Z’s survive Panthers

Pine Bluff almost let a second straight home conference game slip through its fingers. And this time the Zebras had a double-digit lead.

Pine Bluff was able to hold on and beat Benton 56-51 Tuesday at McFadden Gymnasium. Pine Bluff coach Ronald Moragne said holding on to the win helps show the team that what they work on in practice is translating over to the game.

“It was a great team effort … it’s a big confidence booster,” he said. “We were able to pull the basketball out and run some time off the clock, we were patient and we took good shots.

“Things like that we have been talking about and working on in practice, and we finally got to see them do it in a ballgame.”

Rickey Clements Jr. led Pine Bluff, which improved to 10-4 overall and 4-1 in the 6A-South Conference, with 15 points.

Benton fell to 12-6 and 2-2 in the conference. However, Pine Bluff’s win came with some controversy.

With 3:40 left in the game, Pine Bluff’s Darrian Kee was fouled as he went up for the shot, which he made. Josh Bowling was marked down for the foul, which was his fifth. Bowling is Benton’s leading scorer.

But Bowling was not removed from the game and after Kee missed his free throw, play was stopped to determine who the foul was on. Benton coach Chris Nail thought the foul was on Zach Stuckey, No. 32, and not Bowling, No. 33.

After the officials discussed the situation, the foul on Bowling stood and he did foul out.

Nail was more than a little upset by the result of the discussion.

“They totally blew that,” he said. “Thirty-two fouled, they reported it as 33. … It hurt us because 33 is our leading scorer.

“It was a horrible call, absolutely atrocious. You think with three officials you would know who fouled, but hey, they made a mistake and I made a bunch of those (Tuesday night).”

When asked about the play, Moragne did not even think Stuckey was in the game at the time of the play.

“Well, basically, the guy called the foul on 33,” he said. “Thirty-two wasn’t even in the ball game. Thirty-three was in the game. He just corrected the call that he made, that’s all.”

The play happened shortly after Benton had charged back from a 16-point deficit.

Pine Bluff had a 37-21 lead at the 4:19 mark in the third quarter when Benton went on a 15-2 run to end period.

The Zebras scored the first two points of the fourth quarter, but Benton later tied the game up at 46 with 3:46 remaining.

On Pine Bluff’s next possession, Quentin Williams hit a runner as the Zebras went up by four points. After Kee’s bucket, Pine Bluff would lead the rest of the way.

“We did what we had to do,” Morange said. “We made easy baskets, we scored when we needed to score.”

Benton pulled within two at 52-50 after Nate Griffin hit two free throws, and Clements traveled at half-court to give Benton the ball back.

But the Zebras got a turnover and Marcus Barnes made a layup to give Pine Bluff another four-point lead.

Griffin hit a free throw with 36 seconds left, but Barnes scored again, this time on a baseline drive for a five-point lead with 23 seconds left.

Thaddeus Caffery missed a three-pointer for Benton, which made sure Pine Bluff won the game.

Pine Bluff led 12-9 after the first quarter but went into halftime with a 29-18 lead, which Nail said was the key to the game.

“What beat us was the first half of the game,” he said. “We didn’t score and didn’t play well. It was not an X’s and O’s thing, we just needed to execute a little better. That was it really.

“You can’t beat a good team like Pine Bluff on the road playing two quarters. It takes all four.”

After Clements, Quentarius Chapman scored 10 points, Williams had 12 and Barnes scored nine points.

Clements scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half.

“I think the real difference in the ball game was Ricky Clements; he was the floor leader,” Moaragne said. “In the first half, he was looking to score. In the second half, he was looking to handle the basketball and handle the pressure. That’s what we need out of him.”

Bowling, Ricky Gibson and Griffin each scored 11 points for Benton.