MALVERN -- Malvern staged a late comeback, but Fountain Lake held on for a 48-46 win over the Leopards Tuesday night at the Leopard Center.
"I thought we got off to a good start, then played flat for about three quarters," said Fountain Lake head coach Jake Dettmering. "A lot of mental mistakes, a lot of just low energy -- we weren't very tough for three quarters."
With Fountain Lake (13-1, 3-0 4A-7) leading 32-25 after three quarters, Malvern (2-5, 0-2) began to find its way back into the game. Senior Braxton Allen hit a 3-pointer before Fountain Lake senior Jon Farley had a layup and dish to classmate Asa Westerman to maintain an 11-point lead.
Malvern junior Jacoby Lock drained a pull-up jumper, and Allen banked in another 3-pointer moments later to pull within 44-35. With 3 minutes to play, the Cobras' last 4 points came off free throws from Farley and sophomore point guard Colby Lambert as the Leopards went on 11-point run.
Junior Elijah Mitchell banged in a trey off a pass from Allen before junior Carter Martin converted a 3-point play to pull within 6 with 59.8 sec on the clock. Allen had a putback before Martin hit a 3-pointer with 6 seconds remaining.
The Cobras' chance to ice it fell short following two missed free throws, allowing the Leopards a final chance. Allen's 21-foot jumper, however, bounced off the rim at the buzzer to give Fountain Lake the victory.
Malvern head coach Jess Martin said the team lacked focus at times throughout the match.
"You know, you can't lose focus for a minute or two," he said. "Each possession's obviously valuable, but we can't win the game in the first quarter, but I felt like we lost it in the first quarter to score 2 points in the first quarter. We gave up a couple of open looks to their guys that, you know, we had talked about for the last couple days on who we were going to guard. Number 1 (Lambert), you know, he got loose on us. And we had a couple of guys that weren't normally starting play tonight because we try to get some of these other kids some experience and, you know, they lost track, and it ended up costing us.
"But all that being said, you know, we had a chance to win a game at the end of the fourth there. We got lucky, and they missed a couple of free throws, and we did everything right at the end of the game but, you know, we just couldn't get the shot to go down. And that's the kid (Allen) that we want to shoot the ball obviously. ... Our kids played hard. You know, I can't fault their effort. We've got to mature a little bit, and obviously we've got to get a little bit tougher."
The Cobras went on a 13-2 run in the opening frame, led by Lambert's three 3-pointers. Lock started off the second quarter with a basket before he and Allen helped put Malvern within three points at the half.
"I told them they had a great first quarter and a lousy second quarter -- that we need to play more consistent," Dettmering said about his conversation in the locker room. "We've just got to do a better job at playing consistent and closing out a game."
Upping the pressure with a full-court press in the third, the Leopards had more baskets come from Lock along with sophomore Cedric Simmons, though Lambert, Farley and junior Landin Kizer kept Fountain Lake with the advantage with buckets. Breaking the press, Kizer found Farley down court for the easy layup with 55 seconds left in the third for a 7-point lead.
Lambert led the Cobras with 11 points, three rebounds, one steal and one assist. Farley and Kizer added 8 points apiece with Farley grabbing seven rebounds, a steal and two assists and Kizer tallying four rebounds, four assists and a steal. Drakes finished with 7 points, three rebounds and two assists, sophomores Evan East and Kobe Combs each had 4 points with East adding a pair of rebounds and a pair of steals and junior Michael Moore added 2 points, two rebounds and a block.
Allen led the Leopards with 17 points and six rebounds followed by Lock with 11 points, two rebounds and an assist. Simmons added 7 points, five rebounds and a steal, Martin had 6 points, seven rebounds and one assist and Mitchell had 5 points with a rebound and a steal.
Fountain Lake will play DeQueen (4-8, 0-3) on the road Friday night while Malvern heads to Hope (1-0, 1-0) on Friday.