Little Rock Parkview made three-point basket after three-point basket Thursday night at Ripley Arena, and there was nothing Maumelle could do to stop it.
"I'll tell you," Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said, "Parkview is obviously a fantastic team, and when Parkview is making shots, I'd be willing to bet that Parkview is the best team in the state, or at least in 5A."
"Fourteen threes? To go along with their defense. They're a hell of a team."
The result was an 85-61 victory for Parkview (19-3) and a rematch with Sylvan Hills tonight to determine the No. 1 seed out of the 5A Central.
Maumelle (18-5) plays host to Jacksonville with the winner earning the No. 3 seed in next week's state tournament at Hot Springs High School.
Early on, it was difficult to envision how the game would turn into a Parkview rout.
Maumelle was the team making its shots, leading 24-16 after the first eight minutes.
The Hornets led 31-21 with 5:53 left before halftime, and Parkview kicked into gear.
Junior forward Cam Wallace was the catalyst, scoring 16 of his 19 points in the second quarter -- two slam dunks and four three-point shots -- and Parkview outscored Maumelle 21-6 over the final 5:27 to take a 42-37 halftime lead.
"They started making shots, we stopped making shots," Shook said. "That's the name of the game, making shots."
Parkview performed with assistant John White calling the shots on the sideline as head coach Scotty Thurman was restricted to watching the game on streaming video from his office.
Thurman was serving a one-game suspension for an incident that occurred at the end of last Friday's last-second loss to Sylvan Hills.
"We still played our game," White said. "Organized chaos."
White said he had to remind his players to keep playing after Maumelle's fast start.
"I told them we took their best punch," White said, "and it was time to give them ours."
Parkview made six three-pointers in the second quarter and four more in the third quarter, outscoring Maumelle 49-18 over a span of 13:53 to turn a 10-point deficit into a 70-49 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
"We definitely shoot a lot of threes in practice," White said, "and it's starting to equate to the game."
Parkview never let up, even after tempers flared on the court midway through the third quarter.
It took quick action by both coaching staffs to stave off what could have been a full-scale brawl.
"It got a little heated," Shook said. "I'm just glad we got out of here without any fight, or anybody getting hurt."
White said the incident was unfortunate.
"We just have to learn that sometimes that happens, but we can't react," White said. "We just want our game to do our talking."
The Patriots spoke loudly, avenging an 85-80 loss to Maumelle in early January.
Four Parkview players -- Nate Coley, Keylon Harris, Dallas Thomas and Wallace -- scored between 15 and 20 points.
Harris led the Patriots with 20, Wallace 19 and Coley and Thomas had 15.
Harris and Wallace each hit four three-point shots, Thomas 3, Jaylen Thomas-Miller 2 and Coran Littrel had 1.
Maumelle was led by center Nico Davillier with 19 points and 14 from Josh Denton.
Shook said he believes Thurman has instilled a defense-first approach that benefits the Patriots' offense.
"Scotty's done a good job of building a foundation with that defense, it doesn't matter whose coaching them," Shook said. "The guy coaching them tonight, he did a good job ... they beat us. But it wouldn't have mattered who was over there.
"They've got some dudes, they've got some athletes. With the guys they've got over there, if they shoot that well, they're going to beat anybody."
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