By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs rolled out the red carpet Friday night for the Jonesboro Hurricane's first visit to Mustang Arena and then promptly jerked it out from underneath the visitors' feet.
The Mustangs and Hurricane were playing the first-ever AAAAA-East Conference game in the new multimillion dollar arena and there was no way the Mustangs were going to let anyone rain on their home parade.
Last season, playing at the Barn, the Mustangs won seven straight home conference games.
Friday's 57-37 win over Jonesboro makes it eight in a row.
The Hurricane scored the first five points of the game before Kwantin King, who finished with 18 points to lead Forrest City, hit back-to-back field goals to cut the Jonesboro lead to one point.
The Mustangs led 12-10 to start the second period. Jonesboro tied the game at 15-all with five minutes to play before King's putback basket put the Mustangs in front 17-15. The Hurricane fell behind 27-21 at the half and by midway through the third period, were finished.
Senior transfer Josh Brown added 11 points to help the Mustangs (5-7 overall and 2-1) while Daffy Norment added eight and James Johnson added six.
The bottom line was simple -- the Mustangs physically dominated the Hurricane -- especially in the paint.
Jonesboro's Tony Black kept his team in the hunt during the first half with several point blank baskets underneath. He finished with seven first half points but netted just two points in the second half after the Mustang defense closed in and rendered him ineffective during the second half.
Forrest City opened the third period with a nifty 7-0 scoring run started by Norment's baseline runner and free throw to complete an old fashioned three-point play to make it 30-21. Johnson forced a turnover and got the layup for a 32-21 cushion and Norment's short jumper made it 34-21 before Jonesboro canned their first basket of the second half with 4:37 to play.
Brown hit a pair of key field goals late in the period and the Mustangs went on to lead 43-32 to start the final frame.
So complete was the Forrest City man-to-man defense that Jonesboro netted only five points in the final eight minutes.
"They played tremendous defense against us," said Jonesboro Head Coach Barry Pruitt. "When we shot the ball, it got to the point where they had four rebounders knocking us everywhere. They crashed the boards hard and they just flat whipped us. I told our guys we looked like boys playing against grown men."
The Hurricane were coming off a 42-41 win over West Memphis on Tuesday while the Mustangs were coming off a 55-51 loss at Blytheville.
"I think the intensity level of the Blytheville game helped us," said Forrest City's Dwight Lofton. "It was the same kind of intense level tonight. We knew Jonesboro was coming in here fired up and ready to play. I'm very proud of our defensive effort. The guys came out and played hard and did what they had to do to win the game. It was a game we had to have."
Lofton credited his assistant coach Barry Hodges and his team for enduring a week with many distractions.
Tuesday, after the Blytheville game, Lofton learned his father had suffered a stroke, which took the fifth-year Mustang coach back to the Little Rock area where his father underwent emergency surgery. That kept Lofton away from the team practices on Wednesday and Thursday. He arrived back in Forrest City a few hours before game time Friday.
"I have to give credit to Coach Hodges," Lofton said. "He did an outstanding job of having the guys prepared to play the game. I was coming in blind but he did a great job of executing what I had mapped out before I left. Our guys absolutely got after it. To hold Jonebsoro to just 37 points is a major accomplishment any night."
The Hurricane shot just a little better than 42 percent from the field in the first half but that rate dipped to 23 percent in the second half.
The Mustangs improve to 2-1 in the conference while the Hurricane drop to 2-1 in the league. Little Rock Mills and Blytheville are the only two unbeaten East teams and they are the co-leaders at 3-0.
The Jonesboro Lady Hurricane, ranked seventh in the state, made a statement Friday night at Mustang Arena, rolling over the Forrest City Lady Mustangs 52-27.
Jonesboro improves to 14-2 overall and 3-0 in the AAAAA-East Conference. Forrest City falls to 4-6 on the year and 0-3 in league play.
The Lady Hurricane led 25-2 after one period and 38-13 at the half.
Jennifer Sullivan, who will play her college basketball at the University of Memphis, scored the game's first six points and went on to lead all scorers with 20 points, 12 of that coming in the first period. LeAnn Upshaw finished with nine points.
Jonesboro played most of the second period and almost all of the second half using its bench players. All 17 Jonesboro roster players played and 10 of those scored.
Caronica Randle led Forrest City with eight points while Katrina Floyd had five and Deosha Agnew finished with four.
The Forrest City teams will host Little Rock Mills Tuesday at Mustang Arena.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Palestine-Wheatley's Erica Smith poured in 36 points Friday night and the No. 3 ranked Lady Patriots stormed past Altheimer 72-38.
The Lady Patriots improve to 15-1 for the year and 5-0 in the 6AA Conference. They are also ranked first in Class AA.
It was the seventh time this season that Smith has scored 30 or more points in a game for the Lady Pats.
Senior forward Melanie Baker added 10 points for the Lady Patriots.
Candice Springs led Altheimer with 14 points.
Leroy Bell was the only Palestine-Wheatley Patriot to hit double figures Friday night, scoring 17, but it wasn't enough as the Altheimer Red devils held on for a 48-37 win at Patriot Gym.
Both teams played a control game and the score stayed close until late in the fourth period.
"We had our chances to get a win, but didn't take advantage," said P-W Coach Terry Clardy.
The 37 points was a season-low scoring total for the Patriots.
The Patriots fall to 4-10 for the year and 2-3 in the 6AA Conference.
Palestine-Wheatley will travel to Elaine Tuesday night for a three-game set beginning at 5 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HUGHES--The Hughes Blue Devils made it look easy Friday against Lonoke.
In the eighth meeting between the two teams in two years, the Blue devils, ranked second in Class AAA, got 17 points from Lonnie Smith in a 70-46 win at Blue Devil Gym.
Hughes improves to 19-1 overall and 5-0 in the 6AAA Conference.
Paul Doolittle and Robert Davis each finished with 13 points for the Blue Devils.
In other 6AAA games played Friday, DeWitt edged England 51-48 and Pine Bluff Dollarway beat Brinkley 68-56.
The conference loss was the first for Lonoke this season.
Chad Wise led the Jackrabbits with 17 points.
The Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits kept Hughes winless for the year Friday with a 52-29 win over the Lady Blue Devils.
The Hughes teams will travel to Pine Bluff Dollarway Tuesday.
The four-game set will begin at 4 p.m. with the junior girls' game.
The intramural basketball program is underway at Lincoln Middle School.
The league opened play in December.
Forrest City's youth baseball and softball registration will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 16. Men's and women's adult softball registration also begins Tuesday and will run through April 3. Youth baseball and softball fees are $15 for youths living inside the Forrest City city limits and $25 for those living outside the city limits. For info call, 633-3667.