Marianna Lee took a page out of McGehee’s playbook Friday night as the Trojans bounced the Owls out of the Class 4A state basketball tournament with a 58-54 come-from-behind win at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
Pressure defense, second-chance points off turnovers, key perimeter shooting: All the things McGehee had done to advance to the quarterfinals, Marianna Lee did better.
“We have a saying that pressure will make a water pipe bust,” McGehee coach Jerome Pace said. “We busted.”
Behind the strong inside game of Joshua Smith, who scored nine of his 16 points in the first period, the Trojans (17-14) led by as many as five two times in the opening frame that ended with Lee leading 18-6.
The Owls (18-8), led by Dontez Racy and Zach Ellis, kicked it up a notch in the second quarter and eased to a 36-27 advantage at the half. McGehee maintained that advantage through the third period and held a 47-39 lead entering the final frame.
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“In the third quarter we said we were going to continue like that and we came out like the game was over and freelanced a little bit,” Pace said. “That wasn’t the answer.”
And the Owls didn’t seem to have an answer for Smith and Joshua Price in the fourth. While Smith was cleaning the glass, Price was knocking down perimeter shots as the Trojans mounted a comeback.
“I think what happened to us in the first half was (Smith) got injured,” Lee coach Larry Mitchell said. “We’ve got two guys that things operate around, Smith and Price. When they are going, we are going. Smith wasn’t going in the first half but he got going in the second. And Price hit some big threes.
Deondrai Haynes hit the final period’s opening shot as McGehee enjoyed its largest lead of the game at 10 points, 49-39. That’s when Price started Lee’s run with a long-range three.
The Trojans then created multiple turnovers and converted on the other end. Smith made a layup for a 49-44 McGehee lead at the 6:21 mark and after Ellis hit a pair of buckets to put the Owls back up by nine at 54-45 with 4:40 left, the Trojans took over, finishing the game on a 13-0 run, bolstered by back-to-back Price threes.
“We just didn’t make smart decisions under pressure,” Pace said. “Everybody tried to do it as individuals and wasn’t doing it as a team. When you have young kids, adversity is not something they handle very well. And that pretty well sums it up.”
The Owls had three chances with the game on the line but failed to convert. Dale Bass missed an uncontested dunk with McGehee down 56-54 and 56 seconds left. Then Ellis missed a runner in the lane with 30 seconds left at the same score.
“That’s what pressure will do to you,” Mitchell said. “Pressure will make you do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do. That kid probably ordinarily would have laid it up in that situation. But probably he wanted to make a statement. I’m sure he’s a good dunker because he was up high.”
Price and Joshua Wyers closed the door on McGehee’s season with three of four free throws down the stretch.
Ellis led all scorers with 23 points while Racy finished with 14. Price led the Trojans with 18.