Burgess caps off Benton’s late rally, secures Class 5A championship over Maumelle

HOT SPRINGS -- After experiencing heartbreak in its last championship game appearance, it was Benton that administered a bout of agony in the Class 5A final Friday night.

Terrion Burgess hit the go-ahead shot with 3.1 seconds left in the game as the Panthers gained an improbable 58-57 comeback victory over Maumelle in front of a loud announced crowd of 5,452 at Bank OZK Arena.

Burgess' shot came in stunning fashion for Benton (30-3), which won its first state championship. But the astonishment wasn't because of who the game-winner came from. Instead, it was how it happened.

Maumelle (27-7) led 57-52 with 22 seconds remaining in the game after Derrick Lewis connected on two free throws. Benton raced down the court and pulled within three on a basket from Harrison Pickett. Moments later, Elem Shelby came up with a steal and subsequently hit two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to make it a one-point game.

On the ensuing inbound pass, Burgess' on-ball pressure forced a turnover, which gave the ball right back to the Panthers. The senior forward, who was named the most valuable player of the tournament, delivered when he retrieved the following pass.

The Hornets did get one last crack at a win, but Jayce Tillman's off-balanced attempt at the buzzer sailed wide of the basket.

"Seniors that refused to lose," Benton Coach Dexter Hendrix said. "During that last timeout, people were walking out of the stadium, walking out of the arena, and the guys came to the huddle and said, 'We're not losing'. They made such big plays, and I'm super proud of them.

"We know we didn't play our best game (Friday), but the guys just refused to lose."

Benton dropped a 68-63 decision to Pine Bluff in last year's final after leading for a large portion of that game. This time, it was the exact opposite.

The Hornets led for nearly 28 minutes in this one but couldn't finish it off.

"That one hurt the most," a visibly emotion Maumelle Coach Michael Shook said. "Been here four times, and that one definitely hurt the most. I should've called a timeout with six seconds left, and I didn't. That's on me.

"Just a tough way to lose."

Pickett finished with 22 points and Burgess had 18 points for Benton. Anthony Spratt was also key with 11 points, including two key three-pointers.

Malik McGuire logged 19 points and 14 rebounds while Markalon Rochell tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Hornets, who did something to the Panthers that not many teams have done all season -- put them in double-digit deficit.

Pickett scored the first points of the game for Benton but went cold for the next six minutes and didn't make another shot until Spratt scored underneath with 1:56 go in the first quarter.

Over that same period of time, Maumelle took off.

A three-pointer from Cedric Jones, who chipped in with 10 points, started a 12-0 run that featured a pair of dunks from Rochell. Spratt eventually stopped the bleeding with his bucket, but the Hornets went on the score six of the next eight points to end the period.

The Panthers had a much better go of it once the second quarter began, and Pickett was in the middle of it all. He came up with a steal that resulted in a layup from Burgess and lit an 11-4 run. He then drilled three consecutive three-pointers, including a 24-foot, step-back jumper, that gave Benton a 26-25 lead.

Rochell, though, scored with 28 seconds remaining in the period to send the Hornets into the break with a slim one-point cushion.

"My shot started falling," Pickett said. "I just kept going, being aggressive. Just had to really keep going."

Benton held a 31-30 advantage following a free throw from Burgess, but McGuire began reestablishing himself inside the same way he did in the first half. He accounted for six points during an 8-0 spurt and also had a chase-down block during a possession that saved a surefire Benton score.

"I've said it all year that Malik is our X-factor," Shook said. "Everyone knows Markalon, they know Ced, they know Jayce, but Malik is the guy that does the dirty work, he's the anchor on defense, he alters shots.

"He's tenacious on the boards, but he's capable of scoring. He doesn't care to score, doesn't look to score, and we've had to get on him at times this year about that. But we told him early on that we were going to establish him early."

When the Panthers later tied the game at 45-45 with 5:28 left on a free throw from Spratt, the Hornets went right back to McGuire, who notched a pair of bullying layups to ignite a 6-0 run.

However, the Panthers stayed close until they put together their final frantic push to claim the title.

"We remember last year very well," Hendrix said. "You try not to think about it very much during the season, but we did a poor job of that. We thought about it all the time, and it was in the back of our all mind all season long.

"We wanted to get back here, and I think it really helped (Friday) being here last year and getting that experience. But they knew it was their time."