Fort Smith Northside had an answer for Little Rock Parkview's constant pressure.
The Grizzlies (8-4) relied on senior point guard Shakari Jones to negate the Patriots' pressure as the Grizzlies defeated Parkview 63-51 victory at the Holiday Hoops Invitational in North Little Rock.
"He was 100 percent the difference," Northside Coach Eric Burnett said. "You take him away from our team, and we are probably going to struggle against pressure like that. Shakari was the difference maker for us.
"He just did a great job handling the basketball for us."
Jones finished with 19 points, including 12 in the first half, and received scoring help from Keyshawn Dorsey, who made 3 three-pointers and finished with 13 points. Deondre Phillips chipped in eight points and Stephon Barron and Dedric Patterson had seven each.
Parkview (5-3) led 10-8 with 3 minutes left in the quarter, but Barron was fouled on a basket inside and made the free throw to give Northside an 11-10 lead at the 2:54 mark. Northside took off from there on a 9-0 run at it built a 17-10 lead going into the second quarter.
Parkview pulled as close as 22-19 midway through the second quarter, but Northside took off on a 14-0 run as it built its lead to 36-19 going into the half.
The Patriots never cut the lead to fewer than 10 points in the second half, and Northside's largest cushion was 47-27 late in the third quarter.
"Keyshawn Dorsey has been shooting the ball extremely well,'' Burnett said. "I think he knocked down three or four of them, but they were big shots when we needed them.
"I felt like our zone caused them some problems, and we knew that if we controlled the boards we had a chance. I felt like we did a good job."
Javon Franklin scored 18 points to lead Parkview. Jaylen Franklin scored 11 and Ryan Pippin had 10.
MONTICELLO 77,
MORRILTON 62
Junior forward Deverick Franklin scored a game-high 22 points and Monticello hit its first five field-goal attempts of the fourth quarter to propel the Billies over Morrilton on Saturday morning in North Little Rock.
Monticello (6-0) hit 27 of 47 shots from the floor, outrebounded Morrilton 37-19 and took advantage of 9 steals to end the Devil Dogs’ six-game winning streak.
Monticello never trailed in the second half, but the Billies’ lead was cut to 54-51 at the end of the third quarter when Morrilton’s Marcel Swinton hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer. Monticello scored 10 of the fourth quarter’s first 14 points, and Morrilton never recovered. Marcel Swinton led Morrilton with 19 points. Chave Zackery added 16 points and four rebounds.
Monticello guards Sadaeys Miller and Tyree Nolen provided the Billies with plenty of offensive punch.
Miller scored 16 points, handed out 8 assists and grabbed 7 rebounds. Nolen scored 17 points and had a team-high four steals. Randy Stanley and Dontavia Clary had seven rebounds each.
— Tim Cooper
Sports on 12/21/2014