Little Rock Hall made 29 of 33 free throws, including 16 of 17 by senior guard Maurio Goggins, to pull out a 73-62 victory Tuesday on its home floor in a 6A/5A-4 matchup against Little Rock Christian.
"We were actually trying to control the tempo of the game," Hall Coach Jon Anderson said. "We were thinking [Justice] Hill wanted to play fast, so we wanted to control the pace that he played at, and I think for the most part we did.
"As a whole, I was actually pleased with our effort. My goal before the game was to just get us to play as hard as we could possibly play. And I thought at some points during the game we played with a lot of intensity, a lot of heart, and our key word was play with guts."
Hill, a 5-11 sophomore who is an Arkansas Razorbacks commit, led Little Rock Christian (8-4, 0-2) with 18 points, including 10 in the final quarter when his team was making a late push.
Little Rock Christian trailed 47-35 going into the second half but tried to use full-court pressure to get back into the game, but as close as it could get was seven points. In the final quarter, Hall (8-5, 1-1) was 7 of 8 from the field and hit 14 of 15 from the free-throw line.
"We were not strong with the ball. They trapped us a lot, and I think that is what everyone in the conference is going to try and do,'' Little Rock Christian Coach Clarence Finley said. "When you turn the ball over, they turn into points, and then at the end we had to foul and they just knocked them down."
Goggins led Hall with 24 points, and Isaac Beal had 20. Beal made all six of his free throws. Tyree Tillman pitched in 12.
Little Rock Christian's Mykail Moore finished with 17 points, including a pair of three-pointers in the final quarter.
Little Rock Christian took a 4-0 lead, but Hall closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run as the visitors hit just 1 of 11 shots and had 5 turnovers.
Hall finished with 15 offensive rebounds and Beal had four dunks.
Sports on 01/11/2017