Jonesboro makes most of its momentary leads

Jonesboro held a one-point lead on two occasions for a combined 10 seconds Friday.

That was all the time the Hurricane needed to upend North Little Rock, and Jonesboro Coach Wes Swift wasn't going to apologize for his team's unlikely win.

"Just a gutty win. I'm really proud of my guys," Swift said. "I just told my guys, 'We've lost games like this. We're not giving this one back.' "

Marquis Eaton banked in a 5-footer at the horn to give the Hurricane a 65-64 victory over host North Little Rock.

Eaton's game-winner offered a fitting capstone to a gutsy rally. The 6-foot-2 junior received the ball in the backcourt with eight seconds remaining, split a double-team near the top of the key, lost the ball momentarily, corralled it among a mass of prying hands and pivoted through the confusion into a nearly uncontested 5-footer.

The bucket completed Jonesboro's rally from 12 points down in the final 6:20 and kept the Hurricane (12-2, 3-0) undefeated in 7A/6A-East Conference play.

"I didn't think, I just reacted," Eaton said of his final basket. "We just know we're going to keep fighting. We weren't going to lose because we gave up effort.

"There's something about us, it doesn't faze us. We like the big moments, and we just pulled away at the end. It's never over 'til the clock goes out."

North Little Rock (7-8, 1-2) jumped out to a 10-0 lead and didn't trail until there were 33 seconds remaining in the game. The Charging Wildcats briefly got the lead back on Deion Dobbins' bucket with 25 seconds left, but free throws haunted them in the final minutes.

North Little Rock missed seven of its last eight from the line -- including two with a chance to go up three prior to Jonesboro's final possession. It went 13 of 30 from the line in the game.

Eaton, who finished with a game-high 20 points, had 12 in the fourth and Jonesboro's last eight. His acrobatic finish with 33 seconds left culminated in a three-point play that gave the Hurricane a 63-62 lead.

North Little Rock led 31-27 at halftime, but Jonesboro tied the score twice. A three-pointer from Adrian Moore sparked a 9-4 run to close the third quarter, giving North Little Rock a 45-36 lead.

Jonesboro fell behind 12 on Morris Talbert's three-point play with 6:49 left and still trailed 57-48 with 3:36 remaining. But the Hurricane converted successive three-point plays from Trey Lane and Marcus Hunter to pull within 59-54 with 2:32 remaining.

Moore had 19 to lead North Little Rock, while Talbert added 15 and Jarvis Ricks scored 14.

Sports on 01/16/2016

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