Sylvan Hills sophomore guard Nick Smith is the guy Coach Kevin Davis wants shooting free throws with the game on the line.
Smith scored 20 points Tuesday night in the Bears' 69-67 victory over Maumelle at Sylvan Hills' Bear Den, including 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.
Eight of those free throws came in the second half, including four in the final 20.1 seconds when the Bears (12-3, 3-0 5A-Central) were trying to fend off one final rally by the Hornets (12-4, 2-1).
"I just trust myself," Smith said. "I know what I can do, and I know what I can't do. So free throws, that's easy. I've been doing them since I was like 6 years old. It's a piece of cake for me."
Smith said he rarely has negative thoughts, no matter how pressurized the situation.
"I don't think at all, I just do it," he said.
Davis said there was no question who he wanted at the line late, especially with senior guard Jaaron Harriott out with an injury Tuesday night.
"I thought he upped his scoring punch there in the second half," Davis said of Smith, who scored 16 of his 20 in the second half. "I thought he really handled that well. He saw opportunities in the break to get all the way to the rim. He really busted their defense a lot."
Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said he has scouted Sylvan Hills enough to know that Smith was the last player he wanted to put at the line during the final minute, and the Hornets even had a chance to foul senior center Danny Cartwright for a moment with the Bears leading 67-65 and 12.1 seconds to play.
Maumelle trapped Smith against the sideline, and he fed the ball back to Cartwright, but Maumelle could not get its hands on Cartwright before the ball went back to Smith, who was fouled with 8.1 seconds remaining. His free throws made it 69-65, but Maumelle wasn't done.
Jayvian Menifee drove the length of the court in less than five seconds and was fouled as he banked in an improbable layup to make it 69-67 with 3.4 seconds to play.
Shook said the plan was for Menifee to make the free throw and then call a timeout, but Menifee missed. Maumelle regained possession when the ball was batted out of bounds with 1.2 seconds to play.
Shook said he wanted to use three-point shooter Josh Denton (11 points, 3 three-pointers) as a decoy and loft the ball in front of the basket for a possible tip. Sylvan Hills did not take the bait.
"I said they're going to throw the lob," Davis said. "We've got to be prepared for the lob. That was just an intuition there."
Menifee looked for Dreshaun Doyne (12 points), but Cartwright (10 points, 7 rebounds) knocked the lob away to run out the clock.
"They did a good job defensively," Shook said. "Credit to them."
Davis said it was necessary for Sylvan Hills to switch to zone on occasions against the relentless Hornets to stay out of foul trouble.
"If we stayed man to man, that score easily could have ended up in the 80s and 90s," Davis said, "the way Maumelle plays. They're wound so tight. And they're going after everything. If you use your ball fakes, you can do some things that can help you."
The lead, and the momentum, switched dramatically throughout.
Maumelle led 32-24 with 4:20 to go in the first half but ended up trailing 37-36 at halftime.
Maumelle scored the first seven points of the second half to lead 43-37 with 4:12 to play in the third.
Sylvan Hills finished the third quarter outscoring Maumelle 19-6 to lead 56-49, and the Bears never trailed again.
The Hornets were down by eight with less than two minutes to play, but they still had a chance at the end.
"That's what we kept telling them when we were down," Shook said. "We've got a chance. We've always got a chance."
GIRLS
SYLVAN HILLS 70,
MAUMELLE 50
Four Sylvan Hills players scored 10 or more points to lead the Lady Bears (12-4, 3-0 5A Central) to a victory over the Lady Hornets (5-12, 1-2).
Daniya Cartwright (16), Shayla Golden (15), Jayla Stirgus (15) and Jada Williams (10) led the way for Sylvan Hills, which outscored Maumelle in each quarter and led 37-24 at the half.
Maumelle was led by Ronniah Akins (15), BreKayla Davis (14) and Kennedi Borkins (11).
Sports on 01/22/2020