LITTLE ROCK PARKVIEW 79, BENTON 50
Leading by four points after the first quarter, Little Rock Parkview took a second-quarter lead, watched Benton trim it, played even with the Panthers in the third then shut the door in the fourth with the first 12 points of the quarter to take a 79-50 5A-Central victory at Ripley Arena on Friday night.
The Patriots (10-2, 4-1 5A-Central) led by 12 points entering the final quarter, then outscored the Panthers (3-3, 0-2) 30-13 in the final quarter.
"We got a little more aggressive in the fourth quarter," Patriots Coach Scotty Thurman said. "Benton figured out our zone press, then we switched it up in the fourth quarter to a man and were able to take advantage of that."
Thurman said the Patriots try to hold teams to 60 or fewer points and was successful doing that Friday.
"But there are some areas in which we need to get better, but we were able to play a lot of players tonight and that was one of our goals," he said.
Several bench players came through for Parkview with Dallas Thomas getting notice from Thurman.
"He was in there a little in the third [quarter] then came out in the fourth and really helped us," Thurman said.
The Patriots started slowly in the first quarter and were trailing 11-7 at the 3:40 mark. Parkview was able to tie the game 11-11, then Benton's Chase Ramsey sank a three-pointer for a 14-11 lead with 2:27 remaining.
The Patriots then scored the next seven points for an 18-14 lead after the first eight minutes.
Parkview scored the first seven points of the second quarter, running out to a 23-14 lead with 6:03 left.
The lead grew to 29-16 before five points from Russ Hooks trimmed the Parkview lead to 35-21 with 5.7 seconds left.
The Panthers came alive in the third quarter, outscoring Parkview 16-14, but the Patriots still managed to open the fourth quarter with a 49-37 lead.
That was as close as Benton would get. The Patriots quickly built their lead to 61-37 with 5:07 left in the game. Benton finally scored at the 4:29 mark, but managed only eight more points in the final quarter, while the Patriots doubled that for the final margin.
Thomas was the ringleader for Parkview, hitting two of the Patriots four three-pointers in that quarter while scoring eight points.
Cameron Wallace had a game-high 21 points for the Patriots, while Kaylon Harris had 12 and Thomas had 11. For Benton, Cameron Harris and Hooks had 11 points each.
GIRLS
BENTON 53, LITTLE ROCK PARKVIEW 48
The Lady Panthers took advantage with strong defense in the third quarter, holding the Lady Patriots to only five points in breaking open a 27-27 game at the half for the victory.
The Lady Panthers' defense allowed them to start the final quarter with a 38-32 lead, but by the 4:41 mark, Parkview had tied the game 44-44 and increased that to 46-44 with 3:49 left.
A field goal by Isis Isom gave Parkview its last lead at 48-47 with 2:52 remaining. Benton scored the final six points to secure the victory.
Alyssa Houston had a game-high 28 points for the Lady Panthers.
Jasmine Davis and Isom each had 15 points to lead Parkview.