A Thursday night matchup between potential playoff teams turned out to be one of the easiest wins of 5A-South Conference play for Pine Bluff High School.
The Zebra basketball team dominated Hot Springs 68-27 in Pine Bluff in a makeup game originally scheduled for Jan. 19. Pine Bluff coach Billy Dixon said the Zebras have been leaning into its defensive game.
“We’ve been focusing on our defensive assignments, people being where they’re supposed to be, doing what they’re supposed to do,” Dixon said. “We’re trying to turn it up a little bit, being a little bit more aggressive. That’s it. We’re going down the backstretch now, and we just believe defense is the key to who we are.”
Pine Bluff (15-5, 8-2 in 5A-South) got points from 10 players, led by Randy Emerson Jr. with 13 points. Jamaal Hickman and Braylen Hall scored 9 each, and Deriyon Graydon scored 8.
Dixon said having so many scorers was great.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I think we have the type of ball club that we can have 6, 8 points with eight to 10 guys having that type of scoring,” Dixon said. “That means they’re sharing the ball well. That means they’re playing selfless. That’s the kind of basketball that we want to play. When you play that many guys, that’s exactly what should happen.”
Hot Springs (9-10, 5-4) briefly led 4-3 early in the first quarter but never again. Kyin Jammerson led the Trojans with 10 points.
Pine Bluff answered the Trojans’ early lead with a 6-0 run to take the lead for good. Pine Bluff led 14-7 after the first quarter. The Trojans cut it to 19-13 early in the second quarter, but Pine Bluff pulled away with a 13-1 run, ultimately leading 37-15 at halftime.
The Zebras continued to dominate in the third quarter, at one point going on an 11-1 run. Fouls mounted on a couple of the Pine Bluff starters, but it wasn’t a concern with the big lead. By the end of the third, both teams started to filter reserve players onto the court. There hadn’t been a junior varsity game earlier in the night.
The sportsmanship rule was put into effect for the fourth quarter with the Zebras leading 59-26. Pine Bluff junior Christopher Hinton Jr. scored 7 of the Zebras’ 9 fourth-quarter points after not scoring in the first three quarters.
Dixon said it was great to see players like Hickman and Hinton score Thursday night.
“Jamaal, the way he played, it felt like he scored more than 9 points,” Dixon said. “It really did, and that’s how impactful he was to the game, so that was good to see. Hinton, for him to score the ball, he’s a guy that can shoot lights out. He’s just been out of sync and out of rhythm. … He’s trying to work his way back, and that’s why it was important in the fourth quarter.”
GIRLS
Hot Springs 61, Pine Bluff 37
A hot-shooting Hot Springs team defeated the Pine Bluff girls’ basketball team Thursday night, preventing the Fillies from turning Tuesday’s win into a streak.
Hot Springs (7-13, 2-7 in 5A-South) made 10 3-pointers to pull away from the Fillies. Senior forward Praylin Jones led the Lady Trojans with 20 points, followed by Kyabra Lomax with 19 and Alizabeth Mullenix with 12.
Pine Bluff (2-13, 1-8) never led despite tying the game twice early in the first quarter. Junior center Madison Coakes led the Fillies with 16 points. O’Miyah Bullard scored 6, and three other Fillies had 5 points. One of those three, junior Taniya Jackson, finished with 8 assists.
The teams were tied at 4 midway through the first quarter when Hot Springs went on a brief run to take the lead. Despite a late shot by Coakes, Pine Bluff trailed 10-6 entering the second quarter. Hot Springs opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run, forcing a Pine Bluff timeout.
Jackson broke the run with a 3-pointer, then found Jada Briggs for a layup during a 2-on-1 fastbreak to bring the deficit down to single digits, but the Lady Trojans hit a pair of late 3-pointers and led 26-11 at halftime.
The Fillies picked it up offensively in the third quarter by scoring 13 points, but the Lady Trojans still grew their lead to 44-24. Hot Springs later went on a 13-2 run in the fourth, and both teams put some of their reserves in the game for the final minutes.
