Jumping out with a strong drive out of the gate Wednesday night at Trojan Arena, Hot Springs capitalized on the early momentum to take a 56-51 win over Lakeside and secure a state playoff spot next week on their home floor.
"I mean, it's definitely been exhausting these last four games, and I'm proud of my team, proud of my coaching staff, I'm proud of my A.D. (Hot Springs athletic director Rodney Echols), my assistant A.D. Josh Smith and our community for showing up the way they did tonight," said Trojans head coach Antoni Lasker. "I want to thank the (Arkansas Activities Association) for moving everything to 50% capacity. We were able to get a little bit more, a few more fans in here, so that was good. But man, it's well -- I'm kind of at a loss for words, but I feel good about (the team)."
With the win, Hot Springs (13-13, 7-7 5A-South) secures a 4-seed and will play Russellville (18-6, 12-1 5A-West) on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament. Lakeside (18-7, 9-5) will also play in the tournament for the first time in head coach Eddie Lamb's 4 years at the helm.
"We feel good about our seed either way, two or three, but saying that, we were trying to win this game 1,000% like we do every time we play, but hats off to Hot Springs," he said. "They played really good early. I thought we played really good the second half. We missed some easy shots down the stretch, but overall our kids fought hard."
After junior Jabari West led the Trojans to a 19-10 edge heading into the second quarter, Rams sophomore Tyler Frederick nailed his second 3-pointer of the night as Lakeside made a quick run. Senior J.J. Walker answered with a drive to the rim for the Trojans as Lakeside senior Caleb Campbell came back with another trey.
The Trojans continued hitting with shots coming from Walker, West and sophomore Dante Grayer to go into the second half up 30-22.
Frederick continued to be on target in the third frame, sinking two more treys as the Rams eventually pulled within 3 going into the final 8 minutes of the game.
Both teams continued trading shots in the fourth as Campbell and junior Taevon Johnson added baskets for Lakeside as the game wound down with Walker and West continuing to hit for the Trojans. After West hit an inside jumper with 24.5 seconds remaining for a 54-47 lead, Campbell hit a 3-pointer as Walker capped the win with two free throws.
Lasker noted the key to the win was solid defense and stopping Campbell the best they could. He said that with West and Walker playing as well as they have, he feels confident about the state tournament next week.
"We played a team game and then when you have two studs like J.J. Walker and Jabari West, you're going to always have a chance to win," he said. "So having those two back and playing together, we're going to be a tough team to beat moving forward.
Lasker gave special credit to West for his performance.
"Earlier in the year I talked about J.J. Walker after we beat Lakeside the first time, and so I'm going to (recognize) Jabari West," he said. "To all the college coaches out there that's not giving this man his just due, to all the coaches in the state -- Y'all need to come down to Hot Springs, Ark., and give Jabari West a visit. He is a walking double-double. And he has one more year left, and he's only going to get better. And so Jabari's just going to continue to be him. He's a gym rat, and the work that he puts in everyday showed up tonight. And that's why you get 20-20 games -- when you put the work in."
West recorded his second consecutive double-double to lead the Trojans with 23 points, 21 rebounds, three blocks and an assist. Walker added 14 points with six boards and a pair of steals, Nasir Hannah had 10 points, two boards and three assists, Dante Grayer had 5 points with three rebounds, and Devren Brown and Adrian Conway each had 2 points, with Brown adding three boards with two assists and Conway adding four boards with one assist.
Campbell led Lakeside with 21 points, five rebounds, three steals, three assists and two blocks. Frederick followed with 14 points, six boards and a pair of assists, Johnson had 8 points and three rebounds, Seth Poindexter had 5 points, nine boards and a pair of steals, junior Alveon Harris had 2 points with one board and senior Logan White had 1 point with four rebounds.
