Allen Flanigan scored 28 points in Friday's Jammin' for Jackets semifinal victory over Little Rock McClellan, but the 6-4 senior was not on the floor for Little Rock Parkview's game-deciding run.
Saddled with two fouls midway through the first half, Flanigan was on the bench as the Patriots turned a six-point deficit into a five-point halftime advantage on their way to a 68-57 victory over the Lions.
Parkview Coach Al Flanigan said he was not about to allow his grandson and Auburn signee to pick up a third foul before the second half.
"We're not the same with him on the bench," Flanigan said. "But you know I didn't want him to pick up that third. You know I'm hard-headed about that. I was tempted to put him back in there, but it worked out. The other guys stepped up."
Namely senior post player Airion Simmons, who finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists. Simmons had 11 points and eight rebounds in the first half.
"[Simmons] played lousy last night [against Episcopal] and came back," Coach Flanigan said. "That's what we want from him."
Parkview (6-1) will play Mills in today's 5:30 p.m. championship game.
McClellan (3-1) led 26-20 with 5:30 remaining in the first half, but the Lions' shooting turned sour. The Lions hit 3 of their first 8 three-point attempts, but missed their final 6 of the first half.
"We were trying to get out of the first half with a couple of guys in foul trouble," McClellan Coach Chris Threatt said. "We have to make those shots. We missed three or four open shots. We missed the front end of a one-and-one. At that point I just wanted to stop the bleeding and get out of the first half."
Parkview led 33-28 at the half, and with Allen Flanigan back in the mix in the second half the Patriots turned the game into a rout.
"When we were up, it allowed us to pressure them with Flanigan out," Threatt said. "But you have to score to get them into your pressure. When you don't score, you don't get the tempo you want."
"I used a few choice words with them," Coach Flanigan said. "We were just going through the motions there for a while. They were shooting all those treys and we weren't contesting any of them. Once we started that, we picked it up on the defensive end."
Flanigan scored the first four points of the second half in which he had 15. He finished the game with 28 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot.
Junior Ryan Gordan added 10 points for Parkview.
Senior guard Demetrious Torrence led McClellan with 14 points while senior Malek Robinson added 11, senior James Nichols and Ian Robinson 10 each27. Nichols grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
McClellan was 9 of 21 shooting in the first half and 18 of 39 overall. Parkview led by as many as 21 late in the contest but McClellan closed the gap thanks to hitting 4 of its final 5 three-point attempts.
Parkview was 27 of 46 from the floor and outrebounded McClellan 31-19.
CENTRAL 74, BAPTIST PREP 65
A.J. Williams and Jeremiah Jones both scored 13 points to lead a balanced scoring attack for the Tigers (5-1) in a victory over the Eagles (7-2).
The consolation-round pairing featured Kansas signee Issac McBride facing off against his former coach Brian Ross, who had coached the Eagles to three consecutive state titles.
McBride connected on seven three-pointers and finished with 30 points. Brooks Spoon added 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Central had five players score 10 or more points. K.D. Arnett and Ray McIntosh each added 12 and De'jaun Brewer scored 10 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Arnett led the Tigers with five assists.
Central hit 33 of 58 shots, including 4 of 9 three-point attempts. Baptist Prep was 23 of 40 from the floor, including 11 of 25 from three-point range. The Tigers enjoyed a 31-20 rebounding advantage.
FAIR 46, EPISCOPAL 38
The War Eagles (2-2) scored 9 of the game's final 10 points to defeat the Wildcats (3-7) in a consolation game.
Senior guard Erlon Boose hit a three-pointer with 2:11 remaining to break a 37-37 tie. Boose and senior Jacori Cranford each scored 13 points to lead Fair.
Senior Graham Gordan led Episcopal with 15 points, which included four three-pointers. Junior Che Smith added 14 points. Junior Chris Smith led the Wildcats in rebounding with six.
Episcopal was 4 of 14 from three-point range but the Wildcats missed their final six three-point attempts. Episcopal was 11 of 40 (27.5 percent) shooting overall.
Fair was 5 of 12 on three-pointers and 17 of 46 (37.0 percent) from the floor. The War Eagles outrebounded Episcopal 37-25 getting nine rebounds from Cranford.
Sports on 12/08/2018