HALL TURNS AWAY FAIR ON LATE RUN

In a game of deliberate styles, the Little Rock Hall Warriors came up with the big plays at the end to edge the Little Rock Fair War Eagles 51-45 on Tuesday night at George Cirks Arena. The Warriors (14-5, 3-3 6A/5A-4) broke from a 41-41 tie with 3:21 left with a 7-0 run during which they hit 5 of 6 free-throw attempts. "Every time that we play it is going to be a close game,'' Hall Coach Jon Coleman said. "There just wasn't a lot of difference in the basketball game but when it came down to it we were just able to get a few more stops that they were." Fair (15-4, 4-3) finally pulled even on two free throws by Deavon Bankston with 3:21 to play. But from there, the War Eagles suffered a turnover and missed two shots and a free throw as the Warriors grabbed control. "We wanted to try and control the tempo of the game, even though we are both very deliberate,'' Coleman said. "We wanted to control the tempo by actually speeding them up a little bit. We were able to speed them up some early and once the game was tight, we were able to go back to a few traps and speed them up again." It also helped that Hall made 18 of 21 free throws, including 8 of 11 in the fourth quarter. Even after the 7-0 run gave the Warriors control, Fair hung around. The War Eagles trailed 48-43 with 19 seconds left and 49-45 with 10 seconds remaining. "I was not pleased with the officials and I don't think it was called fairly, but you have to give Hall credit,'' Fair Coach Charlie Johnson said. "They played well, had a good game plan and executed when they had to." Greg Johnson led Hall with 16 points and Kevon Cooper scored 13. Jonathan Coleman added 10 points, hitting two three-pointers. For Fair, Bankston had 14, hitting 3 three-pointers, and Makalen Hawkins added 11. Mikeal Faust scored nine.

Little Rock School District Athletics

HALL TURNS AWAY FAIR ON LATE RUN

Photo Credit: J.A. Fair High School Athletics