Marquise Pointer made all the difference for Jonesboro on Friday night.
Pointer, a senior point guard, scored 34 points as Jonesboro defeated North Little Rock 64-57 in a battle for first place in the 7A/6A-East Conference at Charging Wildcat Arena in North Little Rock.
"It was two really good basketball teams going at it," Jonesboro Coach Wes Swift said. "I just thought Marquise Pointer was the difference. I thought he was aggressive from the first quarter through."
North Little Rock Coach Johnny Rice was equally impressed.
"He knows how to step up and make plays, and that's what good players do," he said.
Jonesboro (19-4, 10-0) led 29-20 after senior guard Jarma Perkins hit a three-pointer with 30 seconds gone in the third quarter, but five minutes later North Little Rock (17-6, 8-2) took its first lead, 34-33, on senior guard K.J. Hill's three-pointer.
A free throw by Pointer gave Jonesboro a 45-39 lead with 6:49 left in the game, but North Little Rock scored the next five points and was within 45-44 after Kambrion Dickerson's three-pointer at 5:50.
North Little Rock was within 50-48 after free throw by Dickerson with four minutes left, but Pointer and Jonesboro began to pull away.
Pointer was fouled on a successful layup attempt through heavy traffic in the lane with 1:25 left, and his free throw gave Jonesboro a 59-50 lead.
North Little Rock wasn't finished as Hill countered Pointer's effort with a three-point play of his own to cut Jonesboro's lead to 59-53 with 1:16 left.
Turnovers on Jonesboro's next two possessions led to a slam dunk by North Little Rock senior center Sam Dunkum and a free throw by junior guard Adrian Moore that pulled North Little Rock to within 59-56 with just under a minute left.
North Little Rock had a chance to tie when Perkins dropped the ball to Hill in Jonesboro's backcourt, but Perkins reversed course and poked the ball loose from Hill directly to Pointer.
Pointer was fouled immediately and hit both free throws to give Jonesboro a 61-56 lead with 44 seconds left. North Little Rock was held from that point to one unsuccessful field-goal attempt as Jonesboro padded its lead.
"Every time it would get tight, it was Marquise making the play, whether it was getting to the free-throw line, finding a teammate or scoring himself," Swift said. "It was just a really good basketball game by one of the best players in the state."
Sports on 02/14/2015