Little Rock Parkview didn’t need any late-game heroics to beat Fort Smith Northside this time.
Jaylen Franklin made sure of that. The junior guard scored a game-high 23 points and pulled down seven rebounds as the top-ranked Patriots punished the Grizzlies from the second quarter while cruising to a 61-40 victory Friday night at Charles Ripley Arena.
Daryl Macon scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half for Parkview (22-1, 12-0), which turned in a dominating defensive effort to push its winning streak to 14 games. Sophomore guard Ryan Pippins added 9 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Keyshawn Dorsey scored 11 points to lead Northside (17-7, 8-3), which had won six games in a row since its 50-48 loss to Parkview on Jan. 24. The Grizzlies stayed with the Patriots throughout that game and believed they let a victory slip away at home.
Parkview didn’t allow the Grizzlies to hang around this time.
“They didn’t slip out of here in this one,” Parkview Coach Al Flanigan said. “We played a pretty good game, but I wasn’t happy at all early on and I let them know that. I had to re-energize them again during a timeout and let them know that we needed to step up, play big and go at them like they were going at us.”
Northside took it to Parkview early as it took a 4-2 advantage after beating the Patriots to the punch on driving baskets. After Joe Dye drove past a pair of Parkview defenders and found Tyler Triplett for a layup with 5:19 to go in the first quarter, Flanigan signaled for a timeout and immediately grabbed his team’s attention.
The Grizzlies extended their lead to 11-4 before the Patriots began trapping at every turn, forcing turnovers to get back in it.
Pippins’ bucket inside started a 10-2, quarter-ending rally for Parkview. Northside turned the ball over five times in the second quarter and made just 3 of 15 shots. Franklin outscored the Grizzlies by himself in the quarter, finishing with nine points to help the Patriots take a 28-21 lead into halftime.
Parkview scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter and harassed Northside into 1-of-10 shooting over the first four minutes to put the game out of reach.
Sports, Pages 22 on 02/22/2014