Rogers, Ark., never led in regulation.
But Skye Davenport made sure the Mounties led when it mattered most.
Davenport scored the Mounties final seven points in regulation and five of their 10 points in overtime to lead Rogers to a 62-56 overtime win Thursday against the Capital City Cavaliers in the consolation semifinals of the Joe Machens Great 8 Classicª.
Capital City took a 46-32 lead into the final eight minutes of regulation at Fleming Fieldhouse, then Davenport and the Mounties went to work.
Davenport dished one of his five assists to Braxton Lindsey for a layup in the post before dishing another to Aidan Chronister for a left-wing 3. Davenport kept facilitating shots for his teammates, sending another assist to Chronister for a left-corner 3 before Graycen Cash stole a pass and hit a left-wing 3 off a Soren Hoyard assist to give the Mounties an 11-0 run on four total shots to open the fourth quarter. The run cut Capital City’s lead that once sat at 46-30 to 46-43.
“They pressured us a little bit more and made it hard to continue what we were doing in the first half,” Capital City coach Darrin Young said. “The pressure just added this level of rush and haste to us. I was glad that they did, because we’ve got to learn from that.”
Colby Gates ended the scoreless streak for the Cavaliers with one of his six 3s, and three of his game-high 20 points, off a Shaun Adams assist at the 4:10 mark.
But Capital City got no more field goals in the fourth and scored only three more points on free throws in a quarter that saw them shoot only 1-for-4 from the field.
“They wanted it more,” Young said. “Loose balls, they would be pushing our guys out of the way to go get it. That’s what it comes down to to win games.”
With the Cavaliers ahead 52-48 and only 33.6 seconds to play, Davenport took over.
The freshman went coast-to-coast off an inbound, cutting from the sideline down the baseline, for a layup through contact. He missed the free throw, but Lindsey was able to come down with the hard-fought rebound.
After a time out, the in-bounds went to Alonzo Porchia, who connected with Davenport slicing through the lane for another layup to tie the game at 52 with 10 seconds left. The first tie since Capital City went ahead 3-0 with 6:32 left in the first.
“We’ve got to be able to adjust accordingly to whatever a team is gonna throw at us,” Young said.
Davenport added a driving layup to open the overtime period, then hit three of four free throws down the stretch to keep Rogers in front as it outscored Capital City 10-4 in the extra four minutes.
Everything seemed to fall for the Cavaliers early, as Nehemiah Hamilton dished one of his game-high nine assists to Adams for a left-wing 3 to open the game, then Aman Kesete assisted Hamilton for a 3 from the left wing to put Capital City up 6-0 with 5:48 left in the first.
Capital City connected on five 3s in the first quarter, while holding the Mounties to just 2-of-13 shooting to take a 17-4 lead into the first break.
The hot shooting slowed in the second for the Cavaliers as they went without a field goal from the 7:25 mark to the 4:38 mark, but Rogers did no better, not hitting its first try from the field with 4:19 left.
Capital City connected down the stretch though, including Gates who collected a defensive rebound with 1.5 seconds left and fired a three-quarter court shot at the buzzer to send the Cavaliers into the break up 29-19.
“I thought it was a tale of two halves,” Young said. “I thought we played really well in the first half, the second half we just got mentally tired and we stopped doing the little things. We weren’t as unselfish, we weren’t making the extra pass and we weren’t finishing possessions or communicating. You’ve got to be mentally tough the duration of the game.”
Capital City used an 8-2 run late in the third to build to a 43-28 lead after Hamilton assisted Brooks Horton on a 3 from the top of the key, three of Horton’s 10 points, then created the biggest lead of the night with 1:01 left when Horton assisted John Hightower for a 3 from the left wing, putting Capital City up 46-30.
“Shots were falling, but part of the reason why is because we were waiting to get what was the best shot for our team,” Young said. “In the second half, it felt like we were rushing.”
Capital City connected on 19-of-48 (39.6 percent) of its tries from the field, but stayed ahead with a 14-for-36 (38.9 percent) night from beyond the arc. The Cavaliers added 4-of-8 (50 percent) of their free throws.
Horton added six rebounds to his offensive performance, while Adams had a team-high eight boards. Hamilton brought down five rebounds and scored seven points, while creating for his teammates.
Rogers hit 23-of-54 (42.6 percent) of its tries from the field, 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) of its attempts from deep and 11-of-20 (55 percent) from the free throw line.
With the win, the Mounties (4-3) will play in the fifth-place game at 4 p.m. today against Lausanne, Tenn. Lausanne beat Oxford, Miss., 77-56 in Thursday’s first game.
Capital City (2-8) moves into the seventh-place game at 2:30 p.m. today where it will face Oxford.