Maumelle fell behind 10-0 to start Friday's 5A-Central Conference game and allowed Little Rock Parkview to score the first nine points of the third quarter. The Hornets, however, had a much better finish.
Sophomore Josh Denton came off the bench, hit five three-pointers and finished with a game-high 19 points in leading Maumelle to a 65-61 upset of the No. 7 Patriots at Charles Ripley Arena.
Maumelle (10-7, 3-1) scored 8 of the final 9 points of the third quarter for a 47-44 advantage. The Hornets never relinquished the lead in the fourth quarter.
"Our guys have the ability in them," Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said. "But we were so amped up. These teams know each other well. They've all grown up together. ... Parkview is the forever state champs, or that's what it feels like, and everybody going to give them their A-game every night."
Parkview (11-5, 3-1) hit its first four shots from four different players to take a 10-0 lead 82 seconds into the contest, but Maumelle closed the gap to 16-15 before Patriots senior Allen Flanigan drilled a three-pointer at the first-quarter horn.
Tied at 25-25, Denton hit 3 three-pointers in the final 2:43 of the second quarter to help Maumelle take a 33-30 lead into the half.
"The atmosphere was crazy," Denton said. "Everybody was jumping and screaming. But it was a huge win for us."
"We had too many turnovers," Parkview Coach Al Flanigan said. "We did a good job on the boards, but we were tipping it and not grabbing it. Honestly, we just had a terrible game. ... Everyone of our guys played terrible."
After Allen Flanigan's layup at the 6:15 mark of the third quarter, Parkview held a 39-33 lead and seemed to be back in control, but a 25-footer from Denton jump-started Maumelle's second-half effort. The Hornets scored the Patriots 14-5 in the final 5:10 of the third quarter.
"They kept coming," Al Flanigan said of the Hornets. "Talking to [Parkview's assistant coaches] after the game we were all saying this was like a conference championship or a state championship game. Our guys just don't understand that. You can't just show up."
Parkview got within one point twice in the fourth quarter, but Maumelle took advantage of foul trouble on Patriots' 6-8 post player Airion Simmons to score 12 of its 18 fourth-quarter points on layups.
"That was huge because we count on Airion and Al a lot," Coach Flanigan said. "Having him sitting on the bench is a problem because we don't have backup for him."
Junior Tre Flowers added 12 points and came up with 5 steals for Maumelle while Brahm Harris scored 10 points. Allen Flanigan led Parkview with 17 points while Simmons scored 16 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. Ryan Gordon added 15 points.
Parkview outrebounded Maumelle 38-27 but committed 23 turnovers. Maumelle was 25 of 51 from the floor while Parkview was 21 of 50.
Sports on 01/19/2019