CONWAY - North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice tried to find fault with his team Friday afternoon, but the Charging Wildcats still managed to earn a convincing postseason victory.
KeVaughn Allen scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds and University of Arkansas signee Anton Beard added 17 points as the Charging Wildcats rolled to a 77-63 victory over West Memphis in the quarterfinals of the Class 7A state tournament at Buzz Bolding Arena.
North Little Rock (24-2) hit 45 percent of its shots from the floor (23 of 51) and had a hard time stopping 6-5 senior Vakemeyus Davis (21 points on 9-of-10 shooting), but West Memphis got only as close as eight points in the second half and lost to the Charging Wildcats for the third time this season.
“We went through a stretch where we didn’t play together,” Rice said. “I thought a lot of our shots were created off the dribble. We didn’t use each other to create shots.”
North Little Rock led 26-17 midway through the second quarter when Quintavious McKenzie and Rai East sparked an 11-2 burst that allowed the Blue Devils (13-15) to tie the game at 28-28 with 2:32 left before halftime.
North Little Rock, however, scored the next 11 points. Jawan Eldridge’s three-pointer closed the half with the Charging Wildcats leading 39-28.
“I thought that was huge,” Rice said.
The Charging Wildcats advanced to Monday’s semifinals with the victory.
North Little Rock had five players score nine or more points. K.J. Hill had four assists to go along with his 12 points. Sophomore Adrian Moore added 10 points and six rebounds and Chibu Ekeh scored nine points and had a team-high seven rebounds.
Davis scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half.
“Vakemeyus has been playing really well for us on the inside,” said West Memphis Coach Larry Bray. “He has really stepped up his game. He’s had some hurt knees, but he’s really playing hard.”
“He hurt us all three games,” Rice said. “When we put pressure on the guard she didn’t hurt us as much because they couldn’t get it inside as much. But we really haven’t had a real match for him this year.”
West Memphis, however, had only four players score eight or more points. Gary Henderson added 11 points and East scored 8 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and handed out 7 assists.
“We won that game because we had better players than they had,” Rice said. “It was that simple. There wasn’t anything else that we did. When we play Monday, the players we see will be better.” VAN BUREN 54, LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 36
Quashaun Kursh and Jason Harms each hit 3 three-pointers as the Pointers (21-5) defeated the Tigers (6-20) in a first-round game.
Van Buren hit 6 of 11 three-pointers in the first half. The Pointers outscored Central 18-4 in the second quarter to take a 28-12 lead at the half.
Kursh, a senior who hit a three-pointer to end the first quarter, finished with 13 points. Harms, a junior, had 11 points.
Mitchell Smith, Van Buren’s 6-9 sophomore, did not play in the second quarter, but managed to score 11 points and collect a game-high 10 rebounds.
Senior Sean Corrothers scored 11 points to lead the Tigers.
BENTONVILLE 67, CABOT 36
Malik Monk’s alley-oop dunk four minutes into the game set the tone in the Tigers’ quarterfinal rout of the Panthers.
Bentonville’s defense was too tough as the Tigers (19-6) advanced to Monday’s semifinals against North Little Rock.
Monk, a sophomore, finished with 23 points. He was 5 of 15 from the field and 12 of 15 from the free-throw line. He also had a team-high seven rebounds and made three steals.
Bentonville scored the game’s first eight points and Cabot (17-10) did not collect its first field goal until 25 seconds into the second quarter. The Tigers led 18-2 after one quarter and 31-12 at the half. Cabot got only as close as 14 in the second half.
Tyrik Dixon added 12 points and five assists for Bentonville.
Garrett Rowe led Cabot with seven points. Jake Ferguson had five assists.
Sports, Pages 24 on 03/08/2014