By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HUGHES--It was a mismatch on paper and it was a mismatch on the court Monday night at Blue Devil Gym.
In a 6AAA Conference makeup game, the Hughes Blue Devils rolled out the red carpet for the DeWitt Dragons and then just as quickly, jerked it out from under them for an 81-37 win.
The Blue Devils, ranked second in Class AAA, improved to 17-1 overall for the year and stayed perfect in the conference at 3-0.
DeWitt falls to 3-9 overall and 0-2 in the league.
Tonight, the Blue Devils host the England Lions in the third game of a four-game home stand. The Junior Blue Imps will tip off against England at 5 p.m.
It was over almost before it started Monday.
DeWitt did lead by three early, 6-3, but two free throws by Hughes' Tim Jones and a steal and layup that put the Blue Devils in front 7-6 with 5:14 left in the opening period, ignited a 30-to-3 run and the Blue Devils had the game well in hand to start the second period, leading 33-9.
The Blue Devils stretched their advantage to 50-23 at the half.
The Dragons woes continued in the second half as the team missed several easy point-blank shots in the paint.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils extended their lead to 61-27 with 4:35 to play in the third period and were up 64-32 to start the final frame.
Lonnie Smith led the Blue Devils with 14 points, in only three periods of play while Jones added 13 and Jermaine Davis chipped in 11 points, including three, three-pointers.
Paul Doolittle finished with eight points while Lonnie Davis had seven and Robert Davis had five.
John Hobbs led DeWitt with 11 points and Jeremy Camamure added eight.
The Hughes Junior Lady Devils lost their second consecutive conference game Monday, falling to DeWitt 32-16.
Hughes falls to 6-4 for the year and are winless in the conference.
The junior girls trailed 9-3 after one period and were down 15-7 at the half.
Monday's loss comes on the heels of a 23-22 loss on Friday to Dumas.
The long season continued from the Hughes Lady Blue Devils Monday, suffering their 10th straight loss, a 42-19 setback against DeWitt.
DeWitt, 8-8 overall and 1-1 in the 6AAA Conference, blanked the Lady Blue Devils in the first period to lead 15-0 and led 24-6 at the half.
The Lady Dragons led 33-11 to start the final frame.
Rachael Burks led Hughes with 11 points while Lateria Broyles added six points for the Lady Blue Devils.
The Lady Blue Devils were coming off a 67-17 loss to Dumas on Friday.
They will host England tonight at home.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City Athletic Director Bill Baxter has been selling the new Mustang Arena across the state almost from the time when the ink on the blueprint for the new multimillion structure was still wet.
He has been selling the arena to all who will listen.
Even University of Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles toured the structure this past summer as did new University of Memphis Basketball Coach John Calipari.
Completed this past fall, the Mustang Arena is being billed by Baxter and the Forrest City School District as the "Showplace of Eastern Arkansas."
Mustang Arena is the new home for the Forrest City high school and junior high basketball programs, replacing Sam Smith Gym which burned to the ground in early 1998.
It came as no surprise to anyone that Baxter had bigger and better ideas for Mustang Arena -- namely using the 2,000-plus seat structure to host the 2001 Class AAAAA State Basketball Tournament.
Baxter's tournament bid will be taken under consideration Wednesday when the Arkansas Activities Association board of directors meet in Little Rock at 6 p.m.
The AAA board of directors will also decide the sites for all of this year's state and regional basketball tournaments during Wednesday's meeting.
"We'll be there," Baxter said. "It's the first time we've ever bid on (a state tournament). We're just hoping to get a shot. We've hosted the Rumble on the Ridge the last four years, so we think we know how to host a tournament."
The Rumble on the Ridge Tournament, started in 1997 and played over the three-day Thanksgiving weekend, has attracted the south's best high school boys' basketball teams and has drawn outstanding reviews from all who have attended the tournament.
"I believe we have every chance in the world to secure the state tournament," Baxter said.
Forrest City and the Pine Bluff Convention Center have placed bids for the Class AAAAA State Tournament.
Pine Bluff has hosted a state tournament the last two seasons -- the AAAA in 1999 and the AAAAA in 2000 -- and has hosted the state championship games every year since 1995 at the Convention Center.
Pine Bluff, which will play host to the state championship games for at least the next three years -- has also placed bids for the Class AAAA and the Class AAA state tournaments.
Regional tournaments are scheduled to begin the week of Feb. 19.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Junior High Blue Mustang teams made it a clean sweep Monday at the Barn.
The Blue Mustangs defeated Jonesboro Annie Camp 40-30, led by Deangelo Braddock's game-high 16 points. John Foreman added 13 points as the Blue Mustangs improve to 3-9 for the year.
Forrest City led 11-8 after one period and used a 23-to-16 run in the second period to lead 34-24 at the break.
Glenn Ritter scored 10 points to lead Annie Camp.
The Blue Lady Mustangs got back on the winning side Monday by holding off Jonesboro Annie Camp 41-37 to move to 7-6 for the year.
Trailing by 17 at the half, the Blue Lady Mustangs rallied in the second half to get the win.
Katrina Wynne led all scorers with 20 points while Kim Ussery scored nine, Gabrielle Agnew added five and Torrie Willis had six.
The Blue teams will travel to West Memphis West Thursday night.
Forrest City White will host West Memphis East Thursday at the Barn.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs begin tonight the first game of what Head Coach Dwight Lofton calls "Murderers' Row."
The Mustangs face the Blytheville Chickasaws tonight at Blytheville -- where Lofton has not won since coming to Forrest City in 1996.
Following tonight, the Mustangs host Jonesboro Friday, 8th-ranked Little Rock Mills next Tuesday and the always dangerous West Memphis Blue Devils on Friday, Jan. 19, at West Memphis.
"This next four-game stretch will tell us very quickly where we are at as a team and what we have to do," Lofton said. "I still believe the boys' side of the AAAAA-East Conference is wide open, even though it appears at the moment, anyway, that Mills is the team to beat."
Lofton said a 2-2 campaign by his Mustangs over the next four games would leave him feeling good.
"I wouldn't complain about that at all," Lofton said. "We are 1-0 going into tonight's game and a split of the next four would leave us at 3-2 and in good shape to hit the turn."
The Mustangs (4-6, 1-0) drilled Sylvan Hills by 20 points in the conference opener last Friday.
In other East games played last Friday, Jacksonville's Red Devils opened the year with back-to-back losses against Mills last Thursday and Blytheville on Friday. Jonesboro defeated Cabot and Mills handled West Memphis.
In girls' conference play, the Forrest City Lady Mustangs will be trying to notch their first league victory of the year tonight at Blytheville.
The Lady Mustangs (4-4, 0-1) lost to Sylvan Hills last Friday in the opener.
"We didn't show much intensity against Sylvan Hills," said Coach Sue Jayroe. "To win in this conference you have to have intensity from opening tip to final buzzer."
Since joining conferences with Barton two years ago, the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots have defeated the Lady Bears five straight times -- by an average of 45 points.
Tonight's 6AA Conference game at Barton has all the earmarks of becoming a sixth consecutive victory for P-W, a team currently ranked third in the state rankings and first in Class AA.
The Lady Patriots are 3-0 in the league.
The P-W Patriots are 3-2 against Barton in five previous meetings. P-W is 2-1 in the conference going into tonight's game.
The three-game set tips at 5 p.m. with the P-W Junior Patriots taking on the Junior Bears.