A steal in the final seconds saved Friday night’s game for Watson Chapel.
The Watson Chapel boys’ basketball team outlasted a furious second half rally by Stuttgart to win 66-63 at home.
Watson Chapel (12-11, 8-2 in 4A-8) led by as much as 28-9 in the first half, but the Ricebirds (8-16, 5-5) didn’t quit.
Stuttgart outscored the Wildcats 45-31 in the second half but fell short of tying the game or taking the lead.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Watson Chapel coach Jevon Barnes said the Wildcats have seen a lot of situations this season, so this was nothing new.
“Our guys bent, but they didn’t break,” Barnes said. “We executed our offensive plays, got some good scores when we actually needed it. … We gave up too many points in the second half, but our motto is ‘Only the strong survive.’ That’s what the guys did today. They bent, but they didn’t break, so I’ll live with it.”
Wildcat junior Joseph Dockett led Watson Chapel with 20 points. Armon Leavy scored 15, and Elijah Anderson finished with 14.
Stuttgart junior De’Onte Clark led the Ricebirds with 23 points, and freshman Cain Price added 18.
The Wildcats dominated the first half. Watson Chapel sprinted ahead to a 12-3 lead and eventually led 17-5 after the first quarter. Stuttgart created more offense in the second quarter, at one point going on a 7-2 run, but the Wildcats still cruised to a 35-18 halftime advantage.
Barnes said the Wildcats played better defense in the first half.
“We guarded really well,” Barnes said. “We wasn’t in foul trouble as much, and we made some shots, executed really, really well.”
The Ricebirds started the second half ready to play, opening with a 7-0 run to make it a 10-point game. Buck Wells broke the Stuttgart run with a couple of layups, but the Ricebirds kept firing and cut the Watson Chapel lead to single digits. The Wildcats led 51-42 after the third quarter.
Every time in the fourth quarter the Ricebirds had a run, Watson Chapel answered. Stuttgart got it down to 62-56, but Leavy hit a 3-pointer. With 18.8 seconds left, a free throw by Stuttgart’s Landen Bryant made it 65-63.
Stuttgart had the ball with seconds left and a chance to tie it, but Dockett picked up a bad pass to seal the win.
Dockett said the Wildcats locked in defensively to survive the rally.
“Everybody played their part, knocked down some clutch free throw,” Dockett said. “Got the start we needed at the end, closed it out.”
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Watson Chapel 62, Stuttgart 57
Watson Chapel overcame a career night by a Stuttgart sophomore to pick up a hard-fought home win Friday.
The Lady Wildcats outlasted Stuttgart 62-57 in a thriller in Pine Bluff.
Stuttgart (11-14, 4-6 in 4A-8) sophomore Brooklyn Owens scored 44 points. She made nine 3-pointers and drew shooting fouls on two more. Lady Ricebirds coach Allison Handy said this was easily Owens’ best shooting night so far.
“I think that she just hit a couple of shots and realized that she was on fire tonight,” Handy said. “She just kept getting the opportunity to get the shot up. She really locked in tonight and just kept her eye on the prize. She knew that once she gets hot, she can just keep following through with that.”
Watson Chapel (20-6, 9-1) got 19 points from junior Kha’leyce Cooper, 14 points from junior MaKyah Earl and 11 from sophomore Maranda Emerson.
Lady Wildcats coach Leslie Henderson said she kept rotating defenders on Owens, but she made shots no matter what Watson Chapel tried.
“I have not [seen a performance like this] ever,” Henderson said. “Like, we are on her. We had two people on her. She would pull up, and then when we tried to contest it, we fouled her a couple of times on the shot. I have not.”
Watson Chapel opened the game on an 8-0 run, leading to a Stuttgart timeout. The Lady Ricebirds got their offense started afterward, but 3-pointers from Earl and Emerson kept Watson Chapel ahead, leading to another Stuttgart timeout with the Lady Wildcats ahead 18-6.
Stuttgart chipped away at the lead and eventually tied the game at 22 early in the second quarter. Cooper gave Watson Chapel the lead back, but Owens hit two 3-pointers, the second of which gave Stuttgart its first lead, 28-25, with 3:50 remaining in the first half. The teams traded the lead from there, with Earl hitting two free throws to send the teams into halftime tied at 31.
Owens had 23 points at halftime. No Lady Wildcat had more than 9.
The Lady Wildcats came out firing in the second half, opening on a 12-0 run. Stuttgart got back in it thanks to Owens, who scored all the Lady Ricebirds’ third quarter points. Watson Chapel took a 45-38 lead into the fourth.
Owens cut the Lady Wildcats’ lead down to 49-43, but Watson Chapel answered with a 7-2 run. Owens kept shooting and got the deficit as close as 58-55 but neither team scored from the field again as the Lady Wildcats closed out the win.
Henderson said Watson Chapel needed a win such as this.
“It’s been a while, and we do have a really tough stretch coming up,” Henderson said. “But, we’re not going to face a player like her again.”