Curtis White may not be the most identifiable name on the Little Rock Parkview roster, but Patriots Coach Al Flanigan says there is a good reason why the 6-4 junior forward is his team's first option.
White scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in the first half and Parkview broke open a close game early in the second half to turn back Bryant 71-55 in Thursday's opening round of the Jammin' for Jackets Tournament at Cirks Arena.
"Our goal is to always get [White] started first," Flanigan said. "If we don't get him started, he'll just sit around and look. ... I want him to be our first option because we need his jump shooting. We do that because Khalil [Garland] and Javon [Franklin] are going to get theirs."
And Garland and Franklin got theirs. Garland, a 6-5 senior who has signed with the University of Arkansas, finished with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Franklin, a 6-6 senior, picked up 13 points and 8 rebounds for the Patriots (6-1).
Senior guard Romen Martin paced Bryant (4-1) with 18 points while grabbing six rebounds. Senior point guard Calvin Allen added 11 points and handed out five assists. Senior Braylon Steen added nine points and seven rebounds.
Bryant held a 17-7 lead with seven minutes into the contest, fell behind and then rallied to earn a 28-27 halftime advantage when Martin connected on a three-pointer with 30 seconds left before halftime.
The two teams traded leads six times early in the second half before Parkview scored 11 consecutive points to take a 43-33 advantage.
"Parkview's length, size and athleticism is a combination that makes it so hard for us to play in-and-out basketball," Bryant Coach Mike Abrahamson said. "They just really clamped down defensively and made it difficult for us to get the type of shots we wanted."
Bryant was 8 of 28 from the floor in the second half and 17 of 53 for the contest.
"We picked up our intensity and changed our defense," Flanigan said of the Patriots' deciding run. "We finally got our top guys working the right angles. ... Once we got that developed, [Bryant] didn't have anywhere to go with the ball."
Parkview shot 29 of 53 from the floor and the Patriots were guilty of only one turnover for the first 12 minutes of the second half. Parkview held a rebounding 35-28 advantage.
"We started strong and Parkview responds," Abrahamson said. "And then we respond and I was real proud of that. But the second half it was so difficult to get anything inside by the drive or by the pass and we couldn't post up. Parkview just takes up so much space with its size and its length. There's just no where to go a lot of times. Give them credit. They really stepped it up in the second half."
LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL 87,
LITTLE ROCK McCLELLAN 50
Cameron Johnson scored a tournament-high 39 points as Tigers trounced McClellan (1-4).
Central (4-0) plays Parkview in tonight's semifinals.
Johnson, a 6-4 senior, scored 23 of his points in the first half as Central built a 45-20 halftime advantage. He also finished with seven rebounds and two steals.
Senior Raekwon Rogers added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Central, which hit 33 of 51 shots from the floor, including a 6 of 16 performance from the three-point line. Senior Jacobia Platt added nine points.
Marcis Hall led McClellan with 22 points, 12 of which came from the free-throw line. Ian Robinson added six points and nine rebounds for the Lions.
McClellan was 15 of 43 (35 percent) from the floor.
MILLS 64, LITTLE ROCK HALL 61
University of Arkansas signee Darius Hall scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Comets (5-0) held off the host Warriors (4-1).
Mills, which plays Little Rock Fair in the first semifinal game tonight, led by as much as 54-42 before the Warriors made a late run.
Jeremiah Toney led the Comets with 18 points while also collecting five rebounds. Guard Grehlon Easter added 9 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals. Quawn Marshall added eight points and handed out five assists.
The Warriors hit 6 of 9 three-point attempts and finished 17 of 44 from the floor. Issac Beal led the Warriors with 12 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Mario Goggins added 11 points and Tyree Tillman scored 10.
LITTLE ROCK FAIR 51,
EPISCOPAL COLLEGIATE 40
The War Eagles (6-1) scored 23 consecutive points in the first half, then held off the Wildcats (5-2).
Senior Kris Bankston, an Arkansas-Little Rock signee, led Fair with 12 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Mikael Foust came off the bench and added 10 points. Khyron Gilbert scored nine and Daeveon Bankston eight.
Episcopal guard Kamron Brasfield opened the scoring with a three-pointer, but the Wildcats missed their next 14 shots from the floor as Fair built a 23-3 lead. Brasfield and freshman Khalen Robinson each scored 16 points to lead Episcopal.
Fair led 29-13 at the half and Episcopal got as close as 48-40 with two minutes left in the game.
At a glance
Cirks Arena
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
Little Rock Fair 51, Episcopal 40 Mills 64, Little Rock Hall 61 Little Rock Central 87, Little Rock McClellan 50 Little Rock Parkview 71, Bryant 55
TODAY’S GAMES
Episcopal vs. Little Rock Hall, 4 p.m. Little Rock McClellan vs. Bryant, 5:30 p.m. Little Rock Fair vs. Mills, 7 p.m. Little Rock Central vs. Little Rock Parkview, 8:30 p.m.
Sports on 12/09/2016