Web posted
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Arkansas City slips by Valley Center
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Photo by Donita Clausen
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By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor
sports@arkcity.net
During Arkansas City's last timeout, coach Ben Proctor drew up a play and directed a message to senior Jordan Fields.
"Coach said, 'just take the ball to the hole, that's what you do best,'" Fields said.
Fields did just that.
With Ark City's season hanging in the balance, Fields penetrated the lane and made a spin move around two Valley Center defenders. He then connected on a layup, while being fouled by Valley Center's Bryce Wall. Wall set up to take the charge, but he was whistled for the foul and Fields' layup tied the game with three seconds remaining.
It was all a blur to Fields.
"I just remember going up and getting fouled. It about took the breath out of it," he said.
Fields, caught up in the emotion of the game, found a way to regain his composure and sink the ensuing free throw to complete the three-point play and a one-point Bulldogs lead.
Ark City survived a last-second jumper by Alec Toews for a thrilling 63-62 win over the Hornets on Thursday in the Class 5A sub-state semifinals. It was Ark City's first sub-state win since 2002.
The Bulldogs advance to face Emporia in Friday's championship of the Wichita-Bishop Carroll Bracket A. Emporia used 12 three-pointers to rout Wichita West 93-60 last night. Friday's 5 p.m. championship will be played at Bishop Carroll.
Coming out of its final timeout last night, Ark City was looking to send the game into overtime instead of rolling the dice and going for the win. It got the best of both worlds in one play and didn't have to worry about overtime.
"We were going for the two," he said. "If something would've opened up for Ryan (Rohrs) while Jordan was penetrating, we would've kicked it out to him or Darrell (Freeman). But we wanted Jordan to penetrate and we've had success with it throughout the entire night. We wanted to put the ball in his hands and he finished it the way he needed to."
Coming into the fourth quarter, Proctor insisted on giving Fields more looks at the basket. Fields didn't let his coach down, scoring 10 of his team-high 17 points in the quarter.
"I knew that it was my senior year and I didn't want to let these guys down," Fields said. "I've never been to the second round of sub-state. The whole year just kind of flashed through my eyes. I didn't want it to end."
Trailing 52-45 after three quarters, Ark City picked up its intensity in the fourth. Just over two minutes into the final quarter, Valley Center's players gave up on a play in which it thought it was going to be whistled for an over-and-back violation. Ryan Rohrs made the Hornets pay. He tracked down the ball in the back court and converted an open layup to cut Valley Center's lead to 52-49.
"I thought that play by Ryan really sparked us," Proctor said. "It seemed like we were a little bit tired before that. Fatigue never set it in again."
The Hornets twice led by three points in the final minute and 62-60 after a Wall free throw. But Fields made the biggest play of the night with three seconds left to send the Ark City student section into a frenzy.
Both teams battled through a tightly-officiated second half, in which foul trouble became rampant. Nick Venning, Todd Mckown and Joey Hinckley all fouled out in the fourth quarter for the Hornets.
Valley Center came out firing from behind the arc in the first half, burying six three-pointers. Zach Banick set the tone from the start, burying a three-pointer from the left corner to open the scoring.
Ark City (10-11) had few answers for Banick, and many of the Hornets' shooters for that matter. Banick took advantage of Ark City's 3-2 zone defense and made five of his seven three-pointers in the first half. He had 15 points at halftime en route to a game-high 22.
"We didn't rotate well and the few times we did, they were still hitting them," Proctor said. "It seemed like they were hitting shots when somebody was left open."
Valley Center looked to expose the Bulldogs' ball-handling issues early on, but Ark City started to consistently break the Hornets' back-court pressure in the second quarter and get its offense going.
The Hornets appeared they were going to run away with the game, building a 25-14 lead midway through the second quarter. But Freeman made sure that didn't happen, recording a putback and finished off the conventional three-point play. He then made a tip-in off his own miss to cut Valley Center's lead to five points.
"Darrell, he's just been solid throughout the entire year," Proctor said. "He made some huge plays offensively and defensively. He's just an important part of our offense."
Freeman finished with 16 points. Tayler Rock nearly finished with a double-double, recording 13 points and eight rebounds.
Alec Toews recorded 15 points and Hinckley added 10 for the Hornets, which finished the season 7-14.
Valley Center 15 19 18 10 -- 62
Ark City 8 23 14 18 -- 63
Valley Center -- Banick 22, Toews 15, Hinckley 10, Mckown 8, Buell 6, Wall 1. Totals 6-9 (10) 62.
Ark City -- Fields 17, Freeman 16, Rock 13, Miller 6, Rohrs 5, Harris 4, Irvin 2. Totals 11-20 (4) 63.
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