MCCLELLAN 63, JACKSONVILLE 55
Two guards stole the show.
Junior Andre Jones scored 28 points and senior Keith Hayes scored 22 to lead the Little Rock McClellan Lions to a backcourt-dominated, 63-55 victory over the Jacksonville Red Devils at the Devil's Den on Tuesday night.
Jacksonville made McClellan (14-5, 7-0 5A-Central) work after it appeared the Lions were geared to pull away. Jones' eight-foot jumper from the lane gave McClellan a 39-30 lead with 4:22 left in the third quarter, but Jacksonville (16-4, 5-2) fought back. A rebound layup by senior forward Tedric Wolfe cut McClellan's lead to 43-39 with 1:28 left in the third.
Another layup by Wolfe, with 4:35 left in the game, put Jacksonville within 51-49.
Hayes said he reminded his teammates that Jacksonville had pulled away to a 77-66 victory in the closing minutes of their game last season at the Devil's Den.
"I kept telling my team, 'Hey, we have to keep going hard, because it's not over,' " Hayes said. "I said, 'They're going to make a run and we have to respond.' "
McClellan scored on its next two possessions. A pull-up jumper from the free-throw line by Jones, followed by sophomore guard Pierre Strong's layup gave McClellan a 55-49 lead with 3:40 left.
"I kept telling [Jones], 'If you see the rim, just shoot it,' " Hayes said. "He was hot, and when you feel like that, you feel like you can make every shot."
"I've had a lot of good games against average teams, but this was a good game against a very good team," Jones said. "I was listening to [Hayes]. He said, 'We're going to keep riding you.' "
Jones and Hayes combined to hit 12 of 14 shots from the field in the second half.
"I don't think in the second half they settled as much," Little Rock McClellan Coach Chris Threatt said. "Almost everything they took was in the lane. One thing about Jacksonville, they're not going to give you anything. You have to earn what you get."
Jacksonville would get no closer than 58-54.
Free throws by Hayes and a slam dunk by Jones, off sophomore guard Tyree Appleby's backcourt turnover, gave McClellan a 61-54 lead with less than 30 seconds left.
"We don't have players like Hayes, or [Jones], players who can just go one-on-one and whip you," Jacksonville Coach Victor Joiner said. "We got some decent one-on-one players, but they're not of the caliber of those two guys, so we have to play within the system. We made a nice run, but we have to play within the system. We don't have those type of players."
LR McClellan (63)
Jones 13 0-0 28, Ka. Hayes 2 0-0 5, Johnston 2 0-0 4, Strong 2 0-0 4, Ke. Hayes 7 8-8 22, Hall 0 0-0 0, Molden 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 8-8 63
Jacksonville (55)
Appleby 4 0-0 12, Campbell 5 10-11 20, Wolfe 6 2-2 14, Smith 3 2-2 8, James 0 0-0 0, Huskey 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 15-17 55
LR McClellan (14-5, 7-0) 16 14 19 14 -- 63
Jacksonville (16-4, 5-2) 15 10 14 16 -- 55
Three-point shots -- LR McClellan 3 (Jones 2, Ka. Hayes 1); Jacksonville 3 (Appleby 3). Total fouls -- LR McClellan 16; Jacksonville 15
GIRLS
JACKSONVILLE 49, LITTLE ROCK MCCLELLAN 37 Antrice McCoy scored 22 points and Desiree Williams scored 12 to help lead the Lady Red Devils to victory over the Lady Lions.
Olivia Perry led McClellan with 12 points. Shawntay Casey scored 10.
Sports on 01/28/2015