By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports writer
Sylvan Hills and North Pulaski served up a reminder that basketball is a contact sport Tuesday night.
Sylvan Hills jumped to a big first-quarter lead and held off North Pulaski in the fourth for a 65-57, 5A-Southeast Conference victory, but not before the game degenerated into a foul-plagued scuffle that threatened at times to get out of hand.
“To see the guys get out of the gate and play like we’ve practiced every day, it wasn’t unexpected either,” Sylvan Hills coach Kevin Davis said of the start that helped the first-place Bears improve to 3-0 in conference. “You just come in sometimes and you don’t know. But we knew they would battle us.”
The fourth quarter featured North Pulaski’s rally from a double-digit deficit, a technical on Falcons coach Ray Cooper as he protested what he felt was a foul on Marcus Williams and, in short order, three intentional fouls by North Pulaski.
The intentional fouls included two on the state’s top college prospect, Archie Goodwin and one of the violations nearly started a fight with 4:55 to go.
“We just simply adjusted to the way the game was played,” said Cooper, unhappy with Sylvan Hills’ 27-17 edge in fouls. “We went to the hole several times and got knocked down and so after that we knocked them down.”
With 6:05 left in the game and Sylvan Hills leading 51-34, Williams was tripped up after getting off a pass and Cooper furiously protested Sylvan Hills undercut Williams for a foul.
Cooper was instead whistled for his technical and players restrained him in the disjointed and highly animated Falcons huddle before Larry Ziegler made one of the free throws to give the Bears a 52-34 lead.
With 5:17 left, officials further infuriated Cooper when they called Bryan Colson for the first intentional foul on Trey Smith with 5:17 left.
The second intentional foul came when Michael Cross made contact on Goodwin from behind as Goodwin — sought by programs like Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky — was going for a layup. Goodwin sailed beyond the baseline and skidded into the wall, then got up jawing at North Pulaski while teammates held him back and North Pulaski fans cheered.
Goodwin fed the applause when he missed both free throws, but he made it 57-44 when he hit one after drawing the third intentional foul from Shyheim Barron, with 3:09 left.
More than once the officials spoke to players in an effort to maintain calm, but that didn’t satisfy Cooper.
“Who? That’s all I got to say about it. Who? Who are they?” Cooper said of the refs before stopping to congratulate Davis as he passed by.
While Bears came out on top, Davis too felt the game had its rough spots.
“I just thought it got too physical,” Davis said. “I thought there were some cheap shots and stuff taken out there. In the heat of a big ballgame, emotions get involved. I just try to instill in these guys you’ve got to be tough, you’ve got to work through those things and you can’t retaliate.”
Barron pulled the Falcons within 61-52 when he made a layup after a steal by Cross, and Cooper called time out with 23 seconds left. Forced to foul, the Falcons sent Goodwin to the line three seconds later, and he made both shots for the 63-52 lead and took a seat for the final 20 seconds.
Barron made two free throws while Dion Patton hit two for Sylvan Hills, and Barron capped the scoring with a buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Goodwin led all scorers with 29 points, scoring his first four on free throws and getting 17 overall at the line. After Williams made two free throws to pull North Pulaski within 53-44 with 3:46 left, Goodwin scored 10 of his team’s final 12 points to help the Bears hold on.
“Archie is the most talented guy in the 5A and he’s going to be that every night,” Cooper said, blaming the Falcons’ lack of team play for the bad first half. “But if that’s what wins games everybody wouldn’t show up. But this is a team game, and when you play a team game with strategy, five beats one every night.
“What we did is we went out and we got in one-on-one battles and you’re going to lose those.”
Patton added 14 points for Sylvan Hills and Ziegler scored 10.
“The last game we had everybody in double figures but the point guard so we’ve been balanced,” Davis said of the scoring.
Colson led North Pulaski with 13 points and Braylon Spicer scored 12.
The Falcons had an 8-2 turnover advantage and a 12-6 rebound advantage in the furious fourth quarter as they closed the gap.
“I just thought we got winded there just a little bit,” Davis said. “You play four quarters with the intensity of this ballgame you’re going to have a little loss somewhere. Both teams.”
Sylvan Hills opened the game with an 11-0 run, led 23-9 at the end of the first quarter and 41-21 at halftime. The biggest lead was 41-18 late in the second quarter, and Sylvan Hills had a comfortable, 49-34 lead entering the fourth.
“That was the ballgame, that amounted to the ballgame,” Cooper said. “We’ve got a bunch of young guys who got caught up in the hype and they came out here and tried to rip and run with them, which was not the game plan.”
