RUSSELLVILLE -- No. 3 seed Lake Hamilton battled as it kept up with 5A Central No. 2 seed Maumelle for a single-point lead at halftime in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament, but a third quarter push from the Hornets earned them a 48-38 win at Cyclone Arena in Russellville.
Senior Adjani Winston came out primed as he put up all of Lake Hamilton's first quarter points.
"I think he had 16, 17 of our 20 [points at halftime], and he played exceptionally well," Lake Hamilton head coach Scotty Pennington said. "He was in attack mode like he had done earlier times. ... He's had some games like that, and he did a good job."
"I'll give them credit in the second half," he added of Maumelle. "They made some adjustments and really tried to keep him out of the lane. They kind of did for the most part and forced us to do some things outside, and we weren't able to hit enough perimeter shot to overcome that."
With both teams executing 3-point plays within the first minute, Maumelle senior Tre Flowers buried back-to-back 3-pointers to grab the lead, but Winston put up 6 straight up points to knot the score, 9-all. At the 2:30 mark, senior Jayvain Menifee surveyed the floor as he connected with sophomore Carl Daughtery on the wing to push ahead by 3.
Winston cut the spread with a pair of free throws before senior Courtney Lawrence hit a short jumper for a 14-11 Maumelle edge.
As Josh Denton opened the second frame with a field goal, the junior fouled Alex Milstead as he converted from the free throw line to pull within 3. With 4:02 until the break, 6-6 junior Dreshaun Doyne broadened the spread by 2 until Winston fired away with a trio of layups for 19-all.
A free throw with 39.4 seconds on the clock from Milstead gave the Wolves their only lead of the half.
"On paper, we're 5-10, 6-0, 6-1, 6-4," Pennington mentioned. "They're 6-7, 6-8, 6-4. You just don't match up. ... They're probably more athletic than us in almost every spot other than Adjani. So for our kids to be in the game and to give themselves a chance to win and compete says a lot about our heart and how hard they play. They did everything we asked them to do. We wanted to slow the tempo, and we did that. The score was low, and they're a high-scoring offensively potent team, and I thought defensively we did a good job of stopping them."
The Hornets surpassed Lake Hamilton immediately in the third with a 3-point play by senior Taylin Banks, kickstarting a 6-0 run as sophomore Chase Jessup broke the stretch with a free throw. After sophomore Cade Robinson exited the floor due to an injury, freshman Zac Pennington showcased his varsity promotion with a trey, but another 6-0 spurt by Maumelle made for a 32-24 deficit.
Another Pennington trey with 2:28 left paired with a set of free throws from Winston trimmed the deficit as senior Mason Matthews added two from the line for a 5-point spread going into the final frame. Maumelle increased their lead on a 9-3 stretch before Pennington and classmate K.J. McDaniel sank back-to-back jumpers to pull within 43-36.
The Hornets finished out the match with a 5-2 spurt, taking advantage of the Wolves having to foul in order to get the ball back.
"We just weren't able to get enough defensive rebounds in the third quarter, and I think the difference in the game was when they had 4 or 5 possessions in a row where we maybe turned it over and they got two or three shots cause of offensive rebounds and were able to convert those and get a 5, 6, 7-point lead," he said. "We're not built to come from behind against a team that's that athletic. So we really needed to stay ahead as long as we could, but we had some turnovers."
Winston led all scorers with 20 points and three rebounds. Pennington added 10 points, and Milstead tallied 3 points, six board, and two assists. Senior Malique Hill put up 2 points, two boards and an assist, McDaniel finished with 2 points and a steal, and Jessup rounded out scoring with 1 point, seven boards, two takeaways, and a block.
Banks paced the Hornets with 13 points, and Flowers had 11.
Maumelle will play Jonesboro, the four-seed from the East conference, in the quarterfinals today at 8:30 p.m.
Sports on 03/05/2020