England tops Dragons 64-62

HOT SPRINGS - Heartbreak and a colossal disappointment are apt descriptions of what Junction City experienced against the England Lions.

With the Class 2A state title at stake, the Dragons were unable to walk away as the victor losing a nail-bitter 64-62 at Bank of Ozarks Arena Saturday afternoon.

"This was a tough ballgame," Junction City coach Kendall Hutcheson bluntly stated.

This contest left both teams and their fan bases emotionally drained as the two combatants presented an elite effort. And as a result, this game had a finish that will not be forgotten anytime soon.

With 25.7 seconds remaining in regulation and England ahead 62-60, Monte Toney had a chance to extend his team's lead from the free-throw line. But, the forward missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and Junction City's Jamario Bell quickly grabbed the rebound and tossed the ball up the floor. From that point, it didn't take long for the Dragons to tie the game. Once Randall Holyfield received the ball, he drove down the baseline and easily made a layup tying the game at 62 with 14.8 seconds left to play.

On England's ensuing possession, Tyrik Harris quickly dribbled down the side of the floor. Just as he crossed half-court - Holyfield fouled the senior point guard.

"Randall hit a great shot to tie the ball-game, he was hustling down the sideline and just didn't get out of the way good enough," Hutcheson said.

Suddenly, there were 13.3 seconds remaining in regulation and Harris had a chance to give his team the lead. That's exactly what he did, calmly draining both shots to help the Lions grab a 64-62 advantage.

"Coach has had us shoot free throws for 30 minutes in every practice. We've always worked on that 1-and-1 situation, down by one or two," Harris stated. "I've just been practicing hard and staying focused. And I knocked them down when I needed to."

Following the second made shot from Harris, Junction City got the ball in play and crossed halfcourt before Hutcheson called a timeout with 10.3 seconds left to play.

Once the hiatus was complete, Junction City's first inbounds attempt was knocked out of play by England. However, with 9.6 seconds remaining in the game, the Dragons were successful in their second quest to get the ball in play.

Eventually, Bell received the ball and he attempted a short jump-shot near the base-line. But, the shot softly bounced off the rim as an immediate battle for the ball began. And with players from both teams on the ground battling for possession, a jump ball was called. The arrow gave England another possession with a shade under three seconds left on the clock.

Initially, Bell was confident that his short jumper would fall through the goal.

"I looked at it when I shot it. I felt like it was going in," he said. "It was a normal shot that I usually shoot that goes in. It just didn't go in (during this game)."

After a timeout, England was hindered by a turnover when Grayson knocked the wouldbe inbounds pass off the leg of Xavier Iverson, who was attempting to get the ball in play.

"I told them don't panic, we still got a shot left. We're not going to quit right here," Hutcheson said. "We put Ty on the ball to give us some length to throw over. I really expected them to throw it to the other end of the floor to Thompson. Make us try to go the length of the floor with a secondand-half left. But they didn't. I think their kid froze just a little bit and wasn't sure what Ty was doing. Ty did a good job. We got another opportunity."

There were now under two seconds remaining in regulation as Junction City (30-2) would soon receive its final chance to take the lead or tie the game.

But, England wouldn't allow such a thing to unfold.

On the inbounds play, the ball was lobbed toward the direction of Bell and Grayson, who were both positioned in the lane. But, England's Brandon Thompson - a 6-6 sophomore - jumped high in the air and tapped the pass toward the opposite end of the floor as time expired, giving the Lions a dramatic 64-62 victory.

"I was just nervous that they were going to get a last (second) tipped shot in because Bell and Grayson are so athletic and get up so high," Scott admitted. "I give all the credit to (Thompson). I didn't have to tell him to jump up and smack that ball out the air. He knew to knock it to the other end of the court so time would expire."

Thompson acknowledged that his big-time defensive play was a matter of reacting quickly.

"I kind of knew they were going for that lob. I was just worried about them trying to come in and dunk on my head," Thompson said. "When he threw the ball in ... I just instantly thought to knock it out the air to the other end of the court."

Hutcheson credited Thompson for simply stepping up during an intense situation.

