Pointers run out of gas late, drop tourney opener in double OT

Pulaski Robinson’s full-court pressure finally took its toll on the Pointers on Thursday afternoon. Robinson forced 29 turnovers and rallied to beat Van Buren, 64-61, in double overtime in the opening game of the Coca-Cola Christmas Classic at the Stubblefield Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. Robinson (6-4) advanced to the semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Van Buren (4-7) will play at 2:30 on Friday. “This is our third year coming down there and our first time advancing in that first-round game,” Robinson head coach Anwar Hardin said. “It’s good to get a win.” Van Buren jumped to a 17-5 lead on Luke Worsham’s 3-pointer to open the second quarter before Robinson cut the deficit to 25-19 at the half. Robinson tied it at 25-25 with the first three baskets of the third quarter. Van Buren jumped back to a 36-27 lead with six straight points by Trent Ball, who hit a trey, converted a steal into a layup and added one free throw on an intentional foul with 1:57 left in the third quarter. Robinson forced five turnovers in the second quarter, eight more in the third quarter and five in the fourth quarter, mostly off it’s pressure defense. “That’s really what we do,” Hardin said. “Up until the eighth game, our football team played so long in the state playoffs that we didn’t have our football guys, some of our bigger guys. They kind of slow us up on that, but that’s what we did the first seven, eight ball games before we got them. That’s why we were doing so well early. It’s taking them some time to get acclimated into what we’re going.” Consecutive steals and layups by Xavier McGraw and Christian Winkler gave Robinson its first lead since 5-3 in the first quarter at 50-47 with 2:09 left in the fourth quarter. Mari Newton hit a lone free throw, and Brayden Gilmore scored inside to tie the game for Van Buren. Robinson missed two free throws with one second left to send the game into overtime. Robinson scored the first five points in overtime, Van Buren tied it and Robinson took the lead on a driving bucket by Sebastian Kelly. Gilmore’s two free throws with 39 seconds left sent the game into the second overtime tied at 57-57. Tied at 60, Kelly scored off an offensive rebound for the Senators, and Gilmore answered with a lone free throw. Elliott Harris hit a free throw with 11 seconds left and two more with 2.5 seconds left for the win. Robinson forced three turnovers in each of the two overtime periods as the press bothered Van Buren, who lost sophomore point guard Gary Phillips to five fouls with 3:11 left in the fourth quarter after playing just 12 minutes in all. “He hardly played at all,” Van Buren head coach Austin Trembley said. “He had two fouls and I told Mari to check in for him, and he picks up his third foul. He gets in and gets four, and then picked up five. That obviously hurt us because he’s our point guard. They made it chaotic and sped us up. We didn’t handle that very well.” The 29 turnovers in all led to an overwhelming shot advantage as the Senators attempted 65 field goals to Van Buren’s 38. “They shot the ball 27 more times, and we lost in double overtime,” Trembley said. “That’s mind-boggling. That’s a massive difference. If just cut that number in half, we win the game.” McGraw led all scorers with 22 points. Harris added 14, and Kelly 11 for Robinson. Ball had 14 points to pace the Pointers. Newton had 13, Gilmore added 11 points along with 12 rebounds, and Logan Brothers 10.

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POINTERS RUN OUT OF GAS LATE, DROP TOURNEY OPENER IN DOUBLE OT

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 12/28/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian D. Sanderford