CONWAY — In a year with a lot of talented Arkansas high school seniors, Micah Delph made a case Monday night that he should be included.
Delph, a 6-0 senior guard, hit a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Conway Wampus Cats a 56-53 victory over the Searcy Lions at the Buzz Bolding Arena.
Delph’s shot was the only field goal attempted in the overtime and it gave him a game-high 23 points.
“Micah is a super, super player and a super kid,” said Conway Coach James Bates, whose team improved to 2-0. “He comes to play every night. When the ball’s in his hands you feel like something good is going to happen more often than not.”
Searcy (3-1) never led but sent the game into overtime when Chris Blakley hit his team’s only three-pointer with 5.3 seconds left in regulation.
The Lions trailed 40-25 with 4:14 remaining in the third quarter before they began to come back. Ole Miss signee Jamal Jones led Searcy with 15 points while Casey Wilmath added 14.
Delph, who also had five steals, scored 16 points in the game’s first 20 minutes, but he was limited to two free throws and a layup during the final 12 minutes of regulation.
“He’s their catalyst,” Searcy Coach Jim Summers said of Delph. “He makes a lot of things happen. Once we switched and decided to go [to a man defense] in the second half, I thought Jamal did a good job of keeping him from getting to the rim.”
Searcy held the ball for most of the overtime, but the Lions committed turnovers on both of their possessions, the last coming with 13.9 seconds to play.
Delph’s game-winner came from the left side of the top of the circle.
“The only thing I was worried about was what to do if they came and trapped me,” said Delph, who also hit a three-pointer to end the first half. “But they laid back and they let me come off the screen. I was like ‘I’m going to make this.’ ”
With Searcy out of timeouts, the Lions had no chance to set up a second game-tying shot.
“You knew he was probably taking that last shot at the end,” Summers said. “I felt like if we picked him up full court he was going to get us at a run so we thought we would get back and be solid at it. He just came off and hit a tough shot.”
Conway 6-6 center Colt Fason added 11 points, including a three-pointer to end the first quarter. Xavier Clardy led the Wampus Cats in rebounding with eight.
Blakley led Searcy with nine rebounds and seven assists.
SEARCY (53) Wilmath 4 6-9 14, Blakley 3 0-0 7, Jones 4 7-10 15, Stegall 3 1-2 7, Powell 4 1-2 9, Hopper 0 1-2 1, Arnold 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 16-25 53.
CONWAY (56) Delph 8 5-6 23, Guiden 2 0-0 4, Reed 2 4-7 8, Clardy 1 0-2 2, Fason 5 0-0 11, Sims 1 0-0 2, Davis 2 0-0 4, Boyd 0 0-0 0, Leon 1 0-2 2. Totals 22 9-17 53.
Searcy (3-1) ........................9 15 12 17 0 - 53 Conway (2-0) .....................16 14 12 11 3 - 56 Three-point goals - Searcy 1 (Blakley); Conway 3 (Delph 2, Fason). Team fouls - Searcy 14, Conway 18. Fouled out - Stegall.
Sports, Pages 22 on 11/30/2010