MAUMELLE 66, MORRILTON 63
Maumelle almost let a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead slip away, but survived two last-minute three-point shots to escape with a 66-63 victory over Morrilton on Tuesday on the Hornets' home floor.
With 5:37 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Hornets held a 62-45 lead. Maumelle (1-0) was outscored 18-4 for the rest of the game, but Joseph Pinion's two missed three-pointers left them in the lead.
After watching his team's lead evaporate, all Maumelle Coach Michael Shook could think of when Pinion took his shots was, "Don't let in go in, please."
"He is really a phenomenal player," Shook said. "As soon as he crosses midcourt, he's open."
Pinion proved Shook's point by drilling a couple of three-pointers from beyond the NBA three-point distance.
"They crash the boards hard and shot real good in the fourth quarter," Shook said. "They worked real hard in the quarter, and we were just lucky he missed those last two shots."
Maumelle started the fourth quarter with a 58-43 lead, then increased it to 17 before things started to fall apart.
"We had a sizable lead, and I was hoping we would work on our offense, take some time and get some good shots while taking time off the clock," he said.
Instead, the Hornets started making mistakes while trying to drive into the middle and losing the ball to a tough Morrilton defense.
Maumelle converted a field goal to make it 64-48 with 4:16 remaining. Over the next four minutes, the Hornets committed five fouls, one of them an offensive foul with 2:47 left.
The Devil Dogs (0-1) started making a push when Pinion hit a three-pointer with 3:57 left. With 2:33 left, Byron Harriman hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to eight.
Brock Hendrix hit two field goals and a free throw in a 15-second span. With 38.6 seconds left, Devin Foster made one of two free throws to pull Morrilton within 64-63.
Maumelle's Riley Wade managed a field goal with 17 seconds left, but Morrilton kept pushing. Devil Dogs Coach Keith Zackery took two timeouts in the time remaining, setting up Pinion for the final shots.
Zackery said Pinion was the one he wanted with the ball in his hands.
"I wish we had played a little better in the first half and that might have made the outcome different," he said. "We practice these things all the time in practice, so we are never out of a game. I just wish he had played less tentative in the first half."
The Hornets scored the first seven points of the game, not allowing Morrilton to score until the 4:29 mark when Hendrix hit a three-pointer. Kaleb Thurman gave Maumelle a 20-13 lead when he hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Maumelle increased its lead to 34-15 with 4:27 left in the first half, then managed to hold a 41-28 lead at the half.
A field goal gave Maumelle a 43-28 lead before Morrilton's Darrius Allison took over and scored the next nine points. Pinion added a field goal, trimming the Maumelle lead to 43-39. The Hornets managed to get the lead back to 58-43 to begin the fourth quarter.
Carl Daughtery had a game-high 21 points for Maumelle while Thurman added 15. Hendrix led the Devil Dogs with 16 points while Pinion chipped in 14.