Jaylen Franklin's steal and layup with 10 seconds remaining allowed Little Rock Parkview to sneak away with a 54-51 victory over Mills in Thursday's opening round of the Jammin' for Jackets Tournament at North Little Rock.
With the Patriots trailing 51-49 with 21 seconds left, Franklin hit the back end of a two-shot foul to pull Parkview to within a point. After Mills was forced to take its final timeout when it couldn't find an open man on the ensuing inbounds play, the 6-2 senior guard picked off a high pass at midcourt and immediately cashed in on the Comets' mistake with a driving layup.
Prior to his last-minute heroics, Franklin had been held to one field goal in the second half. He finished with 11 points.
"It came down to who wanted it, and [Jaylen] wanted it," Parkview Coach Al Flanigan said. "He had been standing around watching the game all night, but he decided to pick it up there at the end."
Mills (5-1) appeared primed for the upset with 3:15 left when sophomore Jeremiah Toney connected on a three-pointer that gave the Comets a 48-46 lead with 3:15 to play. Forty seconds later, sophomore Darius Hall scored on a putback to push the Comets' lead to 50-46.
The Patriots (4-1) clawed back thanks to a defense that allowed the Comets only one more field-goal attempt the remainder of the game.
"[The final 21 seconds] or one more timeout, either one," Mills Coach Raymond Cooper said. "We've got a young team, but God love 'em, they compete hard and they're not in awe of anything, anyone or any situation. They make some mistakes, but they give you everything they've got."
Parkview made the comeback with two starters on the bench. Junior forward Ryan Pippins, who led the Patriots with 17 points, collected his fifth foul with 3:09 to play. Sophomore forward Javon Franklin, who had five points and five blocks, had fouled out 48 seconds earlier.
"Every game this year we've had trouble with that," Flanigan said of his team's foul problems. "I had Ryan and Javon sitting by me. I told them, 'We have enough assistant coaches, I don't need you over here with me.' "
Jaylen Franklin was fouled on his layup with 10 seconds to play. His attempt to complete the three-point play was off target, but Khalil Garland chased down the rebound and threw a pass to Darius Elliott, whose layup at the buzzer set the final margin.
"If we would have played the entire game like we did the final two minutes, it wouldn't been close," Flanigan said.
Toney led the Comets with 19 points. Senior guard Cameron Ricks scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Hall finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Garland finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
MILLS (51)
C. Easter 0 0-0 0, Allen 0 2-4 2, Ricks 6 0-1 12, Toney 6 5-7 19, Hall 3 3-4 9, G. Easter 0 0-0 0, Davis 0 2-2 2, Ware 2 0-0 4, Jones 1 0-0 3. Totals 18 12-18 51.
PARKVIEW (54)
Walker 0 0-0 0, Jay. Franklin 4 2-5 11, Pippins 5 5-6 17, Jav. Franklin 1 3-4 5, Garland 4 4-8 12, Baker 0 0-2 0, Stokes 0 0-2 0, Henderson 2 2-4 6, Miller 1 1-2 3, Elliott 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 17-33 54.
Halftime -- Parkview 27, Mills 20. Three-point goals -- Mills 3 (Toney 2, Jones), Parkview 3 (Pippins 2, Jay. Franklin). Team fouls -- Mills 25, Parkview 21. Fouled out -- Toney; Jav. Franklin, Pippins.
EPISCOPAL 64,
LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 49
Mahlon Martin connected on four three-pointers and Martin and Kelvin Robinson finished with 18 points each as the Wildcats (2-0) defeated the Tigers.
Episcopal held a 16-12 lead with four minutes left before halftime but finished the half with a 32-21 advantage. The Wildcats led by as many as 26 points inthe second half.
Allie Freeman added nine points for Episcopal. Donald Richardson led Central with 12 points, while teammate Kelton Wilbert scored all 10 of his points in the first half.
CENTRAL (49)
Means 0 0-0 0, Wilbert 3 4-4 10, C. Johnson 3 2-3 8, Rogers 3 2-2 8, McFadden 2 2-3 6, Richardson 6 0-0 12, Dennis 1 0-0 3, Claxton 0 0-0 0, Moore 0 0-0 0, B. Johnson 0 0-0 0, Jackson 1 o-0 2, Glason 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 10-12 49.
EPISCOPAL (64)
Robinson 7 3-9 18, Martin 6 2-2 18, Baker 0 0-0 0, Brasfield 1 1-2 4, Freeman 4 1-1 9, Becton 1 0-0 2, Owens 2 0-0 4, C. Gooseberry 3 1-4 7, J. Gooseberry 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 8-18 64.
Halftime -- Episcopal 32, Central 21. Three-point goals -- Central 1 (Dennis), Episcopal 6 (Martin 4, Robinson, Brasfield). Team fouls -- Central 15, Episcopal 15. Fouled out -- Rogers.
Sports on 12/12/2014