By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
It was a tough first round for the trio of Arkansas teams Thursday at the Forrest City Grocery/Rumble on the Ridge basketball tournament at Mustang Arena.
Forrest City, Hughes and Osecola each tasted defeat -- each in a different manner.
For Hughes, the Class AAA defending state champs, it was a matter of not being able to hold the lead over Columbus, Miss.
For Osceola, the Class AAAA defending state champs, it was a matter of giving up too many points early to Woodlawn, La., getting back in the game in the fourth period but not being able to finish.
For the Forrest City Mustangs, the host team, it was simply a matter of too little too late.
It was the first opening round loss for the Mustangs since the first Rumble tournament held in 1997. Forrest City lost to Grissom, Ala. 57-41 that year. The Mustangs won their first round game in the last three Rumble tournaments.
The William Chrisman Bears from Independence, Mo., used an 8-0 run midway through the opening period to take a 17-7 lead over the Mustangs and then rode their advantage to a 57-53 win.
Chrisman advances to play Marietta, Ga., a first-round winner over Carroll, La. in Thursday's late game, today at 8 p.m. Forrest City will play Carroll at 5 p.m. today.
Forrest City trailed 19-12 to start the second period and were still down by 11 at the half, trailing 33-22.
Nothing changed during the third period as each team scored 13 points and the Bears held firm to their 11-point cushion at 46-35 to start the fourth period.
Trailing 55-40 at the 3:56 point, the Mustangs put together a 15-to-2 run to close out the game and cutting Chrisman's advantage to four.
John Foreman, who finished with 12 points for Forrest City, scored nine of his total in the fourth period and six of that in the final three minute run.
Vince Millen led the Mustangs with 16 points while Nate Britt finished with 10.
"I thought we played much better against Chrisman than we did against Little Rock Parkview last week," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "Our effort was better and the kids played hard."
B.J. Surry led the Bears with 17 points while Matt Habermehl, Chrisman's 6-8 senior guard/forward finished with 16 points. John Davenport added 13 points.
Forrest City actually out-rebounded the much taller Bears 32-to-24 but faltered from the foul line missing all six of their attempts while Chrisman canned 8-of-15 free throws.
Each team hit five, three pointers. Habermehl had three for Chrisman while Millen hit two for Forrest City.
Columbus 55, Hughes 51
Columbus, Miss. equalled their entire scoring output of 28 points through the first three periods by scoring another 28 points in the fourth period to overcome the Hughes Blue devils 55-51.
The Blue Devils led by as many as 14 points with just over three minutes to play in the third period but couldn't hold off the late charge by the Falcons.
By the start of the fourth period, Columbus had whittled the Hughes lead to eight points, 36-28.
The Falcons put together a 10-to-2 run in the fourth period to tie the game at 38-38 with 5:42 to play.
Hughes led once more at 39-38, but the Falcons began to pull away outscoring the Blue Devils 18-to-12 over the final 4:40 of the game.
D.D. Weatherby led Columbus with 16 points while Elency Erby added 11 points. Nine different players scored for Columbus, who advances to play Woodlawn, La. today at 6:30 p.m. in the first of two winner's bracket games.
Hughes' Robert Davis led all scorers with 23 points and three rebounds while Jermaine Davis added 15 points, Jay Doolittle pulled down eight rebounds for the Blue Devils, five on the defensive end of the court.
Chris Crawford added eight points for Hughes.
Hughes will take on Osceola today at 3:30 p.m.
Woodlawn 72, Osceola 65
The Woodlawn (La.) Panthers scored the first 13 points of the game and never lost their edge in a 72-65 win over Osceola.
In the process, Woodlawn set a pair of new tournament records in the free throw category.
The Panthers attempted 41 free throws, breaking the record of 33 attempts by Mendenhall, Miss. in the 1999 Rumble.
Woodlawn connected on 24 of their 41 attempts, also a record, breaking the old mark of 23 made free throws by Hoover, Ala., in 1998.
Osceola, who trailed by as much as 15 points in the first half, found their range and got back within eight points at the half, trailing the Panthers 38-30.
