By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JONESBORO -- Once again, Forrest City's Friday night magic act landed them in the winner's circle.
Even Jonesboro's Lorenzo Hampton and the Hurricane couldn't figure out the secret that has given the Mustangs a 6-0 conference record in games played on Friday nights.
Hampton did gave Jonesboro the lead three times during the final two minutes of the game on a jump shot and a pair of dunks, but the Hurricane's go-to player couldn't answer a couple of key scores by the Mustangs in the waning seconds as Forrest City prevailed 54-50 Friday night at Hurricane Gym.
By contrast, the Mustangs are just 1-4 in conference games played on Tuesday.
The win also leaves the Mustangs tied with Jonesboro for third in the league standings.
Forrest City is 10-10 overall, 7-4 in the league. Jonesboro, which had its four-game winning streak snapped, is 15-8 and 7-4.
Hampton -- who had 73 total points in the Hurricane's last two games, victories over Cabot and Jacksonville -- finished with 22 points Friday to share game-high honors with Forrest City's Daffy Norment.
Both Hampton and Norment played prominent roles in the deciding plays down the stretch.
Jonesboro trailed by as many as seven points in the third quarter, but rallied to take its first lead since the second quarter when Hampton knocked down a 17-footer to make it 46-45 with 2:03 to play.
Norment got the lead back for Forrest City 11 seconds later with two free throws.
Jonesboro answered following Norment's free throws, when Tony Black was fouled as he received the ensuing inbounds pass.
Black missed both foul shots and Norment quickly threw up an off-balance shot on the other end. Hampton grabbed the rebound and dribbled the length of the court for an emphatic two-handed slam to return the lead to JHS, 48-47 with 1:36 left.
After James Johnson made a pair of free throws to put the Mustangs back on top, T. Prunty passed over the Forrest City fullcourt press to Hampton for another powerful two-handed slam.
The Mustangs called a timeout and then worked the clock from the 1:02 mark to the :26 mark, when Norment stumbling and off-balance, got the ball to senior Josh Brown for a layup that put the Mustangs ahead to stay, 51-50.
Jonesboro called a timeout following Brown's bucket and put the ball in Hampton's hands once more. The Mustangs came out in a trapping halfcourt defense which resulted in a turnover as Norment intercepted a pass by Hampton, which was intended for teammate Aaron Deaton, and drove to the basket.
Hampton's foul prevented the layup, but Norment made both foul shots with 15.3 seconds left to put Forrest City up 53-50.
Jonesboro got the ball to Hampton on the following possession as well, but the senior's contested 3-pointer from the corner bounded off the front of the rim and the Mustangs' Mark Lewis grabbed the rebound. He made the second of two free throws with 6.7 seconds left to seal the victory. Hampton's 3-point attempt just before the buzzer wouldn't fall.
"I was very proud of the effort," Forrest City coach Dwight Lofton said. "I thought it was a great high school game. I thought the big-name players rose to the occasion. Hampton showed why he's one of the top players and Daffy Norment showed why he's one of the top players. Those two guys put their teams on their backs. Both teams, their role players stepped up and did what they had to do. Right now, we're just concentrating on getting in the state tournament. I would prefer the number three seed, but if it does not work out, as long as we're in the state tournament."
Black finished with 11 points and eight rebounds for Jonesboro, while Prunty added eight points and post player Greg Jones seven. James Johnson had 10 points and Kevin King seven for Forrest City.
The Friday win was Forrest City's second of the year over Jonesboro and leaves the Mustangs holding the tiebreaker with Jonesboro, in the event the two teams end up in a tie in the final league standings.
The Mustangs seem to have the clearer path to at least the conference's third seed.
Forrest City's final three games are against teams in the bottom four of the league's current standings.
The Mustangs host Jacksonville and West Memphis next week, then travel to Cabot the following Tuesday.
Jonesboro hosts second-place Blytheville Tuesday, travels to last-place Sylvan Hills Friday and then visits league leader Little Rock Mills the following Tuesday.
"This definitely eases our minds quite a bit," Lofton said of the win. "Jonesboro could easily go 1-2 over the final two games and we could go 3-0. Anything is possible. This league has proved that time and again. Right now, we want to get Jacksonville tomorrow (Tuesday) at our place."
Jonesboro Coach Barry Pruitt called Friday's game "a real critical game that could have really put us in a good position, two ahead of Forrest City. Forrest City lost Tuesday night, they got beat 14. They were ready."
Likewise, Lofton said Tuesday's Jacksonville game is the key game of the remaining three.
"A win over the Red Devil and that sews up a postseason berth for us," Lofton said.
Jonesboro led 16-15 lead after a quarter and were up 21-15 after Prunty's three-point play with 3:17 left in the second quarter.
Jonesboro won the boys' junior varsity game 47-42 as Ervin Jones scored 14 points and Cardell Wilburn 11.
JONESBORO--Jonesboro's Lady Hurricane moved a step closer to a AAAAA-East championship with a 62-45 victory over the Forrest City lady Mustangs Friday.
The Lady Hurricane is now 22-2 overall,11-0 league play and needs just one win in its last three conference games to clinch the league title.
Jonesboro needed only two minutes of fullcourt pressure defense to provide all the cushion it would need.
The Lady Mustangs, who fell behind 30-2 against a pressing Lady Hurricane at Forrest City last month, hung tough against Jonesboro's halfcourt defense until late in the second quarter this time around.
