LR MCCLELLAN 80, LR FAIR 65
PARAGOULD -- Little Rock McClellan has apparently found a third offensive threat just in time for the state championship game.
Junior guard Raymond Harris scored 22 points in leading the Crimson Lions to a 80-65 victory over rival Little Rock Fair in Tuesday's semifinals at the Class 5A boys state basketball tournament.
Senior Keith Hayes and junior Andre Jones have led the Lions offensively all season, but Harris sparked McClellan on Tuesday by intercepting passes at midcourt and turning them into layups.
"I told Raymond he can never sit back and be an average player again after the way he stepped into the passing lanes today," McClellan Coach Chris Threatt said. "Now I'm expecting that kind of effort every game."
McClellan advances to Saturday's 6 p.m. championship game against Maumelle at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs.
McClellan (23-6) scored the game's first eight points, never trailed and led by 27 points in the third quarter. It was the Lions' third victory in four games against the War Eagles this season.
"You're not going to beat them by sleight of hand," Threatt said, referring to Fair. "You have to outplay them."
Fair's Nick Jones gave the War Eagles (19-11) a chance. The junior guard scored 19 points and grabbed five rebounds.
McClellan, however, had too much firepower.
Not only did the Lions pick up 22 points from Harris, but junior forward Andre Jones had 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. McClellan's Davon Johnson added 10 points and five rebounds; Hayes was held to nine points, but he also managed three steals.
McClellan came up with 13 steals; Fair had six. The Lions were 28 of 48 from the floor and made 22 of 36 free throws. Fair was 20 of 44 shooting and 22 of 32 from the line.
For Fair, junior guard Jerrick Cole added 13 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Sophomore Kris Bankston managed only one point and two rebounds in the first half, but finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals.
MAUMELLE 59, HOT SPRINGS 57
Senior guard J.B. Minix scored 20 points and the Hornets (23-8) posted their second come-from-behind victory in as many days and defeated the Trojans (23-6) in Tuesday's second semifinal game.
Maumelle hit nine consecutive free throws late in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
"J.B. has been a spark for us all year," Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said. "He's tough to defend and his three-point shot was falling tonight."
Maumelle overcame a 34-25 deficit against Jacksonville to earn a 51-49 quarterfinal victory Monday.
Hot Springs, led by Exavian Christon's nine first-half points, led by 11 points in the second quarter and held a 33-26 advantage at halftime.
But Hot Springs went the first 11 minutes of the second half without a field goal -- missing its first eight attempts -- and scored only six points in the third quarter.
Maumelle scored the first six points of the fourth quarter before the two teams started a tug-of-war that eventually came to an end when Maumelle began to take advantage of its free throws.
The teams traded leads four times before four consecutive free throws by sophomore Tremont Robinson and senior Tyshun Robinson gave the Hornets a 55-51 lead. The lead grew to 57-51 when Blake Conner added a putback with 1:07 left.
Tremont Robinson, who finished with 18 points, hit two more free throws with 33 seconds left to cap Maumelle's scoring. Hot Springs scored the final five points, the last coming on a three-pointer at the buzzer by Anthony Gaffigan.
Tyshun Robinson finished with 12 points for Maumelle.
Christon led Hot Springs with 17 points and senior Kennedy Corder 10 and junior Trey Lenox 9.
Sports on 03/11/2015