JAMMIN’ FOR JACKETS : HIGH SCHOOL BOYS

Banged-up McCrary puts hurt on LR Parkview

Branton McCrary played with a bandaged right hand in the championship game of the Jammin' for Jackets Tournament, but the injury did little to impair his effort Saturday night.

McCrary, a 6-1 senior point guard, scored 23 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and came up with 6 steals as the Mills Comets held off Little Rock Parkview 60-57 at Little Rock Hall's Cirks Arena.

Jammin’ for Jackets

Little Rock Hall

Saturday’s results

Championship

Mills 60, Parkview 57

Third place

McClellan 65, Hall 64

Fifth place

Central 45, Fair 41

Seventh place

Baptist Prep 70, Episcopal 46

"I'm fine," said McCrary, who suffered the injury in Friday's semifinal victory over Hall. "It didn't bother me at all."

McCrary scored a combined 49 points in his past three games and was selected as the tournament's MVP.

Mills (5-3) has won five consecutive games after starting the season with three consecutive losses.

Trailing 59-57 with seven seconds remaining, Parkview had the ball in the front court but sophomore Madison Peaster took advantage of a high pass to collect a steal. He hit 1 of 2 free throws with 3.2 seconds left to set the final score.

"Parkview's kids played tough. Our guys played tough," Mills Coach Raymond Cooper said. "We just made one or two more plays."

Saturday's game featured 14 lead changes and was tied five times.

Both teams struggled from the free-throw line. Parkview was only 8 of 19 from the line. Mills was 16 of 29, but only 5 of 10 in the final 4:04.

"Our guys hung in there, but I got to give [Mills] credit. They played hard," Parkview Coach Al Flanigan said. "But we sort of beat ourselves. When you're 8-of-20 something from the free-throw line, you can't beat anyone."

Parkview (6-2) got plenty of offense from its two big seniors -- Allen Flanigan and Airion Simmons. Allen Flanigan scored a game-high 25 points. He drilled a 30-footer at the end of the first half but was short on a similar effort on the game's final shot. Simmons scored 13 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, handed out 3 assists and blocked 3 shots, but the 6-5 post player picked up his fifth foul with 4:22 to play and Mills holding a 54-53 lead.

"That was real big," McCrary said. "When he fouled out, they didn't have any more big men. That's when we had to attack the goal."

Mills scored its final six points from the free-throw line.

"We can't play without Allen and Simmons," Coach Flanigan said. "We got to have them on the floor."

Allen Flanigan's first-half buzzer beater gave Parkview a 33-32 lead. The Patriots then scored the first six points of the second half to take their largest lead at 39-32 with 14:10 remaining. Jammin' for Jackets utilized two 16-minutes halves each game.

Mills scored 11 of the next 13 points to take a 43-41 advantage with 11:03 left.

"I substituted," Cooper said when asked what he did to get the Comets back into the contest. "We've got a lot of young kids who have never been in this environment before, and we just were on our heels. We were just trying to find someone who could give us some energy. Josh Watson, the smallest guy on the court, got in and I think his energy spurred everybody else."

"They've got more players," Coach Flanigan said. "They're bench is a little stronger than mine. We've got four ninth-graders and a couple of sophomores. Sometimes I walk down the bench, look at them and just walk right back."

Senior Orion Virden added 15 points for the Comets, while senior 6-6 post player Kevin Cross added 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Ryan Gordon added 12 points for Parkview.

LR McCLELLAN 65, LR HALL 64

James Nichols hit a point-blank shot as time expired to lift the Lions (4-1) over the Warriors (4-3) in the third-place game.

It was McClellan's only lead.

Hall hit 6 of its first 7 shots from the floor and led 34-17 midway through the first half, but McClellan chipped away.

Ian Robinson led the Lions with 17 points, and all nine of his rebounds came in the second half. Nichols added 15 points, and Eric Woods accounted for 10 points.

Hall post player Kevon Cooper scored a game-high 22 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Senior guard Greg Johnson scored 11 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and handed out 4 assists.

Leading 64-63 with 8.3 seconds left, Hall's Cameron Dismuke was sent to the free-throw line for two shots. He missed both, and Robinson controlled the rebound. Driving down the middle of the court, Robinson found Nichols open under the basket for the game-winning shot.

Hall, which was 15 of 23 from the line, missed 3 of its final 4 free-throw attempts. The Warriors were 25 of 40 from the field, but only 11 of 22 in the second half.

McClellan was 17 of 43 from the floor, 6 of 16 from three-point range and 17 of 23 from the free-throw line.

LR CENTRAL 45, LR FAIR 41

K.D. Arnett's steal with 8.6 seconds remaining helped the Tigers (6-1) escape with a victory over the War Eagles (2-3) in the fifth-place game.

With Central leading 43-41, a Tigers' turnover gave Fair possession with 22.6 seconds left. The War Eagles, however, never got off a potential game-tying or game-winning shot when Arnett came up with a steal near the top of the key. Arnett hit two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to set the final score.

A.J. Williams scored 12 points to lead the Tigers, who were 16 of 28 from the floor and 1 of 6 on three-pointers. Ray McIntosh added 10 points.

Erlon Boose scored 11 points and handed out 4 assists for the War Eagles, who were 18 of 35 from the floor and 3 of 9 from three-point range. Hakim Carter added 10 points.

Central was 12 of 20 from the free-throw line while Fair hit 4 of 10.

BAPTIST PREP 70

EPISCOPAL 46

Brooks Spoon led the Eagles (8-2) with 21 points in a victory over the Wildcats (2-8).

Baptist Prep hit 22 of 42 shots from the floor, including a 7-of-14 showing from three-point range. The Eagles never trailed and led 36-21 at the half.

Issac McBride added 18 points and 3 steals for Baptist Prep, while Andrew Evans was good for 14 points. McBride and Spoon each had six rebounds.

Guard Che Smith scored 17 of his game-high 28 points in the second half for Episcopal, which was 16 of 47 from the floor and 4 of 19 on three-pointers.

Sports on 12/09/2018

Upcoming Events