Despite a sluggish start, Hot Springs hit its stride midway through the first quarter before capturing a strong lead that the Trojans never relinquished en route to a 68-32 rout of J.A. Fair at Trojan Fieldhouse Tuesday.
Caleb Campbell hooked a steal on the War Eagles' first possession, and the 6-3 junior converted on 1 of 2 attempts from the free throw line to put Hot Springs (18-5, 8-0 5A South) on the board first. Senior Jamison Bracy hit a pair of free throws for Fair (12-8, 5-3) with 2:30 off the clock to take a slight edge.
"Starting off, we did a bad job of setting the tone," admitted Hot Springs head coach Antoni Lasker. "We were very lethargic and sluggish, and one thing we constantly preach to these guys is, 'You gotta come out and play each and every game like it's your last one you're going to play or like it's the state championship game because if you don't, you can be beat by any given team.' The way we came out, I'm not satisfied with it. I told those guys that we're not satisfied with it, but we did some good things defensively, so it wasn't all bad."
Senior Santiair Thomas upped the Trojan tempo as the 6-4 guard pulled down a rebound and knocked it back in with 3:34 left to take a lead that they hosts never surrendered for the remainder of the game. Junior point guard J.J. Walker drove inside and fed Thomas for a bucket that was then converted into a 3-point play as the Trojans stretched a 6-2 lead to a 14-4 buffer at the end of the first quarter.
"We fed Santi; he had it going, and we just went to him. ... He did what he does," Lasker said. "He's been all-state, all-conference for the last two years [and] started playing with us as a freshman, so this is just another game for him. This is what he does."
Hot Springs senior Draylen Sledge hit a 3-pointer early in the second quarter in the middle of a 7-1 run to push the Trojans out to a 21-5 lead with 2:29 off the clock. Bracy responded from inside the paint and classmate Jailon Tyson landed a short jumper plus the and-one, cutting Fair's deficit down to 24-10, but a steal by Walker with an assist to Thomas with 2:20 left pushed Hot Springs back out to a 16-point lead before taking a 29-12 lead at intermission.
Moments into the third quarter, Walker stopped Fair's defense in its tracks drilling a 3-pointer before dishing out to Campbell who sealed a 3-point play at the five-minute mark for a 35-12 Trojan lead. Following a 5-2 Trojan run, the War Eagles put up four straight, but the Trojans closed out the frame on a 12-7 run to take a 52-25 lead into the fourth.
Before Fair managed to find the rim in the fourth, the Trojans hit a 5-0 run before stretching out to a 66-32 lead with a minute to go with senior Javian West grabbing a rebound with a putback layup for the final.
Thomas picked up a double-double to lead the team with 22 points and 13 rebounds while grabbing a pair of steals, and Campbell added 13 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Walker finished with 7 points, four assists, one rebound and a steal, Gordon put up 6 points, Jabari West and Kaleb Hughley tallied 4 each, Sledge had 3 with three rebounds, and Sanders rounded out the scoring with 2 points.
"We've got a good Texarkana team coming up Friday," added Lasker. "We've gotta go down to their place, which is hard to play down there, so we've just got to stay focused, stay locked in, understand that defense is the only way that we're going to get to where we're trying to get to -- offense puts butts in the stands and defense wins championships -- so if we want to do what we gotta do, we're going to have to play defense."
Sports on 02/06/2020