The state’s top-ranked high school basketball team will go after its 52nd consecutive win tonight in the Class 4A South Region Tournament at Star City.
Magnolia (20-0), who ironically lost in the region semifinals two seasons ago, will play in tonight’s semifinal contest at Star City. The finals are set for Saturday night, followed by the Class 4A State Tournament in Morrilton next week.
Ben Lindsey’s Panthers, who will be seeking their third straight state championship, qualified for the state tournament Wednesday by pounding the Nashville Scrappers 63-40.
“That’s the game you want really bad, because it’s the one that punches your ticket to the state tournament. The next one is also good, but that first one is always very important,” said the coach.
The fourth-seed Scrappers put up a fight in the first quarter, with the lead changing hand three times and the battle tied once.
Nashville took an early 2-0 advantage, but 3-pointers by Colby Garland and Adrien Walker gave the Panthers an 8-4 lead at the midway point. Nashville led 9-8 at the three-minute mark and the contest was tied 12-12 with 1:12 on the clock. The Panthers managed to lead 15-12 after one period.
A 10-0 run late in the second period helped the Panthers go up 30-18 at halftime. Another 10-0 burst late in the third put the game out of reach. The Panthers led by 15 after the third break.
A pair of slam dunks by Derrian Ford and one by Devonte Walker in the fourth helped Magnolia walk away with the 23-point victory. Ford finished with a game-high 25 points, while Garland added 17.
“I thought we played good defense and guarded the ball pretty well. They were trying to play as slow as possible. At times our defense wasn’t great, but I thought we did okay under the circumstances,” said the coach. “Offensively, we took pretty good shots for the most part.”
According to Lindsey, Nashville nearly matched Magnolia’s quickness which provided a little trouble for the Panthers.
“Nashville was very athletic and their guards were pretty quick,” he added.