By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JACKSONVILLE -- Jacksonville's Nick Smith scored 23 points and Xanus Robinson, who hit the 60-foot buzzer shot last Friday that sank West Memphis, added 15, as the Red Devils topped Forrest City 73-61 Tuesday night at the Devils' Den.
Jacksonville improves to 8-12 overall and 5-5 in the AAAAA-East, which keeps them in a tie for fourth place with Jonesboro.
The Mustangs remain winless in the East at 0-11 while their overall season mark dips to 2-19 with the team's 14th straight loss.
Little Rock Mills, ranked fourth in the state, leads the East boys' standings while West Memphis is second and Blytheville is third.
John Foreman led the Mustangs by scoring 15 points and sophomore Lorenzo Spearman had 10 points. Vince Millen finished with nine.
The Mustangs led 20-18 after the first period but the Red Devils came back strong in the second period to take a 42-39 lead at the half after outscoring Forrest City 24-to-19.
The Mustangs cut the lead to one 53-52 late in the third period before Jacksonville's Robinson hit a three at the buzzer to lift push Red Devils' lead back to 57-52 to start the fourth period.
"It was back and forth and both teams shot the ball well," said Forrest City's Dwight Lofton.
The Mustangs will travel to West Memphis on Friday.
*Daniel Smith scored 20 points to lead Blytheville past Jonesboro 60-37 Tuesday night, severely damaging the Hurricane's postseason hopes.
Blytheville improves to 11-9 overall and 7-3 in the AAAAA-East, good enough for third place.
Jonesboro slips into a tie for fourth place with Jacksonville. Both are at 5-5 in the league.
Michael Diggs and Travian Smith each added 10 points for Blytheville.
Irving Jones had nine points for Jonesboro and Matt Gilbow added eight points.
Brandi Rodgers scored 21 points and Jacksonville kept pace with Jonesboro Tuesday night in the bid for a postseason berth in the upcoming Class AAAAA state tournament.
The Lady Devils improved to as Jacksonville 17-4 for the year and 8-2 in the AAAAA-East with a 65-54 win over Forrest City.
Jacksonville and Jonesboro, a 77-43 winner over Blytheville, are tied for second place in the East behind league leader West Memphis.
Cabot defeated Little Rock Mills to remain a solid fourth place in the standings.
Kenisa Dokes and Rachel Townsend each added 13 points for Jacksonville.
Caronica Randle led Forrest City, 8-13 overall and 4-7 in the conference, with 27 points. Deosha Agnew added nine points as did her younger sister, Gabrielle. Katrina Floyd had six points and 15 rebounds, nine of those on the offensive glass, in a solid effort off the bench.
The Lady Mustangs missed several point blank range shots and shot just 31 percent from the floor.
Forrest City was within four points of Jacksonville in each of the four quarters.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
LONOKE -- The Hughes Lady Blue Devils ended their season Tuesday night with a 45-34 loss to DeWitt at the 6AAA District Tournament in Lonoke.
The Lady Blue Devils end the year at 4-15 overall.
DeWitt advances and will take on top-seeded Pine Bluff Dollarway Thursday night at 7 p.m.
In the other senior girls' district game played Tuesday, Brinkley defeated England 45-42 and will meet No. 3 seed Lonoke tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Also on tap tonight, the No. 4 seeded Hughes Blue Devils will go against the fifth-seeded Brinkley Tigers at 5 p.m.
Hughes defeated Brinkley twice during the regular season, winning 83-45 and 70-56.
A win over Brinkley tonight, assures the Blue Devils of a spot in the upcoming Class AAA regional tournament.
Hughes Coach Brad Brannen said he will bring up freshman guard David Dowden for the postseason district and regional tournaments.
"David has been practicing with the senior squad for several weeks now and he's looking good," Brannen said. "He will get some playing time."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BARTON -- The Palestine-Wheatley Junior Lady Patriots advanced to the second round of the 6AA District Tournament Tuesday night with a 42-31 win over Clarendon.
The tournament is being played at Barton.
Palestine-Wheatley, seeded second, next faces the Barton-Marvell winner Friday, feb. 15, at 4:30 p.m.
Marvell and Barton will play tonight at 4:30 p.m.
Bernice Sparkman led P-W with 23 points while Tanisha Wynne added 13 points and Fallon Parker finished with four points.
The Junior Lady Patriots led 16-7 midway through the second period and pushed that lead to 28-7 at the half.
In other games played Tuesday, Altheimer's junior boys defeated Clarendon 60-23 and Elaine's senior girls put away Gillett 50-45. The Elaine Panthers rolled up Barton 98-72 in the senior boys' game.
The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots open district play against Gillett tonight at 8:15 and the Lady Patriots meet Marvell at 7 p.m.
by Fred Conley
I like John Thompson. I haven't known him as long as I have known others in the coaching profession, but with John, you don't have to know the man long to know what sort of man he really is.
For John Thompson, the decision to leave Arkansas for Florida was the right one to make and it may have also been the most gut-wrenching decision he has had to make in his coaching career.
"I love Arkansas," Thompson, a Forrest City native told me Tuesday. "I love the Razorbacks. I'm an Arkansan through and through. This decision is breaking my heart."
But sometimes in life, you have to hurt the ones you care about most -- or in John's case, you have to leave the one's you love the most. Not that this is his first move out of state, but it may be his hardest move away from his home state.
Thompson, the Razorbacks' defensive coordinator since January 2000, resigned last weekend to take the same position at Florida under new head coach Ron Zook.
While many may choose to believe his decision was all about money, it wasn't. Arkansas was prepared to match Florida's offer to keep Thompson. John declined.
