ASHDOWN 69, DREW CENTRAL 40
HOT SPRINGS -- Ashdown was missing their head coach Thursday night, but the Panthers did not miss much else.
Senior guard Deamon Nutt led a balanced scoring attack with 18 points as the Panthers cruised to a 69-40 victory over Drew Central in the boys Class 3A state championship game in front of 3,168 spectators at Bank OZK Arena.
Suspended for Thursday's championship game because he received two technical fouls in Ashdown's semifinal victory over Osceola, Panthers Coach James Smith said he paced the outside of the arena instead of watching or listening to the game.
"I just stayed away from it," Smith said. "I didn't want to hear it so I didn't have to dissect it. I stayed away and paced the floor."
The state title was the first for Ashdown.
While Smith remained outside of the building until the final buzzer, the Panthers (28-2) kept Drew Central bottled up for most of the contest. All five of Ashdown's starters hit 50 percent or better from the floor. Four of them finished with 12 or more points.
"Honestly, we were just quicker than they were," said 6-3 junior Lamar Wilkerson, who finished with 12 points, 4 assists and 3 steals. "We used our quickness to get into a transition and that led to steals."
Wilkerson was out with an injury when the two teams met two weeks ago in the regional championship game. Drew Central won a one-point game.
"He's a real good player, and I know there was a lot made that he didn't play the first time we played," Drew Central Coach C.J. Watson said. "But [senior guard Zeb Trantham) played about five minutes of that game because of foul trouble and [junior forward] Trenton Eubanks didn't play at all in the second quarter. I thought they played with four starters, and we played with four starters."
Eubanks completed a three-point play 15 seconds into the second quarter to give Drew Central (28-7) a 12-9 lead. From there, Ashdown turned it on.
Senior center John Smith drove in for a layup to cut the Pirates' advantage to 12-11. Nutt picked up a steal that led to a three-point play, and Wilkerson followed with another steal and layup. That 7-0 spurt all came in a 26-second span.
"When [Nutt] got the steal and the and-one, you could see in everybody's faces that it was time to turn it up," said Ashdown senior guard Kaiden Hunter, who finished with 12 points and two assists. "We ended up getting more steals and locking down on defense."
Ashdown outscored Drew Central 27-9 in the second quarter to take a 36-18 lead at the half. The Panthers continued that run with an 18-8 third-quarter output.
Ashdown's starters were a combined 21 of 36 from the floor. Overall, the Panthers were 25 of 42 from the floor and 14 of 15 from the free-throw line. Drew Central was guilty of 18 turnovers; Ashdown made 12 steals.
"They just outplayed us," said Watson, whose team was 11 of 34 from the floor. "They were more physical than us. I thought they wanted it a little bit more than us.
"They were well prepared. I thought Coach Smith did a very good job even though he wasn't there. We picked a bad night to have a bad shooting night."
Drew Central was never closer than 25 points in the fourth quarter.
Smith scored 15 points for Ashdown and led his team with five rebounds. Nutt led the Panthers in steals with four.
Eubanks scored a team-high 15 points for Drew Central, and junior Travarus Shead added 10 points and collected a game-high 9 rebounds.
MVP
LAMAR WILKERSON
ASHDOWN
The junior missed the first game with Drew Central on Feb. 23, but he more than made up for it in meeting No. 2. Wilkerson, who averaged nearly 21 points during the Class 3A state tournament, finished with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, with 4 assists and 3 steals for Ashdown. But perhaps his biggest asset was his defense on Drew Central's leading scorer Travarus Shead, who managed just one field goal in the game.
AND ONES
Ashdown hadn't played in a finals game before Thursday. ... Drew Central had won three previous state titles, but the last one came in 1984. ... Both of the Panthers' losses were by one point. ... The Pirates' largest margin of defeat this year was 21 (63-42) to Valley Springs on Dec. 1 before their 29-point thrashing to the Panthers. ... Ashdown dominated inside with 34 points in the paint, and turned 18 Drew Central turnovers into 27 points. ... The Pirates led for just 16 seconds in the game.
At a glance
CLASS 3A BOYSSTATE TOURNAMENT SCORES
CHAMPIONSHIP
Ashdown 69, Drew Central 40
SEMIFINALS
Ashdown 73, Osceola 60
Drew Central 70, Mayflower 59
QUARTERFINALS
Drew Central 45, Booneville 44
Mayflower 58, Harding Academy 54
Ashdown 68, Baptist Prep 66
Osceola 62, Valley Springs 60
FIRST ROUND
Drew Central 73, Rivercrest 65
Booneville 84, Waldron 72
Harding Academy 64, McGehee 62
Mayflower 76, Charleston 67
Baptist Prep 83, Elkins 69
Ashdown 66, Tuckerman 48
Valley Springs 64, Fountain Lake 55
Osceola 59, Helena-West Helena 50
Sports on 03/08/2019