It was appropriate that this defensive struggle came down to a game-saving stop.
Senior forward Antonio Smith and senior guard Maurio Goggins each scored 11 points to lead the Little Rock Hall Warriors (14-8, 7-4) to a 44-43 victory over the Little Rock Christian Warriors (11-11, 3-8) in a 6A/5A-4 matchup at Little Rock Christian on Tuesday night.
Little Rock Christian pulled to 44-43 after Seth Claxton's reverse layup with 16.1 seconds left, and it got a chance to win after Hall senior forward Shaun Juniel was fouled and missed the front end of a 1-and-1 situation.
Junior center Kalin Bennett rebounded for Little Rock Christian, and after Hall fouled Will Strickland with a foul to give, Little Rock Christian took possession at midcourt.
Stickland inbounded to junior guard Justice Hill, who tried to drive the lane but passed to Claxton, who was met by two defenders as the clock ticked down.
Claxton shoveled the ball to senior forward Alex North, who tossed up an off-balance 5-footer that missed at the buzzer.
"They had it packed in there," Little Rock Christian Coach Clarence Finley said. "We were trying to get it to the basket, but we just couldn't get it there."
Hall led 20-12 early in the second quarter, but Little Rock Christian responded by outscoring Hall 13-2 over a five-minute span to take a 25-22 lead.
"Any team that Coach Finley coaches, you know that they're going to be prepared," Hall Coach Jon Coleman said. "Our job is to be as prepared and try to play a little bit harder than them. We knew we were coming into a hornets nest, so our job was to try to get a tough road win."
Sports on 02/08/2017