SPA CITY SHOOTOUT BOYS

EPC comes back strong, downs Harding Academy

Mountain Pine’s Dewayne Matlock (2) tries to get past White County Central’s Ethan Hall (34) during the Spa City Classic on Friday at Summit Arena in Hot Springs. Matlock finished with 12 points in a 61-32 loss to White County.
Mountain Pine’s Dewayne Matlock (2) tries to get past White County Central’s Ethan Hall (34) during the Spa City Classic on Friday at Summit Arena in Hot Springs. Matlock finished with 12 points in a 61-32 loss to White County.

HOT SPRINGS - East Poinsett County Coach Josh Hill admits he is a little perplexed by his own team.

On a night when the Warriors were limited to two points in the first quarter and their opponents connected on all 16 of their free-throw attempts, EPC still managed to post a 51-44 victory over Harding Academy in Friday’s action at the Spa City Shootout.

Sophomore guard Clay Malone, who led the Warriors with 16 points, made 6 of 10 free throws in the final 1:20 to help hold off the Wildcats.

“Honestly, I can’t explain this team right now,” Hill said. “We haven’t played a complete game, but we’re winning a lot of games. We’re 10-3 right now and we’ve won a couple of tournaments, but we’re not quite getting it yet. I’m hoping by February we’ve got a chance to be really good.”

Harding Academy (8-4) scored the game’s first eight points and led 13-2 after the opening quarter. EPC responded by scoring the first 12 points of the second quarter and holding the Wildcats to a lone three-pointer in the final nine minutes of the first half.

The difference in Friday’s game came in the final 5:18 of the third quarter when the Warriors - sparked by three field goals in the paint by senior guard Byron Scales - outscored the Wildcats 11-3 to take a 30-25 lead heading into the final quarter.

“They changed defenses in the second quarter and I thought that changed the tempo of the game,” Harding Academy Coach Brad Francis said. “We couldn’t get a shot to drop during that stretch. One of our goals was to get to the free-throw line and we shot it well, but we really needed to hit a shot during the middle of the game and we never could get it to fall.”

Harding Academy was 4 of 10 from the floor in the first quarter, but only 4 of 25 during the middle two quarters. Two of those field goals came on put backs from junior Hayden Mathews, who led the Wildcats with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

The Wildcats finished 11 of 45 (24 percent) from the floor, including 6 for 23 (26 percent) on three-point shots. EPC was19 of 42 (45 percent) from the floor. The Warriors were 5 of 17 (29 percent) on three-point attempts, but they connected on all three in the fourth quarter.

EPC’s lead was 45-37 after Malone’s two free throws with 1:20 to play. The 6-1 sophomore, who attempted the Warriors’ final 10 free throws, then missed back-to-back front ends of 1-and-1s before making four of his final six attempts.

Scales finished with nine points but didn’t play the final three minutes of the game after suffering an ankle injury. Senior Paul Pilgram scored all eight of his points in the first half. Pilgram finished with six rebounds and Aaron Scales came up with four steals.

Harding Academy sophomore guard Alex Francis added 12 points and had a team-high five steals. Senior Kohl Blickenstaff scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.

WHITE COUNTY CENTRAL 61, MOUNTAIN PINE 32

Junior Garrett Horton scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half as the Bears (11-6) pulled away from the Red Devils (3-6).

White County Central, which has won 11 of its past 12 games, used a 21-10 second quarter to take a 27-15 lead at the half. The Bears play Jessieville at 6 tonight.

Senior center Elijah Cannon added 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals for the Bears. Sophomore Griffin Dunn led the Bears with seven rebounds.

POYEN 66, FOUNTAIN LAKE 59

Junior Daniel Goodman scored 24 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked 4 shots as the Indians (9-3) rallied to knock off the Cobras (4-4).

Fountain Lake scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to take a 50-43 lead, but behind Goodman and senior forward Dalton Dugan (19 points, 15 rebounds, 6 blocks, 4 assists) Poyen finished the quarter by outscoring the Cobras 23-9.

Free throws by sophomores Jace Phillips and Lane Rhodes in the final 15 seconds locked up the victory for the Indians.

GIRLS

MOUNTAIN PINE 50, WHITE COUNTY CENTRAL 41

Sophomore Jordan Godwin scored all 19 of her points in the second half as the Lady Red Devils (7-4) stopped a three-game skid by beating the Lady Bears (4-13).

Senior Kendra Morgan added 10 points and sophomore Megan Walker nine for Mountain Pine. Senior Kelley Gould led the team with 10 rebounds.

Senior guard Katy Tucker led the Lady Bears with 12 points.

FOUNTAIN LAKE 54, OUACHITA 23

Senior guard Deidra McCoy scored 23 of her 28 points in the first half as the Lady Cobras (6-2) defeated the Lady Warriors (8-8).

McCoy also came down with 17 rebounds and made seven steals.

KIRBY 54, PARKERS CHAPEL 30

Kirby sophomore Kallee Cowart had 16 points and nine rebounds before having to leave the game with a leg injury with 3:21 left in the third quarter, but she did enough to help lead Kirby to the victory and earn the most valuable player award.

The Sentinel-Record contributed to this report.

Sports, Pages 25 on 01/04/2014

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