About the time Tuesday's action at the King Cotton Holiday Classic wrapped up, the schedule for championship on Wednesday was all set.
And then it changed.
No more was a potential meeting between Pine Bluff and Watson Chapel. Although both teams were placed in the King Bracket, the goal of King Cotton organizers was not to allow crosstown or conference rivals to square off unless they reached the championship round.
Pine Bluff had won one of two games at King Cotton going into Wednesday, and Watson Chapel was looking for its first win in this year's edition.
"We said from the beginning, the local teams -- there are rules in place," tournament director Samuel Glover said, referring to state athletic association policies restricting inner-conference rivals playing outside of the nonconference schedule.
"There are a certain amount of times they can play each other. When you have too many teams from the same conference in a tournament, you don't want them playing each other unless, of course, they are in the championship."
Pine Bluff and Watson Chapel, however, no longer compete in the same conference for sports other than football. Pine Bluff competes in the 5A-South and Watson Chapel plays in the 8-4A.
Wednesday could have been the only time the Zebras and Wildcats met in basketball this season. Instead, Watson Chapel defeated Shreveport Calvary Baptist Academy 26-25 and Pine Bluff lost to Raymond (Miss.) 58-53.
Glover, a former state track champion at Pine Bluff High School, said fans weren't coming to see old rivals clash again.
"They've come to the King Cotton Classic to see competition they haven't seen so they can get better," he said.
"Pine Bluff and Chapel is not making either team better."
Watson Chapel Coach Marcus Adams said he didn't request the change, but he also didn't complain about how Wednesday's slate turned out. Pine Bluff Coach Billy Dixon was not immediately available after his game Wednesday, but Dixon typically prefers to compete against bigger-name teams to prepare for conference play.
The schedule was also changed to allow for 15 more minutes in each game in hopes of finishing by 10 p.m. Monday's action wrapped up with the Pine Bluff-Antioch (Tenn.) Cane Ridge game finishing at 11:52 p.m., but Tuesday's games did not run nearly as long.
"If anybody was here, you saw that when you're putting on a production – it's not just a basketball game, it's a full-out production with an actual production team," Glover said, referring to the pay-per-view camera crew and other personalities hosting in-house interviews and fan-interaction games during breaks.
"We have 35 people on the production team. With that being said, there are a lot of different things added in like commercial breaks, timeout breaks where you add in lights, the fanfare, the pageantry. That takes time in the schedule."
Magnolia won the Creed Bracket championship, 67-58 over Little Rock Parkview. University of Arkansas signee Derrian Ford scored 29 points and was named tournament MVP.
Beaumont (Texas) United and North Little Rock played in the King Bracket final at Commercial press time.
Shreveport Huntington 66, Goose Creek Memorial (Texas) 64
DeCedric Webb's layup with 15.8 seconds to go put the Raiders in front, and a 3-point basket by Dariyon Williams would not fall as time expired, giving Huntington third place in the Creed Bracket.
Webb led the Raiders with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Rayshun McCullar had 16 points and Devin Myers added 14 in the win.
Dariyus Woodson scored 24 points to lead Baytown Goose Creek Memorial.
Sam Bradford finished with 13 points, and Brian Samuel had 10.
St. Louis Cardinal Ritter 69, Chicago De La Salle 60
Robert Lewis registered 25 points and 10 rebounds and Braxton Stacker scored 20 points and made 4 steals in powering the powerhouse Lions to third place in the King Bracket.
Ritter (4-5) shot 52.3% (23 of 44) from the floor and made 20 of 26 free throws.
DaJuan Bates scored 36 points for De La Salle, the second time he surpassed 30 points at King Cotton. He had 35 against Baytown (Texas) Goose Creek Memorial and 28 against Fort Bend Hightower.
St. Louis Christian Brothers 62, Antioch (Tenn.) Cane Ridge 55
Coach Justin Tatum's Christian Brothers College High School Cadets (7-4) shot 50% exactly from the floor in all but the second quarter.
Robert Martin led the Cadets with 19 points and 4 assists, and Kendal Hutson totaled 11 points and 6 rebounds in the win.
Kelvin Lusk led Cane Ridge (8-6) with 15 points, while Brandon Miller added 13 and Kalil Mustapha had 11.
Magnolia basketball players receive the Creed Bracket championship trophy under a burst of confetti Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, after defeating Little Rock Parkview 67-58 at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. North Little Rock and Beaumont (Texas) United played in the King Bracket championship. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)