Future Hogs look to lead Parkview to 5A tourney title

Khalil Garland drives up the lane for a shot during a game for the Real Deal in the Rock at P.A.R.K. in Little Rock on Sunday, April 5, 2016.

— Little Rock Parkview head coach Al Flanigan has won six state tournaments as a head coach and six more as an assistant and says the feeling never gets old.

Flanigan, whose team won the Class 6A state title last season, will begin his quest for number eight on Tuesday when and his Central top-seed Patriots (25-5) meet South four-seed Watson Chapel in a 2:30 p.m. game at the Class 5A state tournament in Magnolia.

“No matter which classification they put us in, our goal is to be the last team standing and our guys have really dedicated themselves to that this year again,” Flanagan said. “ We play in the best conference and the best state tournament and that includes 6A and 7A.”

Parkview features a pair of future Razorbacks in senior guard Khalil Garland (6-6, 190) and junior forward Ethan Henderson (6-9, 190) and is joined by Little Rock Mills (27-2) - which has 6-7, 210-pound Razorback signee Darious Hall (15.2, 8.3) - as teams looked upon as favorites to win it all.

Mills will open action against host Magnolia Thursday at 5:30 with Parkview playing at 8:30 if the Patriots win their opener.

“There’s not really one team that I worry about, I worry about all of them,” Flanigan said. “You are just one bad game from it being all over. I just go into every game thinking we need to do what we do and it will take care of itself.”

Garland and Henderson have been spending a lot of time with Flanigan lately, but that’s not been a good thing.

“They have been playing pretty well, but one thing that has been bothering both of them right now is foul trouble,” Flanagan said “They have been spending too much time over by me as assistant coaches. When they stay out of foul trouble, they both are being big factors in our success.”

Garland is averaging 15.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2 steals per game this season.

“As a senior, Khalil has really stepped up as a leader, as has Ethan, who I used to have a hard time getting to talk, much less be a vocal leader,” Flanigan said. “Khalil has played anything from the one to the four for us this season and is just having a very good season, the type of one we expected him to have.”

Henderson, one of four Arkansas Hawks AAU teammates that have committed to the Razorbacks and give them the top-ranked 2018 class nationally, works inside.

He is averaging 6 points, 3.8 rebounds and a block per game.

“He has played the four and the five both for us,” Flanagan said. “He has played well, but is just scratching the surface of how good he is going to be.”

The Patriots also feature 6-6 senior Javon Franklin (16.2, 8.8), 6-4 junior Curtis White (9.8) and 6-4, 190-pound freshman guard Moses Moody.

“The only schools that are calling me right now about Javon are junior college ones,” Flanagan said. “He has been a great player for us this season and really gets a lot of his work done inside.”

Moody hit two free throws in overtime Friday night to help Parkview edge regular season champ Little Rock Mills 57-55 in the conference tournament.

He reminds Flanigan of a younger Daryl Macon, the current Razorback star who played for Parkview.

“Moses has a chance to be outstanding,” Flanagan said. “He can really shoot the ball. …I call him Baby Daryl because he looks like Daryl, was like Daryl and shoots it like Daryl.”