BROOKLAND -- The third quarter belonged to Issac McBride.
Baptist Prep's junior point guard hit four three-pointers in the third quarter to help the Eagles roll to a 63-50 victory over the Ashdown Panthers on Friday in the Class 4A boys state tournament quarterfinals at Bearcat Arena.
McBride finished with 24 points as two-time defending Class 4A state champion Baptist Prep (28-6) advanced to a semifinal against Riverview at 7:30 tonight.
"We started out sluggish and slow," McBride said. "But in the second half, my coaches and teammates were very high and they helped me through it to keep shooting and keep being aggressive because we know you can get hot at anytime. That's what I did."
Baptist Prep led 22-17 at halftime, but Ashdown took a 24-22 lead early in the third quarter on Lamar Wilkerson's basket.
That was the last time the Panthers would lead Friday.
McBride hit consecutive three-pointers to give the Eagles a 28-24 lead. Javion Collins then converted a three-point play to make it 31-24 with 2:57 left in the third quarter.
After Ashdown's Kaiden Hunter cut the lead to 31-26, McBride responded with his third three-pointer of the quarter for a 34-26 lead.
McBride's final three-pointer of the quarter extended Baptist Prep's lead to 37-28, which was the score entering the fourth quarter.
"Once Issac hits one, we're going to keep telling him to shoot it until he misses," Baptist Prep Coach Brian Ross said. "He hit four in a row. That really was the difference. That got us the separation we needed."
The Eagles' largest lead was 52-35 after Collins' steal and layup.
Collins scored 14 points and James Singleton added 10 points. Baptist Prep was 27 of 32 from the free-throw line.
"That's something we've been really good at all season," Ross said. "We don't care who gets fouled. We have a lot of guys we got confidence in who can knock two in a row down."
Hunter led Ashdown (25-8) with 21 points. Keamon Nutt had 13 points and Jimmy Dunn chipped in with 10 points.
With Baptist Prep's victory Friday, the Class 4A boys semifinal round is an all 4A-East Region affair along with Southside Batesville and Jonesboro Westside, which will play each other in the first semifinal today.
"We had a tough district and a tough region," Ross said. "That's been proven here in the state tournament. It's exactly what it looked like a week ago. Riverview's tough. J.T. Smith is an incredible player. We're going to have our work cut out trying to stop him again."
RIVERVIEW 61, POTTSVILLE 55
J.T. Smith scored 22 points to lead Riverview (26-9) past Pottsville (28-3).
A.J. Jiles had 12 points for the Raiders.
It was 36-26 Riverview entering the fourth quarter, but Pottsville cut the lead to 38-34 on Landon Reed's three-pointer with 6:36 remaining.
The Raiders led 56-46 with 1:00 remaining, but the Apaches cut the lead to 59-55 on Wesley Heikes' three-pointer. Riverview closed the game out by making two of three free throws in the final 30 seconds.
In the fourth quarter, Riverview was 16 of 23 from the free-throw line.
Logan Porter led the Apaches (28-3) with 13 points. Jacob Chisum added 10 points.
Sports on 03/03/2018