Late-game heroics by the visitors cost Pine Bluff on Friday just when it seemed the Zebras were closing in on their first conference win of the season.
El Dorado defeated the Pine Bluff boys’ basketball team 66-63 at Jack Robey Junior High School.
Pine Bluff coach Billy Dixon said the Zebras need to learn how to finish a game.
“We gotta learn how to win, and right now, we’re struggling with trying to figure that out,” Dixon said. “The way you win is that you continue to fight, and you don’t give up, and you take it. Games go with momentum. A night like tonight, we just stopped playing. We get to a point where we become stagnant. We don’t score the ball, and that’s basically what’s going to happen.”
Pine Bluff (2-10, 0-3 in 5A-South) led by as much as 44-30 in the third quarter and had only trailed briefly in the first, but the Wildcats fought back.
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El Dorado (3-8, 1-2) outscored Pine Bluff 23-12 in the fourth quarter. Wildcat junior Bronson Brock gave El Dorado its first lead since the first quarter as part of a 7-0 run, after which El Dorado led 60-58 with 2:26 remaining.
Pine Bluff senior Christopher Hinton Jr. drew a 3-point shooting foul seconds later and made all three free throws to restore the Zebras’ lead. The teams traded the lead over the next three shots, with El Dorado junior Isaac Aaron giving the Wildcats a 64-63 lead. Pine Bluff took the ball into the front court and called a timeout with 19 seconds to play.
The Zebras drove into the paint but lost the ball, and El Dorado junior Donovan Mitchell collected it, took a foul, then made two free throws. Pine Bluff attempted a layup in the final seconds, but it rimmed out into the Wildcats’ hands.
Pine Bluff senior Deriyon Graydon led the Zebras with 21 points, while junior Quintin Roy followed with 20. Hinton finished with 13.
Graydon had 17 points at halftime, including two dunks, and seemed to be dominating the game. El Dorado kept him quiet in the second half, though Roy stepped up with 12 points in the second half.
Other than Graydon, most of these Zebras weren’t playing significant minutes when Pine Bluff won the past two Class 5A state championships. Dixon said they haven’t adjusted as quickly as he had hoped.
“The hard side of it is, they haven’t been on the court in a varsity game,” Dixon said. “But where are we, game 10, 11 right now? At this point, that’s game experience. At this point, you want to start seeing production. We’ve seen some production. We’ve gotten better in spurts, but we have not consistently gotten better. That’s on both ends of the court.”
El Dorado senior Brennan Powell led the Wildcats with 21 points, while junior Isaiah Robinson followed with 19. Mitchell scored 11.
GIRLS: El Dorado 48, Pine Bluff 27
The Pine Bluff girls never led as El Dorado earned its first conference win of the season, 48-27.
Pine Bluff (0-10, 0-3) junior Adrianna McAfee and sophomore Kaliah Parks each scored 7 points to lead the Fillies, followed by senior Omiyah Bullard and sophomore Kennedy Sanders with 6 each.
El Dorado (4-10, 1-2) junior Christian Dade led the Lady Wildcats with 14 points, followed by junior Makhiya Tillis with 10. Senior Damecia McDaniel had six assists to go with 5 points.
Tillis gave El Dorado an early 2-0 lead before Bullard tied the game. McDaniel hit a 3-pointer to put the Lady Wildcats back in front, and they led the rest of the game. El Dorado had runs of 7-0 and 9-0 in the second half, helping it to pull away.
Pine Bluff sophomore McKenzie Frazier shoots the ball against El Dorado. (Special to the Commercial/William Harvey)