Forrest City absorbed a three-point punch to the gut when Little Rock McClellan's Malek Robinson hit a last-second shot to force overtime Tuesday night at the Lions Den.
The shot stunned the Mustangs, but only momentarily.
Forrest City scored the first four points in overtime, led by as many as five in the extra period, and held on to beat McClellan 83-80 in a 4A-5 game.
"There comes a time when you just have to win a ballgame," Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton said. "Good teams find ways to win, even when everything's going bad."
Forrest City (5-3, 3-0) won despite making eight fewer three-pointers and half as many free throws.
"Our philosophy was, it's going to take a lot of three-pointers to beat us," Lofton said.
McClellan Coach Chris Threatt said the Lions settled for three-pointers early, when Forrest City jumped out to a 16-9 lead, but the Lions started whipping the ball around the perimeter and outscored the Mustangs 27-17 over the final 8:31 of the first half to take a 36-33 halftime lead.
"I don't know mind us taking threes if it's coming off dribble penetration and they're at least looking to attack," Threatt said. "I thought early, everything was stationary. I thought when we got moving, the game changed. It became more of a war of attrition."
McClellan made 7 of 12 three-pointers in the first half.
Demetrious Torrance had two of the first-half three-pointers, and he led the way with six in the end. Two of Torrance's three-pointers in the second half were at least 5 feet behind the three-point line, including one that gave the Lions (4-2, 0-1) a 68-65 lead with less than one minute to play in regulation.
Forrest City scored the next six points to take a 71-68 lead, but Robinson tied the game after the Lions inbounded the ball at midcourt with 4.2 seconds to play.
The ball went to Robinson because Forrest City did its best to deny Torrance a seventh three-pointer.
"He shoots the ball well," Threatt said of Torrance. "If his feet are set, we're comfortable wherever he is. If he steps into it, I'm fine with him taking that anytime he's open."
Lofton could only shake his head when asked about trying to guard Torrance in the second half, when he scored 17 of his game-high 27 points.
"You don't defend stuff like that," Lofton said. "You're going to win some and lose some that way."
Forrest City won by driving to the basket over and over, led by Ta'Darius Dale (25 points) and Randall Moore, who scored 20 points without making a three-pointer.
Threatt said he was not surprised by Forrest City's perseverance, but he also praised his team, which was playing without two starters because of illness and injury.
"I felt like both teams felt like if we had a couple more seconds, we're going to win," Threatt said. "We just ran out of time."
Sports on 12/12/2018