By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs took care of their business at Mustang Arena Friday night by beating West Memphis 58-54 to secure a berth in the Class AAAAA State Tournament.
Less than 100 miles to the west, Sylvan Hills picked the right time to win their first AAAAA-East Conference game of the season by knocking off Jonesboro 50-48.
That gave the Mustangs the undisputed third seed into the state tournament, which begins Tuesday, Feb. 27 at Forrest City. By beating Jonesboro twice this season, the Mustangs hold the tie breaker over the Hurricane.
The Mustangs (11-11, 8-5) end their regular season Tuesday at Cabot, 1-11 in the league and 8-15 overall. Jonesboro, which holds the head-to-head tie-breaker against both West Memphis and Jacksonville, will be the fourth seed into the state tournament. The Hurricane will face Little Rock Mills Tuesday at Little Rock in their final conference game.
Mills will be the No. 1 seed into the tournament and Blytheville is the No. 2 seed.
As it stands now, the Mustangs will more than likely face Camden-Fairview, the No. 2 seed from the AAAAA-South, in the first round of the state tournament. Jonesboro will face Little Rock Central in first round play.
The Mustangs led 18-16 after one period Friday against the Blue Devils but fell behind 31-28 at the half. West Memphis' 6-7 center D.J. Loving was 7-of-7 from the floor in the first half which helped the Blue Devils move ahead of the Mustangs.
The Mustangs battled back early in the third period to lead 34-33 and 39-37 before West Memphis forced a tie at 39-39 and 42-42.
The Blue Devils inched ahead 44-42 to start the final period.
Plagued by foul problems, West Memphis held on to the lead until Forrest City's Daffy Norment got a second-effort putback basket with 1:30 to play to put the Mustangs in front 54-53.
Forrest City senior center Josh Brown fouled out seconds later and Loving hit the back side of two free throws to tie the game at 54-54.
Norment went inside for a layup with 29 seconds to play giving the Mustangs a 56-54 lead.
Justin Young and Loving both missed point-blank baskets with 10.3 seconds left and Norment drew the foul and hit the front end of a one-and-one for a 57-54 cushion.
Mike McGee's last-second, "air ball" shot for the Blue Devils wasn't even close and Jason Jones iced the win with a free throw with one tick left on the clock.
Norment led all scorers with 27 points while James Johnson added 16 and Jones finished with seven.
Loving led the Blue Devils, who will miss postseason this year, with 19 points. Sidney Tate had 11 and McGee finished with nine.
The Mustangs will tip at at Cabot at 6 p.m. for a varsity girls-varsity boys set.
Forrest City will open state tournament play on Thursday, March 1, at 5:30 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
LONOKE--The Hughes Blue Devils accomplished something Saturday night not many other teams have been able to do -- defeat defending Class AAA champion Lonoke for the third time in one season -- two of those victories coming on Lonoke's home floor.
Saturday night at Lonoke, the Blue Devils defeated the Jackrabbits 61-56 in the finals of the 6AAA District Tournament.
It was the first district title for fourth-year Hughes head coach Wes Swift.
A year ago, the Blue Devils finished second in the district tournament, losing to Lonoke in the finals but went on to reach the semifinals of the Class AAA state tournament.
Hughes, currently ranked seventh in the Associate Press high school basketball poll and eighth in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette standings, improve to 28-1 for the year and have won 20 straight games.
The Blue Devils will face No. 4 seeded Lamar in the first round of the Class AAA Region 3 Tournament, Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 5:30 p.m., at Beebe High School.
Hughes put down the Jackrabbits 70-49 in the first conference meeting this season and took the second game 56-48.
The Blue Devils finished undefeated in the 6AAA Conference at 12-0 while Lonoke finished second.
Lonoke will go against Central Arkansas Christian in their first-round game at the regional tournament, set for Thursday, Feb. 22, at 8:30 p.m.
Swift says he fully expects to face Lonoke for a fourth time in the regional tournament finals, set for Saturday, Feb. 24.
"Bring'em on," Swift said after Saturday's win. "It wouldn't surprise me. Of course we have to take care of business and get there ourselves, but I think that is a very real possibility."
Lonnie Smith led Hughes with 18 points Saturday night while Paul Doolittle and Robert Davis finished with 11 points each. Tim Jones added nine.
Lonoke's big man, Chad Wise, led the Jackrabbits with 21 points.
