By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BARTON -- Top-seeded Palestine-Wheatley got 14 points from Curtis Allen Thursday night which helped lift the Junior Patriots to a 46-28 win over Marvell.
Twelve of Allen's 14 points came on four, three-pointers.
The 6AA district tournament victory puts the Junior Patriots into Saturday's championship game against either second-seeded Altheimer or third-seeded Elaine.
Altheimer and Elaine will play in semifinal action tonight at 5:45 p.m.
A year ago, the Junior Patriots lost to Altheimer in the semifinal round.
The Junior Patriots started strong Thursday, rolling to a 12-4 lead with 1:31 to play in the first period and settling for a 15-6 lead to start the second.
The Junior Pats led 27-11 at the half and 39-18 after three full periods.
P-W Coach Terry Clardy went to full scale subs in the fourth period as the Junior Patriots pushed their lead to 40-20 and 44-26 with less than a minute to play in the game.
Vince Jones added eight points while Fred Leak had seven, Marcus Gardner six, Alvin Smith five and Derrick Cooper two points.
Rhandle Coleman led Marvell with 10 and Otis Croft added seven.
The P-W senior boys will play Marvell tonight in semifinal action at 8:15 p.m.
The Lady Patriots will battle seventh-seeded Elaine, an upset winner over No. 3 seeded Altheimer Thursday night, tonight in a 7 p.m. semifinal game tonight.
Barton, P-W, Altheimer and Elaine have all qualified for the girls' side of the upcoming Class AA Regional while Altheimer, P-W, Marvell and Elaine have qualified for the boys side of the Class AA Regional.
The regional tournament begins next week at Harding Academy in Searcy.
By MARK BUFFALO
Special to the Times-Herald
LONOKE -- The champs are still alive.
The Class AAA defending champions Hughes Blue Devils overcame a 13-point third quarter deficit to beat the Pine Bluff Dollarway Cardinals 98-90 in overtime Thursday night and advance to the 6AAA district tournament title game against the Lonoke Jackrabbits.
Dollarway took a 73-60 lead with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter.
The fourth-seeded Blue Devils reeled off 11 straight points including five from Robert Davis to pull within two at 73-71.
The top-seeded Cardinals led 78-75 following two free throws by Chris Evans with 14.4 seconds left. Hughes' Courtley London missed a three-pointer from the right baseline.
Antonio Cotton got the rebound on the opposite side but missed another three. Cotton retrieved his own rebound and tossed it to Jermaine Davis, who buried the game-tying shot as the horn sounded.
In overtime, Dollarway took an 80-78 lead on a basket by Brandon Mays. Hughes' Lonnie Smith hit a three-pointer with 3:32 left to give the Blue Devils an 81-80 lead. Evans hit one of two free throws for Dollarway tying the score at 81-81.
From there, it was all Hughes.
The Blue Devils scored only one field goal the remainder of the game but hit 15 of 18 free throws in the extra period.
Robert Davis led Hughes with 24 points. Jermaine Davis had 21. London added 18, Cotton 12 and Smith finished with 10.
William Shorter led Dollarway with 23 points but did not score in overtime.
Free throws kept Hughes in the game in the second half. After not attempting one in the first half,
Hughes made 11 of 13 in the second half. For the game,the Blue Devils made 26 of 31 free throws.
The 6AAA boys' championship game will be played Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at Lonoke High School.
The Blue Devils and Jackrabbits will battle for the third time this season.
Lonoke, coached by former Hughes Coach Wes Swift, won both regular-season conference matchups against the Blue Devils by a combined three points.
The third-seeded Jackrabbits defeated No. 2 seeded Dumas Thursday, 54-52 to advance to Saturday's final.
Dollarway, Hughes, Lonoke and Dumas have all qualified for the Class AAA regional tournament, which begins next week at Pulaski Academy.
In senior girls' action from the 6AAA district, the third-seeded Lonoke Lady Jackrabbits advanced to Saturday's final by defeating Dumas 38-31 in a low-scoring game.
Top-seeded PB Dollarway turned back fourth seed DeWitt to advance to Saturday's championship game.
The girls' final will tip at 6 p.m.
Lonoke, Dollarway, DeWitt and Dumas have all qualified for the Class AAA regional tournament in the girls' side of the bracket.
The 6AAA teams will face the top four teams from the boys and girls' side of the 5AAA Conference which includes Atkins, Beebe, CAC, Dover, Lamar, Perryville, Pulaski Academy and Pulaski Oak Grove.
WEST MEMPHIS -- West Memphis Wonder shocked Jonesboro MacArthur to win the AAAAA-East Junior High District Tournament boys' championship Thursday night.
The West Memphis East junior high girls defeated Jonesboro MacArthur to win the girls' championship.
But one Forrest City junior high team came away with a couple of honors, despite being eliminated 52-41 in Monday's first round by MacArthur.
The White Junior Mustangs were awarded the tournament's Sportsmanship Trophy and team member Nick Grady was named to the All-Tournament Team.
The Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs will make the trip to West Memphis tonight to take on the Blue Devils and Lady Blue Devils.
The Mustangs are still looking for their first AAAAA-East Conference victory.
The Blue Devils are in second place in the league standings behind fourth-ranked Little Rock Mills.
The Lady Mustangs, sitting in fifth place in the East standings, are 4-6 in the league.
The Lady Blue Devils are sitting on top of the league standings, just ahead of Jonesboro and Jacksonville, who are tied for second.
Tonight's three-game set begins at 5 p.m., with a junior varsity boys' game at the Devil Dome.
* PREP BASKETBALL
HIGH SCHOOL
Friday, February 15
Forrest City at West Memphis
LR Mills at Blytheville
Jacksonville at Cabot
Sylvan Hills at Jonesboro
Tuesday, February 19
Cabot at Forrest City
Blytheville at West Memphis
Sylvan Hills at Jacksonville
LR Mills at Jonesboro