Forrest City was down just 18-17 after Katrina Floyd's stickback with 4:40 left in the second quarter. But Jonesboro reeled off 19 straight from there, the last 11 due in large part to a two-minute session of fullcourt pressure.
Senior guard LeAnn Upshaw scored nine of her game-high 32 points in Jonesboro's 19-0 spurt.
Forrest City committed seven turnovers in the final 2:03 of the second quarter when JHS coach Michelle Birdsong implemented the press. Jonesboro led 26-17 before going to the press and was up 37-17 in less than two minutes.
The Lady Hurricane led 37-19 at the break and built its lead to as much 22 in the third quarter, which ended with Jonesboro ahead 53-36.
Upshaw was the only Lady Hurricane player in double figures, but 10 of the 16 JHS players that played scored. Junior Latoya Wortham had eight points and Lydia Nelson six to lead the rest of the pack.
Caronica Randle scored 11 points to lead Forrest City (5-13, 1-10). Deosha Agnew added eight while Kanetra Pendleton and Erika Haggans had six each.
Blytheville 62, Cabot 53
Wendlyn Jones scored 20 points Friday to lead Blytheville (15-6, 7-4) past Cabot 62-53 in AAAAA-East action. Mandy Alexander and Katrina Evans added 11 apiece for the Lady Hurricane. Blytheville is third in the East standings.
Sylvan Hills 52, LR Mills 38
Emily Thomas scored 15 points as Sylvan Hills (7-9, 4-6) beat Little Rock Mills in AAAAA-East action. April Harris scored 12 for Sylvan Hills. Anita Harden led Mills with 22 points.
West Memphis 65, Jacksonville 43
Amber Gean scored 17 points to lead West Memphis past Jacksonville in AAAAA-East action. Rachel Townsend led Jacksonville with 15 points. West Memphis is on track to finish second in the East Conference race.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Hughes made it a clean sweep Saturday in the 6AAA Junior High District Tournament at Lonoke.
The Junior Blue Devils won their third district title in five years by defeating Dumas 51-28 in the boys' championship game.
The Junior Lady Blue Devils got point production from all five starters to edge Lonoke 31-30 in the girls' title game. It was Hughes second one-point win of the tournament. The Junior Lady Blue Devils slipped past DeWitt Thursday in the tournament semifinals.
Valraneeka Brown led Hughes with nine points while Latisha James added eight points. Victoria Doolittle had six and Shamiko Porter and DeeDee Smith finished with four points each in the come-from-behind Hughes win.
Lonoke led 9-8 after the first period and 19-12 at the half. Hughes trimmed the lead to 23-19 to start the fourth and outscored Lonoke 12-to-7 in the fourth period to get the win.
Brown sank a pair of free throws in the waning seconds to give Hughes the championship.
In the junior boys' game, David Dowden nailed two three-pointers and scored 12 points to lead the Junior Blue Devils to a 51-28 win over Dumas.
After being at 4-4 to end the first period, Hughes used a 20-to-6 second period scoring outburst to lead 24-10 at the half.
In the third, Hughes put the game away by outscoring Dumas 15-to-8 to lead 39-18 to start the final frame.
Andre Walker added nine points for Hughes while jerome Thomas and Courtley London each finished with six. Marcus Lay helped out with five points, Kevin Hatton had four and Ayo Ogunsakin had four.
The Hughes Blue Devils capped a perfect run through the 6AAA Conference Friday night by taking down Pine Bluff Dollarway 57-55 at Hughes.
The Blue Devils, ranked ninth, finish the regular season at 26-1, the best-ever mark under fourth-year coach Wes Swift.
Under Swift, the Blue Devils have finished 14-4, 11-11, 12-9 and 19-6 in regular season action.
The Blue Devils 12-0 conference mark is also a best-ever finish under Swift.
Robert Davis led the Blue Devils with 26 points Friday while Lonnie Smith added 10. Davis nailed three, threes in the game and was 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Hughes led 15-13 after one period against Dollarway but found themselves locked in a 35-35 tie at the half.
"We decided not to worry so much about scoring in the second half and concentrated on playing defense," said Swift. "The 35 points at the half put on track to give up 70 points and we didn't want that to happen."
Hughes is the No. 1 seeded team into the 6AAA District Tournament, which begins tonight at Lonoke.
The top seeding gave the Blue Devils a bye to Thursday's semifinals where they will meet the winner of the Dollarway/DeWitt first-round game at 8:30 p.m.
The boys' championship game will be played Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The Hughes Lady Blue Devils, who have not won a game this season, will be the No. 7 seeded team into the 6AAA District Tournament at Lonoke.
Hughes will open first-round play tonight against No. 6 seeded Brinkley at 5 p.m.
The 6AA Junior and Senior High District Tournaments are set to begin today at Elaine High School.
All four Palestine-Wheatley teams will be involved.
The Junior Lady Patriots will wear the No. 6 seed into the bracket and will see first action on Wednesday, Feb. 14, when they take on Elaine at 4:30 p.m. The winner advances to meet No. 2 Gillett on Friday, Feb. 16, at 4:30 p.m.
The fifth-seeded P-W Junior Patriots open today when they take on fourth-seeded Gillett at 5:45 p.m.
The winner gets top-seeded Altheimer Thursday, Feb. 15, at 5:45 p.m.
The P-W Lady Patriots, 6AA Conference champions, earned a bye all the way to the finals which will be played Saturday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m.
The Patriots drew the No. 4 seed into the bracket and will take on Gillett Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 8:15 p.m.
The winner gets Barton on Thursday, Feb. 15, at 8:15 p.m.