LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock Parkview didn’t need star forward Aaron Ross to take any drama out of Little Rock Central’s season-opener Tuesday night at Tiger Fieldhouse.
The Arkansas signee didn’t score until more than six minutes into the game, and by that time his floater in the lane merely capped a run of 12 consecutive points that gave the Patriots a 10-point lead.
The margin never dipped below nine points and grew to 34 in the fourth quarter in Parkview’s 71-38 victory.
“Ross is who he is. We know who he is, and everybody else knows who he is,” Central Coach Oliver Fitzpatrick. “But they’ve got a whole lot more over there than Aaron Ross. We were concerned about their whole team.”
But the 6-8 Ross still made an impact.
The senior scored 25 points, pulled down 7 rebounds and had two powerful, crowd pleasing dunks, the second of which capped Parkview’s 11-0 run that spanned the end of the second and beginning of the third quarters to push the lead to 40-14.
But it was a trio of speedy guards who scored 10 consecutive points after Central’s Tre-Von Wilkerson’s jumper served as a game’s opening bucket.
Imara Ready, Anton Beard and Adoyi Emanual made it 10-2, thanks to the early spurt, and the three combined to score 36 points to help support Ross.
“I’ve got guards that can push the ball. I’ve got five guys that can run,” Parkview Coach Al Flanigan said. “We hope to get out to a good start each and every game.”
Parkview (3-0), which lost in the quarterfinals of the Class 6A state tournament last year, never let the Tigers (0-1) mount much of a run.
Their only significant spurt came in the third quarter, when Anthony Black made two three-pointers and Wilkerson added a basket in a minute’s span. But Central then was trying to chip away at a 20-point lead.
Black led the Tigers with 13 points, while Wilkerson added nine.
LR PARKVIEW (71) Ross 9 7-8 25, Ready 4 6-7 15, Beard 4 3-6 11, Emanual 5 0-0 10, Burnam 3 0-0 6, Camp 2 0-2 4. Totals 27 16-23 71.
LR CENTRAL (38) Black 4 2-2 13, Wilkerson 4 1-4 9, Jones 2 0-0 5, Nichols 2 0-1 4, Griffin 1 0-0 3, Felder 0 2-2 2, Pride 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 6-11 38.
LR Parkview (3-0) ...................16 17 18 20 - 71 LR Central (0-1) .......................7 7 17 7 - 38 Three-point goals - Central 4 (Black 2, Griffin, Jones); Parkview 1 (Ready). Team fouls - Central 18, Parkview 17.
GIRLS LR PARKVIEW 60, LR CENTRAL 44
Roshunda Johnson scored 11 of her game-high 22 points in the first quarter as the Lady Patriots ran away from the Lady Tigers.
Breanna Johnson added nine points and Sharley Burris scored eight for Parkview (4-2), which led 32-14 at halftime.
Shawneesi Arnold led Central (2-2) with 13 points. Jamie Ruffins added 10.
Sports, Pages 25 on 11/24/2010