"We worked on that play for 10 minutes the other day," he said. "We knew what we were doing. We ran the play right. The pass was just a little shorter than what we wanted and he was able to get a hand on it.

"If the pass is two feet further Jamario (Bell) is probably catching it and has a wide open jumper and it probably leads to overtime. It wasn't rushed. We knew what we were doing. It just didn't execute like we wanted."

The Dragons got off to a whitehot start in this affair offensively as each of their first 12 points of the game were the result of making shots from behind the threepoint line.

England used a 1-2-2 and a 2-3 zone packing the paint, challenging the Dragons to excel at shooting from the perimeter. To its credit, Junction City was able to shoot well enough to carry a 19-15 lead into the second quarter.

Later in the first half, England built a 22-19 cushion when Thompson converted a traditional three-point play. The Lions would lead by as much as four. However, England's advantage eventually evaporated when Jovantay Rogers tipped in a missed shot with just over a minute left in the second quarter tying the game at 28.

In the closing seconds of the first half, England had a golden opportunity to claim a halftime lead but it failed to make a pair of point-blank shots. At the intermission, the score was tied at 28.

During the second period, Junction City was unable to continue the hot shooting. Meanwhile, England was patient offensively and continued to do a quality job of limiting Junction City's transition scoring.

At the start of the third, Junction City tried its best to quicken the pace. The Dragons administered a half-court trap to try and force England to make a few mistakes, but it did not produce the desired result.

The Lions were able to handle the pressure resulting in several easy points in the paint being scored. Junction City was also hindered by being reckless offense in the third. As any good team will do, the Lions took advantage by twice building a lead of nine points.

But, the Dragons received a spark from Bell who scored his team's last four points of the third. The senior stole a lazy pass and converted it into an easy layup just before time expired in the third, cutting the Lions' lead to 49-45.

"When we got down by nine, a lot of teams would've packed it in," Hutcheson said. "But this bunch has always kept fighting, fighting, fighting, find a way to get back in it."

Junction City would later tie the game, but was unable to regain the lead in a frustrating twopoint loss to the Lions (30-4).

"I'm really, really proud of these guys. At the end of last season, when we got put out in the semifinals, they set their goal to win the state title the next year and they've been fighting, and working ever since," Scott said. "I'm extremely proud of them for succeeding and following through on the goal they set."

Among the keys to England's triumph is it held its own in the paint, according to Scott.

"These guys did a great job fighting for rebounds," the coach said. "Junction City is just super athletic, they're strong, they're physical and they are a powerhouse in 2A - so this is a really big win for us."

Additionally, England was able to keep Junction City from making it a fast pace game. Scott's team competing with poise on offense, along with following a specific order when on defense - also set the stage for the Lions to earn the victory.

"We sent two guys back each time to try and slow the transition. I told my guys we cannot let it become an up-tempo game and win. We sent two guys back every time defensively to try and slow their transition down," the coach said. "Offensively, I told the team to be patient and not get flustered. I explained to them that if they get a steal and a monster dunk, we cannot get flustered. We have to continue to break the press and do what we do."

Throughout the season, Junction City has depended heavily on dominating the paint and controlling the pace of a game. However, Hutcheson's squad was unable to do either against England. Also, the Dragons struggled at the free-throw line. Each of the aforementioned factors came back to haunt Junction City.

"The first half we came out shooting the ball really well. We didn't attack the paint as well as we wanted to in the first half. We never really got the tempo going like we wanted to," the coach said. "Ultimately, it came down to going 5-for-15 at the free throw line. You have a two-point game at the end and you left too many free throws on the floor that hurts.

The Lions are an outstanding squad which played a great game, Hutcheson added.

"England, they're a quality team. They're a very good defensive team. They're going to play really hard. They're very athletic. They did everything we thought they would do."

England's scoring leader was Harris, the game's MVP, who finished with 23 points. Thompson compiled 18, and Toney scored

14.

For Junction City, Bell and Holyfield led the way in scoring as both finished with 13 points apiece. Meanwhile, Evans and Grayson amassed 12 points each.