By the end of the third period, Osceola was within a single point 52-51 and the Seminole completed their comeback with six minutes to play in the game when Fred Watkins forced a steal and got the layup for a 57-57 tie.
Osceola would lead 59-57 with 3:39 to play before Woodlawn used a 15-to-6 run to close out the game.Woodlawn hit seven free throws down the stretch to aid in the win.
Woodlawn's James Collins led all scorers with 25 points, which included three, three-pointers. Darnell Lazare, who is being recruited by Arkansas, added 12 points and Kentrell Gransberry and J'Quincy Jones each finished with 10 points.
Dan Newson led the Noles with 14 points while Octavious Bailey added 12 and Greg Hooks finished with 11. Chris Baker added nine points while Watkins and Jerry Long finished with eight points each.
David Hughes, Watkins, Bailey and Long all fouled out for Osceola.
Marietta 71, Carroll 61
In the only first round matchup which did not feature an Arkansas team, the Marietta Blue Devils held off the Carroll Bulldogs 71-61 to advance to tonight's winner's semifinal game against William Chrisman at 8 p.m.
The Blue Devils put four players in double figures for the game, led by Keyon Boyd's 18 points. Jazz Ross added 17, Chris Ellis 15 and Paul Daniel 10. Ross finished with nine rebounds.
The Bulldogs got a double-double, 25 points and 10 rebounds, from Chad Rodgers, the only Carroll player to reach double figures.
Carroll will face Forrest City today at 5 p.m.
Marietta never trailed in the game opening an 18-12 lead after one period and holding their margin to the half at 31-25.
By the start of the fourth period the Blue Devils had increased their cushion to an 11-point lead, 53-42.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The state high school football playoffs resume tonight with some big games scheduled.
The Wynne Yellowjackets will host Monticello tonight at Yellowjacket Stadium in a Class AAAA semifinal game.
Wynne's Don Campbell preaches the team concept and his offensive philosophy thrives on it.
But even the 26-year coaching veteran knows an outstanding individual performance when he sees one and last week, he saw one when DeAngelo Williams ran for 266 yards and three-touchdowns against Hope, then Class AAAA's No. 1 team.
Friday night, when Wynne hosts Monticello in the state semifinals, Campbell would love to see an encore. It is the third straight semifinal appearance for Wynne, 9-2-1 for the year and ranked first in Class AAAA.
Monticello brings a 10-2 record into the game and is ranked second in AAAA behind Wynne.
At stake for the winner, a trip to Little Rock and the Class AAAA state championship game.
Wynne has knocked off Greenwood and Hope on its march to the semifinal round while Monticello has defeated Magnolia and Searcy.
Monticello is making its first semifinal round appearance in the playoffs since the 1995 season.
In Class AAAA second semifinal game, Watson Chapel plays Stuttgart.
Watson Chapel is 9-2 for the season while the Ricebirds bring a 9-3 mark into tonight's game.
It is the second meeting between the two teams. Stuttgart beat Watson Chapel 20-19 on Sept. 28.
Last week, Stuttgart eliminated Alma while Watson Chapel ousted perennial power Osceola from the playoff picture.
In Class AAAAA, Fort Smith Southside will travel to El Dorado while Bentonville, who shocked defending Class AAAAA champs Cabot a week ago, will take on Texarkana.
In Class AAA, tonight's matchups have Dumas at Nashville, Booneville at Rivercrest, Pine Bluff Dollarway at Pulaski Academy and Star City at Warren.
The Class AA games tonight have Camden-Harmony Grove at Shiloh Christian, Junction City at Carlisle, Des Arc at Barton and Augusta at Hampton.
James Collins, of Woodlawn, La. and Jermaine Jacko of Carroll, La. were the big winners at the Synergy Three-Point Shoot Out and Slam-Dunk competition held Wednesday night at Mustang Arena. The competition was part of the pretournament festivities for the Forrest City Grocery/Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving Classic. Collins won the three-point shoot out by defeating Mitch Lickey of William Chrisman, Mo. 8-7 with a buzzer shot in overtime. Jacko won the slam dunk contest, beating Osceola's Jerry Long with a wind-mill slam to score 69 points out of a possible 70. Synergy representatives present were Marty Wages and Dudley Melton.