PEARCY -- Lake Hamilton took control of the game early and never relented as the Wolves cruised to a 60-47 victory Thursday night at Lake Hamilton Wolf Arena.
The Trojans (19-11) were able to garner just seven points in the opening 13 minutes of play as the Wolves (24-4) took the opening dominance and never let their advantage drop below 10 after the 3:00 mark of the opening quarter.
"I thought we handled their pressure a lot better than we did the first time and handled the moment a little bit better," said Lake Hamilton head coach Scotty Pennington. "We finished at the rim a little bit better.
"The game was called a little bit tighter, especially in the first half, than it was over there, and that favors us. With the style that they play, they want it to be physical and let you play and that kind of thing. It helps their pressure be even better. That definitely helped."
Hot Springs looked to get control early, winning the tip and putting up its first shot just five seconds into the game, but Eddie Miles' shot, like Santair Thomas' 20 seconds later, would not fall. Thomas was fouled on his bucket attempt, sending the sophomore to the free throw line to make the first two points of the game.
Buckets by Clyde Hill and Lane Kersey gave the Wolves the lead with 5:57 to go in the opening quarter, kicking off a 16-0 run to the end of the period for a 16-2 lead by the home team.
The run continued through the 4:57 mark as the Wolves stretched their advantage to 21-2. Hot Springs finally put points back on the board at the 4:30 mark to cut its deficit to 17. The Trojans mustered an 10-4 run to pull within 25-14 with 1:42 remaining.
"I thought, defensively, in the first half, especially in the first quarter, holding them to two points, was big," Pennington said. "It kind of set the tone for the game. I give them credit because they don't have any quit in them. Their kids play hard. They fought to the very end. When they could have laid down at times, they didn't. They really came back and fought us hard."
The Wolves pulled to a 28-14 lead with 29 seconds left on the clock, but a layup by Walker cut the deficit to 12 just before the buzzer for Lake Hamilton to take a 28-16 advantage into the locker room.
"Lake Hamilton had more energy than we had," said Hot Springs head coach Rodney Echols. "We weren't up for the task; Lake Hamilton was. We got off to a very, very slow start. It was the first time all season we didn't have a field goal in a quarter.
"We continued to fight, but we couldn't make shots early, and we couldn't get things going our way. We're not hanging our heads. We've got conference tournament next week. We just wanted to get out of here without any injuries or things of that nature."
Lake Hamilton jumped out to a 32-16 lead with 1:12 off the clock in the second half, but a trey by Miles cut the deficit to 32-19 just 20 seconds later.
Hot Springs hit another scoring drought as the Wolves rolled on a 7-0 run to set a 20-point buffer with 1:36 remaining in the third.
A bucket by Kaleb Hughley pulled the Trojans within 18, Thomas hitting one of two at the charity stripe to make it 39-22 with 1:09 remaining. After Hill sank a jumper around the 1:02 mark, Thomas responded with a layup to set the spread at 17 once again, but Kersey made a layup with eight seconds left to give Lake Hamilton a 43-29 lead entering the final frame.
The Trojans pulled within 13 by the 6:35 mark in the fourth period, Thomas sinking a bucket and completing a three-point play with Latrell Ellis contributing two.
The Wolves stretched it out to a 56-38 lead with 2:36 to go, but Hot Springs was able to pull within 13 with 28 seconds remaining before Lake Hamilton held on for the win.
"We didn't do anything right tonight," Echols said. "Give credit to them. They had more energy; they were into it. We had this game originally scheduled for Friday, and it kind of sparked us there. We had to change our practice plans for the week. Kanaan and Clyde did a great job on the boards, on the offensive glass on their end. We're going to bounce back."
Kersey and Williams paced the Wolves with 15 points each. Williams picked up a double-double with 10 rebounds and an assist. Kersey had eight boards, two assists and a steal. Mondo Watkins added 11 points with eight boards, two assists and a steal.
"We were very balanced," Pennington said. "I think we had three or four guys in double-figures. A lot of that is because of the way that they play. They force multiple guys to have to do something. They did a good job of moving the ball, being unselfish, when they trap to get it to somebody else and then attack and give it up again and get layups.
"We had moments where we went a little stir crazy for a minute or two, but then we'd get our mind back and settle down and make it more of a basketball game. When we did that, we got good shots."
Thomas led the Trojans with 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals.
"He's been the leading scorer all season long," Echols said. "He got off to a slow start. I think he scored 12 or 13 in the second half. We had a sense of better energy in the second half, but we dug ourselves a big hole and it was hard to climb out of. Lake Hamilton made plays where they needed to, and they dogged us on the 50-50 ball all night long."
Miles and Ellis each added seven, Miles with one steal and a rebound.
Hot Springs struggled to get shots to fall, sinking just 15 of 54, 27 percent, while the Wolves sank 22 of 48, 45 percent. The Wolves also dominated the glass, pulling down 31 rebounds, 21 of those on the defensive end, while Hot Springs had 18 total rebounds.
"This is the best rebounding team I've ever had," Pennington said. "This is the most athletic we have ever been.
"Kanaan and Mondo are elite level athletes. Lane is a really good athlete, a lot better than people realize. We did a good job there. We are going to need to do that Saturday with Siloam because they are really small and not half as athletic as those guys are."
Both teams struggled at the charity stripe. The Trojans hit just 13 of 23, 56 percent, while Lake Hamilton sank 62 percent, 15 of 24.
The Wolves play host to Siloam Springs (7-21) at 3 p.m. this afternoon at Wolf Arena in the first round of the 6A-West conference tournament.
The Trojans will face De Queen (2-22) in the first round of the 5A-South conference tournament at Trojan Fieldhouse. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
Sports on 02/17/2018