The McDonald County High School boys' basketball team came into its Feb. 9 game against Providence Academy with a four-game winning streak.
After a 51-30 loss to the Patriots, the Mustangs are now on a one-game losing streak.
"We just got beat tonight," said coach Kyle Fields. "We got beat from start to finish. They're a good team. I think they have won a couple of state championships for private schools in Arkansas. They're good, but even saying that, this was not our best performance."
The teams traded baskets for the first half of the first quarter before Providence scored 12 straight points to finish the period and to start the second to take a 19-7 lead.
Cooper Reece ended the Mustangs' drought with a pair of free throws, but the Patriots finished the first half with a 5-2 run to take a 24-12 lead at halftime.
Providence stretched its lead to 40-18 after three quarters before McDonald County outscored the Patriots 12-11 in the fourth period.
"Shooting is contagious and we missed some shots early and some easy ones early and things kind of went downhill," Fields said. "If you are shooting it good, your defense plays better and instead our defense got worse like our shooting. We are just going to flush this one and move on."
Reece finished with nine points to lead McDonald County, followed by Boston Dowd, Koby McAlister and Tim Shields with four points each, Blake Gravette three and Peyton Barton, Cole DelosSantos and Cade Smith two each.
Riley Fox scored 18 points, including four three-pointers, to lead Providence Academy.
The McDonald County junior varsity dropped a 56-43 decision. The Mustangs were led by McAlister with 14 points and Smith with 10, followed by Tae-Shawn Alik with eight, Saul Garcia four, Kirby Townsend three and Ben Mora and Dylan Allison two each.
Lamar
Free throws were costly for McDonald County in the Mustangs 66-65 double-overtime loss to Lamar on Monday night at Lamar High School.
Lamar made 27 charities (out of 42 attempts) while the Mustangs missed 14 (making 19). The Tigers' total includes going six for eight in the first overtime and five for 10 in the second.
The Mustangs were whistled for 30 fouls, losing four starters with five fouls, while Lamar was called for 25 fouls.
Lamar led 9-5 at the end of the first quarter and 26-19 at halftime before McDonald County closed to 32-30 entering the fourth quarter.
The Mustangs tied the game at 34-34 with 4:24 left in regulation and took their first lead of the game at 37-36 with 2:46 remaining. But Lamar appeared to have the game in hand when Jonny Jeffries hit a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left to give the Tigers a 43-40 lead.
Peyton Barton cut the margin to 43-42 with 15.1 seconds. Lamar's Ian Moore hit one of two free throws to make the score 44-42 with 7.2 seconds. But McDonald County's Cooper Reece was fouled on Moore's miss of his second charity, allowing the 6-5 junior to tie the game and force overtime.
Reece hit two short jumpers to start the extra session and help the Mustangs build a 51-46 lead with 2:40 left in the first overtime, but Lamar answered with seven straight points to take a 53-51 lead with just under a minute to go.
Cade Smith made one of two free throws to get the Mustangs to within a point before Lamar stretched the lead to 58-54 when Garrett Morey hit two free throws with 5.5 seconds to again appear to clinch the win for the Tigers.
But Boston Dowd took the inbounds pass and drove to the three-point line where he created contact on his shot that banked in with two seconds on the clock. Dowd then hit the free throw to force a second overtime.
Lamar jumped out to a 66-60 lead, but four late missed free throws gave the Mustangs a chance. Blake Gravette hit a three with 23.8 seconds left before Cole DelosSantos scored from the block with 8.0 left. After forcing a five-second violation on the inbounds pass, McDonald County's shot at a win bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
Reece scored 25 points, while Dowd added 14 and Gravette 10 to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring for the Mustangs were DelosSantos with six, Barton five, Tim Shields four and Smith one.
Moore finished with 15 points to lead Lamar.
Lamar added a 47-44 win in the junior varsity game. Tae-Shawn Alik led the Mustangs with 17 points, followed by Ben Mora with 11, Cade Smith 10 and Kevin Martinez, Koby McAlister and Colliar Gottfried two each.
McDonald County falls to 9-14, 3-2 in the Big 8 Conference. The Mustangs host Mount Vernon on Feb. 16. Games begin at 5 p.m., with a freshman contest followed by the junior varsity and the varsity games.
Sports on 02/15/2018