LITTLE ROCK — Down by 11 at the end of the first half, the Bryant Hornets rallied to cut the Little Rock Hall Warriors’ lead to 2 points a couple of times in the second half. And they trailed just 56-53 with 1:42 to go. But the Warriors pushed their way to a 64-53 win over the Hornets in the semifinals of the Jammin’ For Jackets tournament at Hall’s Cirks Arena on Friday night.
It was a rugged contest.
Battered, bruised and bloody, the Hornets, now 5-1 on the season, will play Little Rock Parkview in the third-place game at 4 p.m., on Saturday as Little Rock Mills defeated the Patriots 95-72. The Comets will take on Hall for the championship.
“I was proud of our guys for fighting back that way,” said Hornets coach Mike Abrahamson. “(Hall) is a big, strong, physical, experienced team. That’s something we had not seen to that degree yet.
“That’s going to be a good experience for us, to make us better,” he asserted. “Going through that experience — with bloody noses and other things — and our kids responded. I’m not happy but it is something to build on.”
Junior Rodney Lambert suffered the bloody nose early in the second half. Sophomore Khalen Robinson led the Hornets in scoring with 19 points, though he appeared to injury a wrist or hand in the second half.
“To his credit, he wanted to lead us,” Abrahamson said of Robinson. “Not in a selfish way but he just felt like he needed to step up and be a leader on the court as someone that has played high level AAU against older kids, and he was probably more comfortable earlier than our other guys on the team against them.”
Lambert finished with 15 points and freshman Camren Hunter added 10.
Bryant scored the game’s first two baskets. Robinson scored inside then Lambert made a steal and knocked down a mid-range jumper.
Hall was paced by Gregory Johnson’s 21 points and Kevon Cooper’s 16. Guard Jonathan Coleman added 12 on a trio of 3-pointers and three free throws.
Cooper got the Warriors started with a pair of baskets then Johnson scored off a drive to give them a 6-4 lead.
Robinson nailed a 3 to put Bryant back on top. Hall’s Montavious Dismuke hit two free thorws the Lambert hit a pair for the Hornets to make it 9-8. But, from that point on, the Warriors outscored the Hornets 20-8 the rest of the half. Bryant wound up shooting just 20 percent from the floor (5 of 25) in the first half. But it wasn’t until the final 1:21 of the half when Johnson slammed one home and Cooper followed moments later with an offensive rebound basket that the margin reached double-digits.
“I thought we probably should’ve gotten one or two more reversals,” Abrahamson said. “At halftime, we talked about, you know, the first guy with any glimmer of daylight was trying to shoot it and, if we would just go two or three more passes, drive it and kick it, drive it and kick it, we’d get something open and comfortable.
“I thought we did a better job of that the second half but, to Hall’s credit, they close off space so fast,” he noted. “They’re big, strong, physical and fast. Our guys thought they were open and they weren’t. We got some better looks in the second half with a couple more passes.”
Hunter hit a free throw and Chumley got a layup off a feed from Robinson to start the second half. Cooper answered but a three-point play by Lambert made it 30-23.
Momenst later, Lambert hit the deck taking a charge but caught an elbow to the nose, just one instance in which the Warriors started a drive with a forearm extended.
It was 34-25 when the Hornets started their initial rally. Robinson drove and was fouled at the 12:22 mark. He converted then, after a Hall miss, drove for a layup. Cooper answered again but Robinson hit a free throw and, when his second shot missed, Hunter ran down the carom and drove for a basket to make it 36-32.
Bryant forced a Warrior turnover and Robinson cashed in with a pair at the line to cut the margin to 36-34 with 9:57 left. A three-point play by Johnson was countered by Hunter’s 3 from the top of the key off a nice drive and dish by Robinson, making it 39-37 with 9:34 left.
A 3 by Coleman kept the Warriors in front and every time Bryant made a bid to tie it or go ahead, Hall answered.
The lead grew to 52-44 by the 4:23 mark but, after a timeout, Deron Canada, who was plagued by foul trouble much of the night, took a pass from Robinson and hit a 3. At the other end, Johnson picked up a deflected shot pass and slammed it home. But Robinson produced a 3 and the Hornets were within 54-50 at the 3:22 mark.
Jared Smith scored on an offensive rebound for Hall but a three-point play by Lambert with 1:42 to go had Bryant within 56-53. Chumley and Lambert combined on a steal to give the Hornets a chance to cut it to 1 or to tie it. But Robinson drove the lane, was knocked to the floor and had his shot blocked.
Johnson was fouled and continued the Warriors perfect second half at the line. They were 12 of 12 at the line after the intermission. Johnson wound up scoring 8 points in the final 1:05 of the game to extend the margin of a much closer game.
WARRIORS 64, HORNETS 53
Score by halves
BRYANT 17 36 — 53
LR Hall 28 36 — 64
HORNETS 53
Hunter 3-7 3-4 10, Robinson 6-17 5-7 19, Chumley 2-11 0-0 4, Lambert 4-7 7-8 15, Canada 1-5 0-0 3, Merriweather 0-1 0-0 0, Hilkert 0-0 0-0 0, Wallace 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 17-49 (35%) 15-19 (79%) 53.
WARRIORS 64
Madison 1-5 0-0 2, Cooper 8-9 0-2 16, Smith 1-6 2-2 4, Johnson 7-14 7-7 21, Coleman 3-8 3-3 12, Dismuke 0-0 2-2 2, Peterson 3-5 1-2 7, Miller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-47 (49%) 15-18 (83%) 64.
Three-point field goals: Bryant 5-20 (Robinson 2-7, Hunter 2-2, Canada 1-5, Chumley 0-4, Merriweather 0-1), Little Rock Hall 3-11 (Coleman 3-7, Johnson 0-4). Turnovers: Bryant 8, Little Rock 13. Rebounds: Bryant 6-17 23 (Chumley 2-4 6, Hunter 1-4 5, Wallace 1-4 5, Canada 1-1 2, Robinson 1-0 1, Lambert 0-1 1, team 0-3 3), Little Rock Hall 8-30 38 (Johnson 2-10 12, Smith 3-5 8, Cooper 1-4 5, Madison 0-4 4, Coleman 0-3 3, Peterson 1-1 2, Miller 0-1 1, team 1-2 3). Team fouls: Bryant 15, Little Rock Hall 15.
