By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BEEBE -- The seventh-ranked Hughes Blue Devils used a 14-0 run late in the second period to put away the Lamar Warriors 55-28 in first-round action at the Class AAA Region 3 Tournament at Badger Sports Arena in Beebe.
The story line for Hughes was that junior guard Lonnie Smith, who has led the team all season in scoring, was held to one point, a first-half free throw with 1:54 to play in the second period.
It's a good thing they really didn't need Smith's scoring touch against the clearly outmanned Warriors.
Hughes junior Robert Davis stepped up and picked up the slack to finish with 17 points, nine rebounds and three steals.
The Blue Devils (29-1) move into Friday's semifinals against Pulaski Oak Grove or Dumas.
By winning Wednesday's first-round game, Hughes qualified for next week's Class AAA State Tournament.
The Blue Devils reached the semifinal round of the state tournament a year ago.
"It was a typical first-round game," Hughes Coach Wes Swift said. "The hardest game to win in a tournament is the first one and it showed at times tonight. Lamar ran their offense well and showed they are a disciplined team."
Lamar, which upset Beebe in the district tournament to reach the regionals, led 2-0 and 4-2 early on baskets by senior forward Caleb English.
The Blue Devils took the lead with 4:47 left in the first quarter on the first of their eight three-pointers.
Senior guard Lonnie Davis, who finished with three, three-pointers and 11 points, hit back-to-back treys to put the Blue Devils in front 8-4.
Lamar got within 14-9 in the second quarter on a three-pointer by Kyle Green, but Hughes started their 11-point run to move in front 32-14 at the half.
The Blue Devils extended their cushion to 20 points with four minutes remaining in the third period, leading 36-16 and were ahead 41-20 to start the fourth period, Hughes scored the first five points of the final frame.
"I thought we shot the ball well, but it was all threes. We weren't getting shots off of our defense. They were all coming from three-pointers."
Paul Doolittle finished with nine points for Hughes and DeMarcus Burks added five points.
English led Lamar with six points while Josh Stumbaugh added five and Justin Wyles chipped in with four points.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY--The unbeaten Augusta Red Devils made quick work of dispatching the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots Wednesday at the Class AA Region 6 Tournament at Harding Academy.
The Red Devils got 19 points from Jackie Wynne, including three, three-pointers, in a 68-36 win over the Patriots.
Marcus Dinwiddie added 12 points and Antonio Gant finished with 13 for Augusta.
Augusta, the No. 1 seed into the regional from the 2AA-South, moves into Friday's semifinal and will play the winner of tonight's Altheimer-Harding Academy game, at 5:30 p.m.
The Red Devils led 22-7 after one period and 38-16 at the half.
Leroy Bell led the Patriots with 13 points, seven of that total coming in the fourth period. Michael Barnes was held to five and Oliver Smith added six.
P-W, the No. 4 seed from the 6AA district, ends the year at 10-14 while Augusta improves to 26-0.
Augusta lost in the regional finals to Altheimer a year ago.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY--Erica Smith and Nikki Bass combined to score 48 points Wednesday to lead the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots to a 79-22 win over Augusta in first-round action at the Class AA Region 6 Tournament at Harding Academy in Searcy.
The top-seeded Lady Patriots will play the winner of tonight's Carlisle-Altheimer matchup, Friday at 4 p.m.
In other girls' action, the Harding Academy Lady Wildcats moved to Friday's semifinal round by turning back Marvell 76-38. harding draws tonight's Barton-Des Arc winner, Friday at 7 p.m.
Smith finished with 26 points to lead the Lady Patriots, but had just seven points in the first half. She rebounded with 14 points in the third period.
Bass picked up the scoring slack in the first half, putting up 16 of her 22 total points in the first two periods.
The Lady Patriots (29-1) led 24-8 after one period and 41-13 at the half.
They opened the third period with an 11-to-1 scoring run to push the lead to 52-14 and 63-19 to start the fourth period.
Tammy Griffin and Brittney Flenory finished with eight points each for P-W while Sheryl Moore added seven and Melanie Baker added four.
Marcillina Culverson led Augusta with seven points.
Augusta, the fourth seed from the 2AA-South, went more than seven minutes, from late in the first period until the 2:25 mark of the second period without scoring a single point.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The first-round pairings for the upcoming Class AAAAA State Tournament, became a little clearer Wednesday.
The state tournament is set to begin Tuesday, Feb. 27, at Mustang Arena in Forrest City.
All of the 32 participating teams have been determined, but in some of the conferences, the seeding into the bracket won't be known until after Friday's night's final round of conference games.
Here is a capsule look at the upcoming tournament.
AAAAA-East--Little Rock Mills is the No. 1 seed from the East while Blytheville is No. 2, Forrest City No. 3 and Jonesboro No. 4.
Forrest City will play Camden-Fairview in the first round set for Thursday, March 1, at 5:30 p.m.
Blytheville gets LR Parkview in the first round while Jonesboro draws LR Central.
Mills' opponent has yet to be determined.
AAAAA-Central--LRock Central is the top seed from the Central while LR Hall is second, Parkview is third and Conway is fourth.
AAAAA-South--The four teams from this conference have been determined, but only the first and second seeds have been set. Pine Bluff will wear the No. 1 seed while Camden-Fairview is No. 2. El Dorado and Lake Hamilton are fighting for the No. 3 and 4 seeding.
AAAAA-West--Fort Smith Northside is the top seed from the West and will be joined in the state tournament by No. 2 seed Fayetteville, No. 3 seed Van Buren and No. 4 seed Russellville.
AAAAA-East--The Jonesboro Lady Hurricane finished a perfect conference season at 14-0 and will wear the top seed into the tournament. West Memphis is second, Blytheville third and Jacksonville fourth.
AAAAA-Central--Mount St. Mary has secured the No. 1 seed while Mountain Home is second, North Little Rock third and LR Parkview is fourth.
AAAAA-South--The only known factor in this league is that Sheridan is the top seed but the other three teams -- Pine Bluff, El Doado and Bryant are still jockeying for the second, third and fourth-place seeds.
AAAAA-West--Fort Smith Northside also finished a perfect conference season at 14-0 and earned the top seed from the West. Springdale will be the No. 4 seed while Fort Smith Southside and Fayetteville are battling for the No. 2 and 3 seeds.
The tournament will run through Saturday, March 3, with the finalists from the boys' and girls' bracket moving on to the Overall State Finals, March 9-10, at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.