By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The North Pulaski Falcons got a crucial conference road win Friday, beating Little Rock Christian Academy 59-42 in west Little Rock. The game was close for most of three quarters. North Pulaski began to pull away late in the third and ran away with it in the fourth. In other words, it went just as Falcon coach Roy Jackson scripted it.
“I knew they didn’t play too many people so we wanted to play a lot of guys, keep the pressure on them and wear them down,” Jackson said. “I think in the third quarter they started getting a little tired. But it was nip and tuck most of the way. They haven’t won any games in conference yet, but they’re a capable team. They have some things that can hurt you.”
A three pointer by junior Joe Aikens broke a tie just before the halftime buzzer, and gave the Falcons a 24-21 lead heading into intermission.
A couple of occurrences forced Jackson to go a little deeper into the bench than even he expected. Starting post player Aaron Williamson was ejected and junior guard Fred Thomas got into foul trouble early and sat for extended periods. That allowed a couple of players to step up that Jackson was glad to see.
“Andrew Wilson stepped up really well,” Jackson said. “Him and Steven Farrior are the two that really stand out in my mind as coming on and having a really good game. I’ve really been wanting Andrew to come around. I played him in a junior varsity game earlier in the week and he did really well. I think that gave him some confidence and he carried that over into this game. Hopefully he can keep that going.”
Wilson sparked the run late in the third that was the first step in the Falcons taking control of the game. His two buckets off offensive rebounds gave North Pulaski (8-7, 2-2) a nine-point lead at 41-32.
The victory gives the Falcons the odd statistic of being 2-0 on the road and 0-2 at home so far in league play.
“You always want to take care of home court but we had two of the tougher teams in here so far,” Jackson said. “So it was important for us to get this win on the road and try to even things out. I think the kids felt like their backs were against the wall. We stressed the point of playing hard every possession offensively and defensively. I think they grasped that and really played well.”
Freshman Rashawn Langston led North Pulaski with 17 points while Aikens finished with 14. Sam Dunkum led the Warriors (3-11, 0-4) with 12 points.
North Pulaski traveled to Sylvan Hills on Tuesday after The Leader deadlines, and will host Little Rock McClellan on Friday.
