THIRD-QUARTER BURST CATAPULTS MCCLELLAN

Little Rock McClellan wanted to speed things up during the second half Thursday night at the Lions Den, and the Lions did, oddly aided by two delay-of-game technical fouls, in a 69-66 victory over Pulaski Academy. How much the technicals and resulting free throws helped McClellan turn a 29-24 halftime deficit into a 50-41 advantage after three quarters had coaches choosing their words carefully. Both Pulaski Academy Coach Roger Franks and McClellan's Chris Threatt agreed that delay-of-game warnings are fairly standard procedure when a player touches a ball after a basket, but technicals were new territory for Franks. Treatt, also, had never seen a delay-of-game technical until Tuesday night when the Lions (11-5, 4-1 4A-5) were called for it in a victory over Stuttgart. "So I told our kids, 'Don't touch the ball,' " Threatt said. "I don't know if it was a point of emphasis for all referees, or just for that referee. But we got burned on that." Thursday night, Pulaski Academy (6-6, 2-3) got introduced to delay-of-game. The first came after Bruins leading scorer Alex Brogdon drove for a layup to counter a 6-0 Lions burst to start the second half and again during a 9-1 run by the Lions to close the third quarter with a nine-point lead. Brogdon, a Delta State signee, led the Bruins with 22 points, but fouled out late in the fourth quarter. "The delay-of-games are one of the great mysteries in life," Franks said. "I've been doing this 30 years. I might have had two warnings, but I've never had two technical fouls on that." Franks said neither he nor Brogdon realized that he had four fouls, two coming on delay-of-game technicals. The delay-of-game infractions didn't slow the Lions during a frenetic third quarter when they hit 10 of 13 shots from the field after making 8 of 29 in the first half. "In the third quarter, we concentrated on making it a faster game," Threatt said. Ian Robinson (15 points, 8 rebounds), Demetrius Torrance (17 points, 4 three-pointers) and Elijah Green (15 points, 5 rebounds) led the way for the Lions. Girls PULASKI ACADEMY 59, little rock MCCLELLAN 41 Maddie Hatcher scored 17 points to lead the Lady Bruins (8-6, 4-1) over the Lady Lions (5-7, 2-3).

Little Rock School District Athletics

THIRD-QUARTER BURST CATAPULTS MCCLELLAN

Photo Credit: McClellan Magnet High School Athletics