Maumelle uses big third quarter to jet past Sylvan Hills

By Kyle Sutherland | Photo by Braeden Botts  

MAUMELLE - A dominant performance on both sides of the floor in the third quarter helped Maumelle secure a 72-58 victory over Sylvan Hills to sweep the season series and take a three-game lead in the 5A-Central standings. 

Holding on to a slight lead, the Hornets came out of the locker room for the second half with fiery intensity and went on a 23-7 run in the third quarter. They shot 53% from the field, including 3-of-6 on three-pointers from sophomore Markalon Rochell, junior Elijah Newell, and senior Cayden McGee.

“The two big words for us were effort and execution, and I felt like we did both of those to give us a little cushion in the third quarter,” Maumelle head coach Michael Shook said.

It appeared the Hornets had selaled the win at the start of the fourth quarter leading by 19 points, but Sylvan Hills (13-10, 6-3) refused to quit and freshman Deryeus Fowlkes scored four quick points off of a three-pointer and hit 1-of-2 free throws for the Bears.

The Hornets struggled to find a basket early in the fourth going 0-for-5 from the field prompting Shook to take a timeout.

“There were three-straight possessions where even if we are getting shots they are not good ones,” Shook said. “We told our guys that we can not let up, we got to win the game.”

A minute after the timeout, freshman Jordan Harris broke the Hornets’ scoring drought with a dunk that once again got Maumelle back on its strong pace.

Following a sloppy start to the game, Maumelle (15-9, 8-1) kicked it into another gear in the second quarter outscoring the Bears 22-11. They went into the locker room at halftime up 33-30 thanks to the efforts of Rochell, who had eight points in the second, as well as freshman Jacob Lanier who had six in that span.

It was a completely different team from when the Hornets took the floor to start the game after falling behind 7-0, then shortly after 13-3, but made a little progress by the end of the first quarter down six points.

“We just came out flat and the first quarter was just ugly,” Shook said. “I thought I gave a pretty good pre-game speech, but I will try to have them ready next time for sure.”

Overall, it was a complete team effort by the Hornets who moved the ball around well. Rochell had another big night - which has become the norm - with 21 points along with 11 rebounds, followed by Lanier with 16. Shook has praised the leadership and production of veterans McGee and Addison Shelton but knew before the season that once his underclassmen came on that this year could end up being special.

“The first semester we weren’t good, it is what it is, we were not good,” Shook said. “We looked like an inexperienced team because other than Addison and Cayden even the upperclassmen did not have experience. We were inexperienced across the board and we took our lumps.”

Shook also credited another one of his heralded freshmen, Harris, who has contributed a lot of minutes and does things that may not always be noticed on paper. He was crucial Friday night putting up a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

“Jordan has been huge for us in this conference run,” Shook said. “He does not score a whole lot, so people do not talk about him as far as his defensive presence and rebounding. He has bought into that role and accepted it.”

SYLVAN HILLS 61, MAUMELLE 37 (GIRLS)

Sylvan Hills held Maumelle to just 11 first-half points powered by a strong first half where the Lady Beats shot 6-for-10 from the field in the first quarter.

Louisiana Tech signee Jianna Morris scored 18 points for Sylvan Hills (13-5, 8-2), nine of them in the third quarter.

Maumelle (8-16, 3-7) had their best quarter in the third putting up 16 points, led by Raelen Randle and Christanity Garland who combined for 11 of those. Randle led the Lady Hornets in scoring overall with 20.

Courtney Savell added 17 points for the Lady Bears while Kalayla Miller had 11.