Rockets’ push sputters at end

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Gregg Easter scored 13 points and No. 5 Little Rock Hall made 11 of 16 free-throw attempts in the final quarter to hold off host Little Rock Catholic 57-48 in a 7A/6A-Central game on Tuesday night.

Hall (12-3, 4-0) never trailed but Catholic (2-8, 1-3) made things interesting in the final quarter, getting as close as 47-42 with 4:08 to play with back-to-back three-point plays by Lance Harville-Thomas and William Hancock, but Kaylon Tappin’s layup with 3:15 left stopped the Rockets’ rally.

“Catholic and Hall have been rivals for a long time, but our guys don’t realize how big it has been in the past,” Hall Coach Jon Coleman said. “We came out flat and played just well enough to win.”

Harville-Thomas led all scorers with 19 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Rockets. Harville-Thomas scored 13 of his points in the game’s final 9:14.

Catholic’s shot at an upset was prevented by turnovers and missed free throws. The Rockets committed 18 turnovers, twice as many as Hall, and Catholic missed seven consecutive free throws during the second and third quarters. The Rockets finished 12 of 22 from the line.

Hall scored the first five points and led 16-9 after the first quarter after back-to-back layups by Antonio Edwards and Zach McFadden. The Warriors also scored the final five points of the first half on a layup by Tappin and a three-pointer by Dayton Artis.

Easter hit a three-pointer to start the second-half scoring, giving Hall a 33-17 lead, but that was the biggest advantage Hall enjoyed. Catholic managed to whittle the Warriors’ lead to 40-30 late in the third quarter.

Catholic was within 51-45 after Harville-Thomas’ layup with 1:56 to play, but Hall kept the Rockets from getting any closer by hitting 6 of 8 free throws in the final 1:16. Anthony Black, who finished with 11 points, hit 5 of 6 free throws during the closing minute.

Robert Verges and Tappin each added for eight points for Hall. Eric Dailey handed out six assists while Black had a team-high four steals.

Hancock scored nine points and Zack Morris had eight points and grabbed seven rebounds for Catholic.

Sports, Pages 21 on 01/22/2014