Lonoke led early 6-1 after a Wise slam but Hughes battled back to tie the game at 6-6 and held a 9-8 lead to start the second period.
Hughes led 19-12 with 3:23 to play in the first half and looked as if they were ready to put the game away after Doolittle's three pointer made it 22-14, however Lonoke rallied to cut the Hughes lead to 24-21 at the half by scoring the final four points of the half.
Once again in the third period, Hughes pushed their lead to 32-24 with five minutes showing after Smith turned a conventional three-point play.
Lonoke's Floyd McBride answered with a three-point play but Smith's three made it 35-29 Hughes.
By the end of the period, Lonoke had once again trimmed the Hughes lead to just three points, 40-37.
Lonoke tied the game at 40-40 when Wilbert Wilkerson dunked over Doolittle and then hit the foul shot after being fouled.
Lonoke tied the game at 42-42 before Smith's long three pushed the Blue devils out front 45-42.
Robert Davis' baseline bucket made it 49-44 and Doolittle's field goal put Hughes in front 51-44. Wise hit from inside the paint before Jones nailed three straight free throws to give Hughes a 54-46 cushion with 2:11 to play.
The Blue Devils went to a delay game which resulted in Davis pass to Smith for the baseline layup with under minute to play and a 56-48 Hughes lead.
Lonoke cut the lead to 56-50 before Davis hit two free throws for a 58-50 advantage,
Doolittle's two free throws with 26 seconds to play made it 60-50.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
ELAINE--The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots won the 6AA District Tournament title for the third straight time, whipping Barton 66-31 Saturday in the finals played at Elaine.
The Lady Patriots, ranked first in Class AA, second in one high school poll, third in the AP Top 10 and ranked 14th in the Fox Fab 50 Southwest Region rankings, got 26 points from Erica Smith to pave the way for the victory.
The Southwest Region includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
It was the 21st straight win for the Lady Patriots, who have never lost a conference or district tournament game since joining the 6AA two years ago.
The Lady Patriots will be the No. 1 seed from the 6AA district into the Class AA Region 6 Tournament which begins Wednesday at Harding Academy in Searcy.
Palestine-Wheatley will play Augusta, the No. 4 seed from the 2AA-South, in a first-round game scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 4 p.m.
The Lady Patriots are the two-time defending regional tournament champions.
The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots, the No. 4 seed into the regional tournament, will play immediately after the Lady Patriots' game.
The Patriots will take on Augusta, the No. 1 seed from the 2AA-South, at 5:30 p.m.
In Saturday's final against Barton, the Lady Patriots opened a 14-0 lead early and led 23-6 after one period.
They led 42-12 at the half.
"It was good to get back on the court," said P-W Coach Beverly Bass. "We had been off for nine days and the girls were ready to play. We're looking forward to the regional tournament and hope we can get past that and back to state."
Nikki Bass added 13 points for Palestine-Wheatley while Carlene Gardner finished with 10. Melanie Baker, Sheryl Moore and Tammy Griffin each had four points while Nikita Love had three.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The West Memphis Lady Blue Devils (18-6, 11-2) secured the No. 2 seed into the Class AAAAA State Tournament Friday night with a 73-27 win over the Forrest City Lady Mustangs.
Kim Turner led West Memphis with 15 points while Ashley Davis added eight and Tandra Inmon, younger sister of former West Memphis standout Tywanna Inmon, finished with seven points.
Deosha Agnew led Forrest City with 10 points and eight rebounds while Kanetra Pendleton added six points.
The 73-points marked he second time this season the Lady Mustangs have allowed that total. The Cabot Lady Panthers put up 73 against Forrest City earlier in the year.
The Lady Mustangs (5-15, 1-12) shooting problems continued as the team hit only 10-of-56 shots from the floor for a 19 percent average.
West Memphis led 23-6 after one period and 42-11 at the half, the second highest point total scored against Forrest City in the first half this year. Jacksonville put up 44 points last Tuesday against the Lady Mustangs before the half.
West Memphis led 71-25 with one minute to play in the game.
The Lady Blue Devils will draw either North Little Rock or Little Rock Parkview in the first round of the state tournament. That game will be played Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m.
The Lady Mustangs will end their season Tuesday when they take on the Cabot Lady Panthers at Cabot.
That game begins at 6 p.m.