7A/6A EAST BOYS

NLR shows drive to win in 2nd half

Masterful with his penetrating moves, Anton Beard drove Jonesboro’s defense crazy on Friday night.

Beard scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half and helped stake No. 2 North Little Rock to as much as a 12-point advantage before the Charging Wildcats settled for a 61-58 victory over the No. 3 Hurricane at the North Little Rock arena.

“Anton pulled us through,” North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice said. “KeVaughn [Allen] carried us in the first half and ‘Ton carried us in the second half, there’s no doubt about that.”

Jonesboro (14-3, 2-1 7A/6AEast) led 25-24 at the half and senior guard Kahron Ross, who led the Hurricane with 25 points, hit two free throws to start the third quarter. North Little Rock (13-1, 3-0) scored the next eight points, and the Charging Wildcats were never behind again.

Hurricane Coach Wes Swift said his team failed to take advantage of many opportunities in the first half. Jonesboro was 6 of 22 from the floor in the half and only 6 of 11 from the free-throw line.

“I thought we outplayed them, that we could have been up 10 [at the half], but it was close and they turned it up a notch,” Swift said. “I thought the whole third quarter was about toughness. North Little Rock didn’t settle for the three-ball in the third quarter and they got second and third shots. Anton and KeVaughn were driving it hard at us. And when those didn’t go, they were getting those second and third shots.”

North Little Rock finished the third quarter with a 42-36 lead, and when Beard put in a point-blank shot with 5:30 to play the Wildcats up 49-37.

Jonesboro completed seven three-point plays in the game, including three in the final 5:10. Ross scored 7 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and hit a three-pointer with 1:50 to play that brought the Hurricane to within 55-53, but he missed an 8-footer that would have tied the game and North Little Rock was 6 of 8 from the free-throw line in the final 60 seconds.

Beard scored 10 of his team’s final 14 points.

“No excuses,” Swift said. “They beat us, but we’re going to grow up and be there during state tournament time.”

Allen finished with 14 points while Chibu Ekeh added eight points for North Little Rock. The Charging Wildcats finished 18 of 38 from the floor but only 1 of 7 from beyond the three-point line.

Marquise Pointer scored Jonesboro’s first 13 points and finished with 18. Jarma Perkins added nine points for the Hurricane, who were 18 of 47 from the floor.

Sports, Pages 28 on 01/18/2014

Upcoming Events