Little Rock Parkview won its home opener Tuesday night in typical Patriots fashion.
It used balanced scoring and pressure defense.
Sophomore Javon Franklin scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds and the Patriots forced 20 turnovers in a 58-24 victory over the North Pulaski Falcons at Charles Ripley Arena.
Seven Patriots scored at least five points, and Parkview's defense held North Pulaski (0-4) to a single field goal in the first half.
Parkview (2-0) opened its season Nov. 18 with a victory at West Memphis but spent the next two weeks waiting for their next opponent.
"We did play hard with a lot on intensity," Parkview Coach Al Flanigan said. "They were sort of tired of beating up on each other in practice. They were ready for a game."
Parkview connected on six of its first nine shots from the floor and raced out to a 23-5 lead after the opening eight minutes. Senior guard Brandon England, who led the Falcons with 13 points, hit North Pulaski's first shot to tie the game at 2-2, but the Falcons attempted only seven more field goals in the half and missed them all.
The Falcons were guilty of 14 first-half turnovers as Parkview built a 38-12 lead by the half.
"We're not very big, and it's hard to simulate the type of pressure in practice that Parkview is going put on you in a game," North Pulaski Coach Roy Jackson said. "It was rough in the first and second quarters, but we kept driving and pushing. I thought our defense looked a little better in the second half. We just didn't find a couple of their shooters a few times. That's something we're going to have to work on every day."
Junior Ryan Pippins scored all 11 of his points in the first half. Senior Braelon Walker scored all 10 of his points in the first half. Freshman Seth Milner scored all eight of his points in the second half.
The Patriots collected only nine points from their starters in the second half while they picked up a combined 15 points from three freshmen. Parkview finished 20 of 43 from the floor and 10 of 22 from the free-throw line. North Pulaski made 7 of 26 from the floor and 10 of 15 from the line.
"We didn't shoot well from the free-throw line and our press was too soft," Flanigan said. "We weren't in attack mode, and when we're not in attack mode we're just a mediocre team."
Sports on 12/03/2014