It took North Little Rock a little more than a half to adjust to not having senior guard K.J. Hill in the lineup Friday night, but a 23-10 third quarter proved to be the difference as the Charging Wildcats defeated Marion 68-40 in a 7A/6A-East Conference game in North Little Rock.
Hill is one of the state's top football recruits and missed Friday's game because he is taking an official to Ohio State this weekend, and his absence was obvious early as the Charging Wildcats led just 30-23 going into halftime before regrouping in the second half.
Senior guard KeVaughn Allen scored a game-high 23 points for North Little Rock (13-4, 4-1), while junior guard Adrian Moore had 16 points and senior center Sam Dunkum finished with 12 points and 19 rebounds.
"Without K.J. we were really searching there for a while," Charging Wildcats Coach Johnny Rice said. "We handled their pressure. KeVaughn saved us defensively."
Marion cut North Little Rock's lead to 41-33 with less than four minutes left in the third quarter on LaQuan Davie's three-pointer, but the Charging Wildcats finished the quarter with a 12-3 run to take a 53-33 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Dunkum scored on a third-chance basket during the run, and Moore and Allen both had dunks.
North Little Rock's largest lead was 29 points, 66-37, late in the fourth quarter. The Charging Wildcats also went 28 of 37 at the free-throw line.
"We just competed," Rice said. "We wanted to play together and not let anybody be more physical than we are."
A.J. Latham led Marion (7-8, 4-1) with 13 points, including 3 three-pointers.
North Little Rock lost at Jonesboro last Friday but has won two consecutive.
"We took a whooping last week," Rice said. "They stepped up. When they handle the effort part of it and let us handle the execution part of it, we can be alright."
MARION (40)
Brown 3 0-3 6, Davie 1 2-3 5, Latham 5 0-2 13, Doss 2 2-6 6, Mangum 2 2-2 6, Jackson 0 1-2 1, Boykins 0 3-6 3. Totals 13 10-24 40
NORTH LITTLE ROCK (68)
Allen 6 10-11 23, Moore 6 4-7 16, Dunkin 4 4-6 12, Taylor 1 2-3 4, Dickerson 0 3-4 3, Dobbins 0 2-2 2, Duckworth 1 1-2 4, Ricks 1 0-0 2, Morgan 0 2-2 2. Totals 19 28-37 68
Marion;13 10 10 7 -- 40
NLR;15 15 23 15 -- 68
Three-point goals -- Marion 4 (Latham 3), North Little Rock 2 (Allen 1, Duckworth 1). Team fouls -- Marion 22, North Little Rock 22. Fouled out -- Dobbins, Latham
Sports on 01/24/2015