Future Hog Battles In Paint

Little Rock Hall’s Bobby Portis pulls down a rebound in the first half of the 7A Boys State Championship game against Fayetteville.

— Little Rock Hall forward Bobby Portis isn’t accustomed to facing defenders his size. He’s not used to being shut down in the paint, either.

Portis, who has already committed to play for Arkansas in 2013, got off to a rough start against Fayetteville in Friday’s Class 7A State Championship Game in Summit Arena.

The 6-foot-9 junior was held to only two points on 1-for-4 shooting in the first half, but he scored nine of his 11 points in the second half as Hall pulled away for a 42-31 win and its third consecutive state championship.

“To me, one of the greatest things he does is he gets out and runs. I mean, he runs like a 400-meter track athlete,” Fayetteville boys basketball coach Kyle Adams said. “You see about five strides and he’s down the floor, so it puts a lot of pressure on whoever is guarding him.”

Portis, who’s rated by Scout.com as the 30th best prospect in the Class of 2013, scored his only basket of the first half on a breakaway dunk that put Hall ahead 10-6 with 5 minutes, 55 seconds remaining.

But he got into a groove after halftime, scoring seven points in the third quarter as he found ways of beating Fayetteville big man Tyler McCullough (6-foot-10) in the paint for dunks. Portis added nine rebounds and two blocked shots.

“We held him to two (in the first half), but he’s going to get his points,” Adams said. “He’s just a great athlete, and to be honest with you, I’ll be glad to see him in a Razorback jersey.”

Three In A Row

Little Rock Hall won its third consecutive state championship with Friday’s 42-31 victory against Fayetteville in the Class 7A finals. The last team to win three straight boys state titles in the state was none other than Little Rock Hall, when the Warriors took four consecutive championships from 1981-84.

“The goal next year will be to win and conference championship and a state championship,” Hall coach Jon Coleman said. “That would push us to four, so that’s certainly a goal for next year.”

Rare Air For Adams

Adams has been to his fair share of state basketball finals. With Friday’s appearance, Adams has now been involved in five state championships games with the Purple’Dogs program.

In 1978, Adams was a player on Fayetteville’s Class 4A state title team. In 2005, 2009 and 2010, Adams was an assistant under Barry Gebhart, helping lead the Purple’Dogs to a perfect 30-0 record and the 7A title in 2009.

Long-Distance Woes

Fayetteville struggled to hit shots in the second half against Hall, particularly from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs made just 1 of 11 3-point attempts after halftime, with senior guard Kile Grave making the only one to cut Hall’s lead to 37-28 with 2:15 remaining.

Fayetteville missed their only 3-point attempt in the first half and finished 1-for-12 for 8.3 percent from 3-point range. The Bulldogs shot just 33.3 percent from floor, going 14-for-42 against Hall’s stingy defense.

“It came down to who was going to make shots,” Adams said. “I thought we played extremly well. It didn’t feel like we turned the ball over a lot, I thought we rebounded fine and we defended fine. We just had a hard time putting the ball in the basket.”