By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The "Bell" tolled for the Marvell Mustangs Tuesday night in the second period when the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots used a 21-to-13 run to turn a close game into a rout.
Patriot forward Leroy Bell took charge, scoring 10 of his game-high 23 points in the period as the Patriots mauled the Mustangs 69-34 at Patriot Gym.
The Patriots led 15-10 after one period, which saw the Mustangs lead four different times.
Bell didn't do all the damage in the second period. Teammate Michael Barnes helped by adding eight of his 16 points, including hitting all net on two three-pointers.
The Patriots led 36-23 at the half.
Marvell never recovered and scored only 11 second half points, while the Patriots were busy ripping the nets for 33 points in the third and fourth periods.
The win is the second in a row for the Patriots, who improve to 4-7 on the year and 2-0 in the 6AA Conference.
Palestine-Wheatley defeated Cotton Plant 46-29 on Dec. 8, to snap a five-game losing streak and have not played since.
P-W was scheduled to play in the Arkansas Tech Tournament of Champions over the Christmas break, but the ice storm that blanketed the state, cancelled the event, leaving the Patriots idle.
J.J. Love and Oliver Smith each added nine points for P-W.
Reggie Turner was the only player in double figures for Marvell, finishing with 10. Frederick Ivey added seven and Carlos Albert scored five.
Marvell seemingly threw in the towel with 2:26 to play in the third period and trailing 50-28 when Albert held the ball for more than a minute near half court. The stall tactic resulted in a turnover when Barnes forced a turnover and converted the layup.
It was more of the same in the fourth period as the Mustangs continually ran a motion offense but kept the ball on the perimeter. The Mustangs never attacked the basket and did not attempt a shot until Calvin Jarrett converted a baseline layup with 2:29 to play in the game.
By that point the Patriots had pushed their lead to 66-30.
The Patriots next play Friday when they travel to Clarendon to take on the Lions in 6AA action.
Junior Boys
Marvell 44, Palestine-Wheatley 43
Brandon Copeland scored 15 points Tuesday to lead the Marvell Junior Mustangs past the Junior Patriots 44-43.
Kelly Whiteside added 12 points for the winners.
Mario Love led P-W with 15 points while Vince Jones added nine and Elisha Duncan chipped in six. Fred Leak and Tim Fields each had four for P-W.
P-W led 7-6 after one period, but fell behind 24-18 at the half.
Marvell took a seven-point lead in the third period, 27-20, but P-W chipped away and cut that cushion to 31-30 with 2:15 to play.
P-W stayed within three points the rest of the game.
A final attempted shot with three seconds to play was thwarted when Marvell intercepted an inbounds pass by P-W and held on for the one-point win.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Marvell Fillies finally broke through against the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots.
They didn't win Tuesday's 6AA Conference game at Patriot Gym, but they did put 36 points on the scoreboard in a 78-36 loss to the Lady Patriots.
It was the most points scored by the Fillies in five meetings between the two teams. Before Tuesday, Marvell had not scored more than eight points in a game against P-W.
"They are improved over what they have been," P-W Coach Beverly Bass said after the game. "They have a couple of girls who can hit the three."
The Lady Patriots entered the game at the top-ranked team in Class AA. Greenland is second and Marmaduke is third in the most recent state polls.
The game was over early, as the Lady Patriots got 18 first-period points from senior forward Erica Smith to lead 24-2 to start the second frame.
Smith went on to finish with 30 points, the sixth time this season she has hit 30 or more points in a game. She scored 10 of the Lady Patriots' first 14 points and had 22 by halftime.
Junior point guard Nikki Bass, the second leading scorer on the team, finished with 16 points as did senior center Sheryl Moore.
Bass shook up her starting five, inserting sophomore Beth Varvil and senior Markita Tomlin into the line up alongside Smith, Bass and Moore.
"We are still looking for the right combination of players on the floor," Bass said. "Our goal is to get eight who can play. Right now I have four who can play with anyone."
The Lady Patriots improve to 12-1 overall and are 2-0 in the conference.
After leading 40-13 at the half, the Lady Patriots ended the third period with a 64-22 advantage.
Normal starters, Melanie Baker and Carlene Gardner started the fourth period for P-W along with Brittney Flenory, Tammy Griffin and Andrea Cooper.
Against that group, Marvell went on a small run paced by guard Joann Carruth, who scored eight of the Fillies' 13 fourth-period points.
Carruth finished with 10 points while her sister, Jamie led the Fillies with 12 points. Tiffany Phillips had seven and Carla Johnson added three for the Fillies.
The Lady Patriots will play Clarendon on Friday in a conference road game.
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs went into the holiday break after suffereing a 45-43 loss to West Helena on Dec. 22. WHelena led 9-0 after one period and 19-10 at the half. The Lady Mustangs hit only four of 28 shots from the floor in the first half. Caronica Randle led Forrest City with 16 points while Deosha Agnew had 11 points. The girls drop to 4-3.