This move is a coaching move for John, who at 46, is trying to keep his head coaching window of opportunity open.
He knows all too well that window is beginning to close ever so gradually.
Make no mistake, at some point, John will be a head football coach, somewhere. And a coaching position at Florida is high-profile and it is a great launching pad.
''I am trying to look way down the road, 8-to-10 years now instead of just two or three or the end of the block,'' he said. ''It would be real easy to stay right here on my own street."
His resume to date consists of only assistant coaching jobs at Northwestern (La.) State, Alabama, Louisiana Tech, Southern Mississippi, Memphis and Arkansas.
No doubt, that prompted John to make his decision, as painful a process as it has been for him personally.
The decisions he makes at this point in his career will have to carry him through the rest of his life.
''Sometimes you've got do what you know deep down inside you've got to do," he said.
After what he called a 24-hour whirlwind courtship by Zook and Florida, John said he returned to talk with Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles and Houston Nutt.
Both men took a lot of weight off John's shoulders during their conversations.
''You want to leave your home in the right way and that's what I'm trying to do,''
Thompson said the call from Zook came from out of the blue last Thursday. He said Zook apparently wanted to complete the recruiting process before hiring a defensive coordinator.
''I'm going to one of the best programs in the country,'' John said. ''But, I'm also leaving one of the best programs in the country.''
At Florida, John replaces Jon Hoke, who left for the NFL expansion team in Houston. Before Hoke, it was Bob Stoops, who left for the Oklahoma head coaching position. Before Stoops, it was Bobby Pruett for two years before he was hired as head coach at Marshall. Years ago, Zook was the Gators' defensive coordinator before moving on to the NFL.
Talk about your circle of college football coaching life.
Besides being one of the best head coaching stepping stones in the nation, Florida has been more prominent in the national championship hunt than Arkansas and winning a national title remains high on John's list of things to accomplish.
"That could happen at Arkansas," John said. "But it might happen quicker at Florida."
John said he will always be an Arkansan and will always keep Forrest City on his mind.
In fact, he will be coming back to Forrest City this summer to take part in a memorial golf tournament.
Thompson, who went to high school in Forrest City and graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, joined Nutt's staff two years ago.
He coached the secondary and shared the coordinator's duties with Bobby Allen until the final two games of the year when he was responsible for calling the defenses. Arkansas' defense gave up a field goal in each of those games -- a 17-10 victory at 13th-ranked Mississippi State and a 14-3 victory over No. 24 LSU.
This year, he was in charge of the defense and coached All-SEC middle linebacker Jermaine Petty.
Earlier today, Nutt named secondary coach Dave Womack as Thompson's replacement.
I have a feeling John would approve.
Meanwhile, John and his wife and two children, are beginning their future in the Sunshine State of Florida, having left Fayetteville early this morning.
My words of advice to John -- watch out for the Florida media. They can be brutal.
To which John replied, "Some of the Arkansas media haven't been too kind this week."
That's a shame.
John Thompson has never done anything to them.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Boys' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
Little Rock Mills 10-1 21-3
West Memphis 10-2 16-7
Blytheville 7-3 14-6
Jonesboro 5-5 9-13
Jacksonville 5-5 8-12
Sylvan Hills 4-6 10-9
Cabot 2-10 5-18
Forrest City 0-11 2-19
Girls' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
West Memphis 11-1 22-2
Jacksonville 8-2 17-4
Jonesboro 8-2 19-4
Cabot 7-5 14-11
Forrest City 4-7 8-13
Sylvan Hills 3-7 10-8
Blytheville 2-8 10-12
Little Rock Mills 0-11 0-0
Tuesday's Scores
Senior Boys
Jacksonville 73, Forrest City 61
West Memphis 57, Sylvan Hills 44
LR Mills 84, Cabot 42
Blytheville 60, Jonesboro 37
Senior Girls
Cabot 62, LR Mills 39
Jacksonville 65, Forrest City 54
West Memphis 77, Sylvan Hills 35
Jonesboro 73, Blytheville 44
Friday, February 15
Forrest City at West Memphis
LR Mills at Blytheville
Jacksonville at Cabot
Sylvan Hills at Jonesboro
6AAA District Tournament at Lonoke
Tuesday's Scores
Senior Boys
DeWitt 59, England 51
Wednesday, February 13
Hughes vs Brinkley, 5 p.m.
Lonoke vs DeWitt, 8 p.m.
Tuesday's Scores
Senior Girls
Brinkley 45, England 42
DeWitt 45, Hughes 34
Wednesday, February 13
Lonoke vs Brinkley, 6:30 p.m.
6AA District at Barton
Tuesday's Scores
Junior Boys
Altheimer 60, Clarendon 23
Junior Girls
Palestine-Wheatley 42, Clarendon 31
Senior Girls
Elaine 50, Gillett 45
Senior Boys
Elaine 98, Barton 72
Wednesday, February 13
Barton vs Marvell, 4:30 p.m. (Jr. Girls)
Elaine vs Barton, 5:45 p.m. (Jr. Boys)
Pal-Wheatley vs Marvell, 7 p.m. (Sr. Girls)
Pal-Wheatley vs Gillett, 8:15 p.m. (Sr. Boys)
Junior High School
AAAAA-East District Tournament
Wednesday, February 13-Girls
WMemphis East vs WMemphis West, 4 p.m.
Annie Camp vs MacArthur, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, February 13-Boys
MacArthur vs WMWest or WM East, 5:30 p.m.
WMemphis Wonder vs Blytheville, 8:30 p.m.