.
Hall won all three games in the tournament without Coach George Cirks, who is in Illinois with his ailing mother.
“We’ve been talking three or four times a day, so he definitely knows what is going on,” Warriors assistant coach Jon Coleman said. “We’ve been playing in spurts, and our objective is to be more consistent in conference play.
Subiaco Academy had trouble getting into an offensive flow because of Hall’s pressure defense. The Trojans (10-3) trailed 19-10 at halftime aftermaking only 4 of 20 shots in the first half.
Keon Walters led Subiaco Academy with 14 points.
“There’s a reason (Hall) is considered the most talented team in the state, but we missed a lot of easy shots,” Subiaco Academy Coach Tim Tencleve said. “I don’t know if we played in the first half offensively like we thought we could beat that team.
FORT SMITH NORTHSIDE 76, FORT SMITH SOUTHSIDE 47
Corey Copeland poured in 31 points as Northside routed 7A-West rival Southsidefor third place in the Coca-Cola Classic.
Copeland made 8 of 10 three-pointers for Northside (8-6), which took an early lead and then poured it on in the second half against Southside (8-5). Denzel Releford scored eight consecutive points to give Northside a 56-39 lead after three quarters.
Copeland took over in the fourth quarter with three consecutive three-pointers to push the Northside lead to 67-42. Ian Carter finished with 18 points, and Releford added 16 for Northside, which won 2 of 3 in the tournament.
Cameron Adams scored 18 points to lead Southside.
CLARKSVILLE 71, PULASKI ACADEMY 55
C.J. Lee and Dederick Lee combinedfor 48 points to lead Clarksville (9-5) past Pulaski Academy (6-5) in the fifth-place game.
C.J. Lee scored 25 points and Dederick Lee 23 for Clarksville, which led 37-21.
Dusty Hannahs made five three-pointers and finished with 28 points to lead Pulaski Academy.
CABOT 58, PRAIRIE GROVE 31
Cabot outscored Prairie Grove 14-5 in the second quarter on the way to winning the seventh-place game.
Christian Armstrong finished with 12 points to lead Cabot (6-5).
No player had more than six points for Prairie Grove (5-5).
Sports, Pages 17 on 12/31/2009