HALL TOO MUCH FOR MARION LATE

It took a little longer than he had hoped, but Little Rock Hall Coach Jon Coleman finally got what he wanted out of his team Saturday against Marion. Maurio Goggins scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half as the Warriors shook off a slow start to beat the Patriots 63-46 at Cirks Arena in the third-place game of the 6A-East Conference Tournament. "Anytime we're able to get a win, it's definitely better than the alternative," Coleman said. "Our main goal was to come out and execute, but instead we came out flat on both ends of the floor, and that's never a good thing. But finally, we started defending a little bit there in the second half, which I think allowed us to pull out the victory." Antonio Smith added 10 points for Hall (18-11), which has alternated victories and defeats in its past seven games but heads into next week's Class 6A State Tournament on a positive note thanks to a big fourth quarter. The Warriors went 10 of 13 from the field over the final eight minutes and got a number of key stops defensively to outscore the Patriots 26-13. Marion (12-13), which never led but trailed just 37-33 after the third quarter, missed nine of its first 10 shots in the final period. Shaun Doss' layup with 7:33 remaining pulled the Patriots to within 37-35, but Marion didn't hit another field goal until there was 2:59 left in the game. By that time, Hall had built a 16-point lead and was never seriously threatened again. "[Marion Coach Irving Clay] always has good basketball teams, so execution is big," Coleman said. "We struggled with that early, and we couldn't get into much of a rhythm because of it. But we turned a corner there in the second half, particularly the fourth quarter." Hall led by as many as seven in the first half but had to settle for a 27-23 lead at halftime, mainly because of Marion's activity around the basket. Of the Patriots' 11 field goals in the half, nine came within 4 feet of the rim. Marion also held a 16-9 rebounding advantage over the first two quarters but couldn't sustain that consistency in the second half. After a Kamari Marrs' putback tied the game at 27-27, Goggins scored the next seven points to put Hall back in control. The senior had a hand in all 10 of the Warriors' points in the quarter while also causing all four of Marion's turnovers. "As Maurio Goggins goes right now, Hall High goes," Coleman said. "He started out slow because he picked up two quick fouls, but once the second half started, he was more aggressive, and he got us going." Hall, which will play its opening round game Thursday at 2:30 p.m. against the No. 6 seed from the 6A-West, finished 25-of-42 shooting and outrebounded Marion 26-24. Doss scored 13 points, and Martinez Harper had 12 for the Patriots, who finished 19 of 44 from the floor and will play the 6A-West's No. 5 seed Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.

Little Rock School District Athletics

HALL TOO MUCH FOR MARION LATE

Photo Credit: Hall Athletics