High school basketball report

Friday, January 4, 2013

— LR teams don’t fret down time

A 20-day layoff wasn’t what Little Rock Parkview Coach Al Flanigan had in mind for his Patriots, but the veteran coach is taking a positive approach.

Parkview (6-1) was scheduled to defend its title at the Whataburger Tournament in Fort Worth, but the Patriots were snowed in and had to drop out of the 32-team, two-division event.

“This just might be a blessing in disguise,” Flanigan said. “We were all beat up after playing in that tournament last year. We came back home and let a few teams slip up on us.”

Parkview hasn’t played since defeating Fayetteville on Dec. 15 at the Arkansas Hoops Challenge at Maumelle High School.

Icy road conditions cost the Patriots four games, but Flanigan said he has had his team back in the gym every day since Monday and that the players are ready to get back to action.

Tonight’s home game against Greenwood is the 7A/6A-Central Conference opener for both teams.

“I don’t know much about them, but that’s just as well,” Flanigan said. “We make most of our adjustments on the fly anyway.”

Little Rock Central’s break has been even longer. The Tigers, who haven’t played since Dec. 14, had to drop out of a tournament in Jefferson City, Mo.

“We could have played those games if we could have gotten out of the state,” Central Coach Oliver Fitzpatrick said. “But there’s no way I’m putting those kids in any kind of danger, and I didn’t want to get up there and have no way of getting home.”

The Tigers (3-5) begin 7A/6A-East Conference play tonight with a home game against Searcy (4-8), which finished second in the Battle at the Brier Tournament in Greenbrier during the holiday break.

“The [layoff] does concern me, especially when it comes to conditioning, but it is what it is and we ought to be able to play through it,” Fitzpatrick said. “Searcy will be a good matchup for us, and it should tell us something about ourselves.”

Little Rock Hall (7-3) also will end a 20-day break tonight when the Warriors travel to Fort Smith Southside. Hall last played Dec. 15 against Bentonville and didn’t have a tournament scheduled during the holiday break.

Little Rock McClellan (6-5) won the Badger Christmas Classic in Beebe. The Crimson Lions open 5ACentral Conference play at home tonight against Sylvan Hills.

Little Rock Fair (3-7) lost two games at the Lendal Thomas Classic in Harrison. The War Eagles’ 7A/6ASouth Conference schedule begins tonight at home against El Dorado.

5A-WEST

League play opens

Alma and Clarksville, two of the more successful boys programs in the past decade, will face each other in tonight’s 5A-West Conference opener at Clarksville.

Both teams are coming off victories in invitational tournaments. Clarksville (10-3) won the Spa City Classic in Hot Springs, beating Hot Springs Lakeside in Monday’s championship game. Alma (10-2) defeated Pottsville in the Airedale Classic final Saturday.

Lakeside held an 8-2 lead against Clarksville and was as close as three points in the fourth quarter before the Panthers eventually earned a 61-54 victory. Senior Deven Simms led Clarksville with 22 points.

“It wasn’t pretty ... but hopefully it will make us better,” said Clarksville Coach Tony Davis, whose teams have won the past two Class 4A state championships. “We’re ready to get the conference started. Everything to this point has been prepping us for Alma. ... It very well could be for the conference championship the first night out.

“Alma’s won a conference title the last four years in a row. They expect to win. We’re not going to come into the conference and expect them to just hand us the title.”

Alma rode Brock Widders’ 31 points to a 71-69 victory over Pottsville for the Airedale Classic title.

MARION

Bouncing back

Prior to playing in the Commerical Bank Classic in Monticello during the holiday break, Marion dropped backto-back games in Mississippi. The Patriots responded to those losses by winning in impressive fashion.

“I thought we played well,” Marion Coach Irving Clay said. “The kids bounced back, and it wasn’t just one or two of them. Someone different stepped up every night.”

Dereon Thomas led the Patriots with 14 points in a 65-48 victory over host Drew Central in the championship game.

Marion (10-5) has not suffered a loss to another Arkansas team this season. The Patriots play host to Mountain Home in tonight’s 7A/6A-East Conference opener.

Sports, Pages 22 on 01/04/2013