HOT SPRINGS -- R.J. Glasper could not match Shawn Williams point for point Saturday night, but the Forrest City senior guard certainly did his part.
Glasper scored 40 points, helping the Mustangs erase a 13-point third-quarter deficit to force overtime before finally defeating Maumelle 91-85 in the boys 5A state championship game in front of 6,384 fans at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
Williams finished with 44 points, and he single-handedly outscored Forrest City 16-5 at the outset of the second half to give Maumelle its biggest lead, 59-46, with 4:02 left in the third quarter.
Maumelle still led 67-59 entering the final eight minutes of regulation, but Glasper, a 6-0 senior, scored 21 of his points in the final 12 minutes of regulation to bring the Mustangs back.
"R.J. is a winner," Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton said. "He's the little general and he's got two championship rings in three years. Whenever the ball is in his hands, positive things are going to happen."
Glasper was 14 of 30 from the floor, hitting 5 of 14 three-point attempts and 7 of 9 free throws. He also came up with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
Forrest City (26-3) finished the season on a 23-game winning streak. The championship game victory was its second in the past three season and it was the second game in a row that the Mustangs won in overtime in this tournament. Forrest City edged Hot Springs 70-69 in the state semifinals a week earlier.
"The ship got kind of shaky there for a while, but those guys were able to straighten things out and go get this victory," Lofton said.
Maumelle (25-5) has now lost back-to-back state-championship games.
"Last year, I was just happy to be there, and it was just so exciting to be a third-year coach in the state finals," Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said. "A lot of coaches coach their whole career and don't have that opportunity. But this year, it hurts a lot more. We were here to win, and we came up just short."
Williams made a finals-record eight three-pointers in 20 attempts, was 15 of 33 from the floor overall grabbed seven rebounds and had two assists.
The 44 points by Williams is the second-most scored in a championship game. Antario Glover of Stephens scored 47 points in 2000.
"He's a good player and I knew he'd have a great game," Glasper said of Williams. "But for me, I just wanted to get my team going."
Maumelle, which led for nearly 26 minutes of the game's 36 minutes, took the early lead in overtime when Mike Fuller hit 1 of 2 free throws with 3:41 remaining.
But when Montee Randle popped in a 3-footer at the 3:18 mark, the Mustangs never trailed again. Senior Quazik Vance pushed Forrest City's lead to 86-83 with 2:32 remaining with a short jumper -- his only two points.
Maumelle sophomore Darius Lawrence hit a shot from inside the lane to pull the Hornets (25-5) back to within a point, but it was the last points Maumelle would score.
Glasper made 3 of 4 free throws in the game's final 35.2 seconds to cap the scoring.
There were 11 lead changes in the game with eight of them coming in the final 4:04 of the second quarter. The game was also tied 12 times.
Robinson scored 15 points and had nine rebounds, but after hitting a layup with 3:59 remaining in regulation to give the Hornets a 72-70 lead, he fell hard on his left knee. Trainers iced Robinson's knee, but the 6-2 guard never re-entered the contest.
"Tremont does everything for us, he's the all-around guy," Shook said. "He rebounds, he defends, he scores. ... So it was a big blow having him go down."
The injury to Robinson allowed Forrest City to double-team Williams, making it a little more difficult on him.
"With him, everything is on line," Lofton said. "They might not go in, but those jokers [shots] were on line. So we started doubling, getting the ball outta his hand."
Senior Tyler Hall added 12 points and nine rebounds for Maumelle.
The end of regulation featured an exchange of three-pointers by the game's top players.
Glasper hit a 24-footer with 51 seconds to play in regulation to give Forrest City an 82-79 lead. Twenty seconds later, Williams responded from 23 feet for an 82-82 tie.
Glasper missed a running 10-footer in the final seconds of regulation.
Forrest City hit 3 of 5 field-goal attempts in the four-minute extra period. Maumelle was 1 of 6 from both the floor and the free-throw line.
The victory came 14 months after Lofton suffered a series of strokes that caused him to miss the second half of the 2014-2015 season,
Lofton was almost in tears when he was asked what this season meant for him.
"I can't even imagine," Lofton said. "This one is special, it really is."
Sports on 03/13/2016