HOT SPRINGS - The Concord Pirates went home champions this time.
Concord used an 11-0 run in the second quarter to break away as it went on to defeat the Wonderview Daredevils 57-40 on Friday night to claim the Class 1A state championship in front of 3,359 at Summit Arena.
It marked the first state championship for Concord, which lost in the first round of the state tournament in 2012 and was defeated by Bay in last year’s championship game.
“To be honest, we feel like we have been the best team in Class 1A over the last three years,” Concord Coach Keith Cornett said. “We felt like we were playing tonight with the whole community on our shoulders, trying to get the job done.
“We have worked so hard to get here, and to finally get the job done is a great feeling.”
The Pirates did it without much scoring from their top senior, Jacob Roark, who had just 10 points after a stellar week at the state tournament in Harrison. Roark received plenty of help Friday as three other Pirates finished with at least 10 points.
“If you had told me coming into tonight’s game that we would hold [Roark] to 10 points, I would’ve said we win the ball game,” Wonderview Coach Jerod Squires said. “That was our plan coming in, to just try to contain him. I didn’t think we could hold him to 10 points, but we were going to make the other guys beat us with tough shots.
“So, credit goes to them. They did that.”
The game was tied 20-20 after 11 lead changes over the first quarter and the first two minutes of the second, but T.J. Richardson put Concord upfor good with a three-pointer with 5:25 left in the first half. It was all Concord for the remainder of the half as Wonderview failed to score over the last 5:36. The Daredevils were 1 of 13 from the floor in the second period.
“I felt like we were going to be able to score tonight, so our main concern was being able to guard them,” Cornett said. “We did a great job of rebounding and controlling the boards tonight, because normally we don’t. I told them before the game that if we control the boards, we will win the game.”
Leading 31-20 at intermission, the Pirates began to work the clock more in the third quarter, passing the ball around before taking a good shot. Concord increased its least to 12 twice, the second time on three free throws by Roark with 1.1 seconds left to give Concord (40-2) a 41-29 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
The closest Wonderview (30-9) would get in the final quarter was 41-32 on a three-pointer by Ben Ingram. Within minutes, Concord was up 47-34 after a three-point play by Ethan Hebert, who scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the quarter.
“We thought they might concentrate their defense on Roark, but he did a good job of getting the ball around to the other players and they did a good job of scoring tonight,” Cornett said. “I’ve got total confidence in all of these guys shooting the basketball.”
Hanse Bowman, who hit five three-pointers for the Pirates, scored 15 points and Richardson had 11.
M.J. Griffin led Wonderview with 13 points.
“Concord is a great basketball team and I am proud for them,” Squires said. “I wish it was us, but I told our seniors to go out with their heads held high because no one gave us much of a chance to even get to the state tournament.
“We ended our season playing on the big stage of the state finals, and our kids represented our school, our community and their parents very well tonight.”
Quotebook
“If you had told me coming into tonight’s game that we would hold [Roark] to 10 points, I would’ve said we win the ball game.”
Wonderview Coach Jerod Squires, on tournament MVP Jacob Roark
Sports, Pages 23 on 03/15/2014