Missouri signee Jason Crowe Jr. set a new King Cotton Holiday Classic scoring record with 54 points to lead Inglewood, Calif., to Tuesday’s championship game.
Crowe also eclipsed 4,000 career points in leading the Sentinels past St. Michael’s Catholic Prep of Austin, Texas, 92-80, at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Crowe said winning the game was his main focus, but he felt coming into the game he could have a big night.
“Just felt like my shot was good the whole day,” Crowe said. “Shootaround, during pre-practice. Obviously, during the warmups. Then, I hit my first shot. Everybody, when I hit the first shot, you know it’s going to be a long night.”
Crowe scored Inglewood’s first 17 points and passed the 4,000-point mark in the first quarter, needing just nine to reach the milestone coming in. He had 25 points at halftime and had 37 by the end of the third quarter.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
With 4:30 remaining in the game, he drove through the middle of the lane and scored a layup to reach 47 points, breaking the single-game King Cotton record of 46 set by Tounde Yessoufou of St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.) in 2023. Yessoufou finished his California high school career with what was then the state record of 3,659 points.
Crowe reached 50 shortly after with a 3-point play with 4:13 remaining, which put his team up 81-62. Crowe added two free throws and one last shot from the field in the final 2 minutes.
Crowe entered the tournament averaging 44.7 points per game. He said teams have been double teaming him since his freshman year.
“Just maturing through it, trying to play through it, it’s just making me become a better player and just making it easier when I go to college,” Crowe said. “In college, they’re not going to double team me as hard as they do in high school, so that’s going to be good.”
Prior to beating Yessoufou’s King Cotton record, Crowe beat the current Baylor guard’s California record earlier this month with a 51-point night against Beverly Hills.
“That’s my old teammate, so obviously, it’s a great feeling to beat him in something,” Crowe said. “Growing up, he was always better than me. Just doing that now, it feels good.”
The game started with the Sentinels trading blows with the Warriors. The first quarter featured four lead changes with Crowe hitting three 3-pointers. His third put Inglewood ahead 13-11, and the Sentinels led the rest of the game.
St. Michael’s cut the Inglewood lead to one point twice, once late in the first half and again early in the second but never tied or took the lead again. A 10-0 run in the third helped Inglewood pad its lead, with Crowe scoring eight of the points.
Crowe’s biggest help came from junior David Conerly, who scored 19 points with seven assists. Inglewood made 11 of 23 shots from 3-point range, with Crowe making 5 of 9.
St. Michael’s junior Sunvith Jinkal led the Warriors with 26 points. Three others scored in double digits. The Warriors’ 57.9% from the field was better than Inglewood’s 50%, but the Sentinels made 19 of 21 free throws compared to St. Michael’s 7 of 9.
TUESDAY’S KING COTTON SCHEDULE (UPDATED)
(All boys games)
Alexander (Douglasville, Ga.) 56, Atascocita, Texas, 44
CANCELED: Pine Bluff vs. Benton
Windermere (Fla.) Prep 74, Bryant 61
Third place — St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.) 88, St. Michael’s Catholic Prep (Austin, Texas) 74
7 p.m.: Championship — Faith Family Academy (Dallas) vs. Inglewood, Calif.
