Neither head coach seemed all that affected following Sylvan Hills' 73-69 victory over Maumelle on Tuesday night at the Bear Den.
"We worked our way through some shaky moments," Sylvan Hills Coach Kevin Davis said. "Sure, I was disappointed by some things, but I'm sure Maumelle's coach will tell you the same thing. We kept battling and kept doing the things you have to do to win ball games."
Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said his team simply gave up too many layups and uncontested shots.
"We have to get a lot better, but it will come with time," Shook said. "Because of football and Thanksgiving and things like that, we haven't had a lot of time to practice. We don't have a game for the next two weeks, so we'll have time to really get after it. We'll be better."
Neither team led by more than five points in the first half or by more than seven points in the second half.
Sylvan Hills (2-1) broke a 69-69 tie with guard Dexter Smith's three-point play with 3:49 left in the game. Sylvan Hills' lead reached 69-64 on a layup by Smith with 1:28 left, but Maumelle charged back and was within 71-69 on a three-point play by Darius Tate at 20.2 seconds.
Sylvan Hills junior point guard Cordy Winston was fouled with 5.2 seconds left, and his two free-throw attempts completed the scoring. Maumelle's Barry Nixon missed a long three-pointer at the buzzer.
"When a point guard steps up and hits two free throws with very little time left on the clock, that's pleasing," Davis said. "You want the ball in the point guard's hands. He's going to get fouled, and you want him to deliver when he's got the ball in his hands, and he sure did."
Jordan Washington led Sylvan Hills with 14 points. Smith scored 12. Tremont Robinson scored 18 to lead Maumelle.
Maumelle (7-3) seemed poised to take control after it outscored Sylvan Hills 8-4 over the final two minutes of the first half and 6-3 at the start of the second half to take a 45-40 lead with three minutes gone in the third quarter. But Sylvan Hills countered with a 12-0 run to take its largest lead of the game.
"Maumelle put us in some uncomfortable situations," Davis said. "I was just glad that our guys fought like they did."
Sports on 12/10/2014