PARAGOULD — Maumelle wore down White Hall for an 89-66 victory in Tuesday’s late game of the Class 5A boys basketball state tournament at Greene County Tech.
Tyshun Robinson and Tremont Robinson each scored 15 points and the Hornets scored the final 14 points of the first half.
“We did a good job of finishing the and-ones,” Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said. “All year we’ve done a good job of getting to the rim and getting fouled, but we didn’t hit a lot of those shots. Tonight, we hit those shots. We didn’t always hit the free throws, but we hit enough.”
The game became chippy in the final quarter. White Hall was tagged for three technical fouls and Maumelle was issued one. There were 61 combined fouls called. Maumelle went to the free-throw line 45 times, hitting 28. White Hall was 13 of 18 from the line.
White Hall hit its first four shots and was 7 of 12 from the floor in the first quarter, but the Bulldogs never held more than a four-point lead. Led by eight first-half points by senior Gary Burton, the Hornets stayed even with the Bulldogs for the game’s first 13 minutes before Maumelle closed out the half with its 14-0 run.
Maumelle built as much as a 26-point lead in the third quarter. White Hall trimmed that lead to 12 midway through the final quarter, but the Bulldogs’ second technical cost White Hall a chance to cut into that lead even more.
J.B. Minix and Burton each finished with 14 points while Blake Connor added 11.
For White Hall, Kirk Baugh and Will Ridgell each scored 11, while Tyler Person added nine.