By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY -- Thursday's victory over Hazen belonged to the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots.
The game belonged to Oliver Smith.
The first-round win breaks a streak of opening-round losses by the Patriots and puts them into today's 5:30 p.m. semifinal game against Augusta, a team that defeated the Patriots last year in the first game and two years ago in the first game.
"This is where we wanted to get too," said P-W Coach Terry Clardy. "We wanted another shot at Augusta."
Augusta, 15-5 for the year, defeated Elaine on Wednesday.
Smith, a 6-2 senior forward exploded for 33 points to lead the Patriots past the Hornets 65-57 in Class AA Region 6 action Thursday at Harding Academy's Harris Gym in Searcy.
The Patriots hit 17 of 19 free throws in the game -- Smith alone, was 15 of 16 from the line.
Smith had eight of Palestine-Wheatley's 12 points in the second period and scored 14 of P-W's 23 first period points.
The 23-12 lead after one period had all the earmarks of a runaway win for the Patriots.
However, Hazen stayed close in the second half and trailed by just 10 points, 45-35 to start the final period.
The Patriots got sloppy in the fourth period which allowed Hazen to get within seven points at 47-40 with five minutes to play. Hazen continued to chip away and were down by only four points, 61-57 with 21 seconds left before Smith hit his final two free throws and Deville Pickett forced a steal and got the layup to provide the Patriots' final margin of victory.
Pickett was the only other Patriot player to finish in double figures with 12. Brandon Roberts added eight points while Chris Huckaba and Quentin Mason finished with three points each.
Seth Skarda led Hazen with 25 points.
*Clay Kiihnl scored 30 points to lead the Harding Academy Wildcats past Marvell 70-68 Thursday night in regional play on their home court.
Harding improves to 13-11 for the year and will play Altheimer tonight at 8:30 p.m. in semifinal action.
Bradley Watkins added 25 for Harding Academy.
Larry Thomas scored 29, Brandon Copeland 19 and Carlos Albert 12 to lead Marvell.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
LITTLE ROCK -- The Forrest City Lady Mustangs missed making the Class AAAAA state tournament, but did finish strong to set the tone for next season.
Thursday, the Lady Mustangs knocked off Little Rock Mills 57-39 in the season-ending game for both teams.
Forrest City finishes 10-14 overall and 6-8 in the AAAAA-East, their best effort in the last six seasons.
Forrest City loses only one starter, senior Deosha Agnew. Everyone else will be back, which should make the Lady Mustangs a favorite next season.
Agnew led the Lady Mustangs with 24 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and three assists. Caronica Randle added 19 points, seven rebounds, four steals, two assists and three blocked shots while Trina Wynne finished with six points, three steals, four assists and four rebounds.
The Lady Mustangs led 13-10 after one period and 30-20 at the half before expanding the lead to 45-32 to start the fourth period.
*The Jonesboro Lady Hurricane overcame a sluggish third period and rallied to take a 60-57 win over the Jacksonville Lady Red Devils Thursday, avenging last Saturday's loss to Jacksonville.
Jacksonville and Jonesboro both finish with identical 11-3 conference records but Jacksonville gets the No. 2 seed into the Class AAAAA state tournament next week while Jonesboro will go in as the third seed.
Cabot is the fourth seed into state play.
Rachel Townsend led Jacksonville with 21 points.
Latoya Wortham led Jonesboro with 16 points.
*The Forrest City Mustangs ended their season Thursday night with an 89-51 loss to Little Rock Mills at the Galaxy gym in Little Rock.
Bam Doyne struck for 27 points to lead the Comets, who improve to 23-4, 12-2 in the AAAAA-East Conference.
Nick Covington added 11 points while Chris Cobb and Duran Baker added 10. points each.
Lorenzo Spearman led the Mustangs with 11 points while Nate Britt added 10 and Buck Braddock had eight. Vince Millen, Anthony Bean and Kerry Evans all finished with six points.
Mills led 28-10 after one period and 49-22 at the half.
The Mustangs finish at 3-21 overall for the year and the 38 point loss is the worst for the team this season.
*The Jonesboro Hurricane dealt Jacksonville a 52-48 loss Thursday night.
Kevin Gartman led the Hurricane by scoring 24 points as they closed out the season with a victory over the Red Devils (12-13, 8-6).
But the Jonesboro victory still wasn't enough to get the Hurricane into the state tournament.
Jacksonville grabs the fourth seed along with West Memphis, Little Rock Mills and Blytheville.
Jacksonville got 27 points from Nick Smith and 18 from DeShaun Garry.
Jacksonville led 13-12 after one period but fell behind 26-23 at the half.
Sylvan Hills and Blytheville end the conference's regular season tonight.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
LITTLE ROCK -- The Hughes Blue Devils and Pulaski Academy Bruins have made a habit of playing each other in postseason.
A year ago, on the way to the Class AAA state title, Hughes defeated the Bruins 45-41 in the finals of the regional tournament at Beebe.
Two years ago, Hughes beat PA 53-50 in the first round regional game at Dover and three years ago, the Blue Devils lost to the Bruins 60-54 in the regional consolation game at Perryville.
Tonight, the two teams lock up once again, in semifinal action at the Class AAA Region 3 tournament.
This time, the Bruins may have the advantage going in since the tournament is being played on their home floor.
PA defeated Pine Bluff Dollarway 59-41 Thursday to advance to tonight's game. Hughes romped past Dover on Wednesday 78-48 to advance.
Both teams have secured spots in next week's Class AAA state tournament as have Dumas and Lonoke.
Dumas defeated Pulaski Oak Grove Wednesday and Lonoke knocked off Beebe Thursday.
The Blue Devils finished as the fourth seed into the 6AAA District Tournament and defeated Lonoke in the finals to earn the No. 1 seed into the regional.
Hughes defeated Clarksville to win the Class AAA state title a year ago at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
* PREP BASKETBALL
BOYS
AAAAA-Central
LR Catholic 39, LR Central 38
AAAAA-East
Jonesboro 52, Jacksonville 48
LR Mills 89, Forrest City 51
AAAAA-South
Bryant 62, El Dorado 51
Pine Bluff 57, Texarkana 35
AAAA-East
Batesville 72, Marion 56
Osceola 92, Newport 34
Wynne 54, Greene Co. Tech 33
Girls
AAAAA-Central
Mountain Home 48, Conway 43
AAAAA-East
Jonesboro 60, Jacksonville 57
AAAA-East
Osceola 55, Newport 22
Paragould 56, Nettleton 28
Wynne 48, Greene Co. Tech 42, OT
Boys' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
Little Rock Mills 12-2 23-4
West Memphis 11-3 17-8
Blytheville 8-5 15-8
Jacksonville 8-6 12-13
Jonesboro 8-6 11-15
Sylvan Hills 5-8 11-11
Cabot 2-12 5-20
Forrest City 1-13 3-21
Girls' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
West Memphis 13-1 24-2
Jacksonville 11-3 20-5
Jonesboro 11-3 22-5
Cabot 7-7 14-13
Forrest City 5-8 9-14
Sylvan Hills 4-9 11-11
Blytheville 3-10 11-13
Little Rock Mills 0-13 0-0
Friday, February 22
Sylvan Hills at Blytheville
Class AA Region 6 Tournament
at Harding Academy, Searcy
Friday, February 22-Senior Girls
Palestine-Wheatley vs Des Arc, 4 p.m.
Harding Academy vs Barton, 7 p.m.
Friday, February 22-Senior Boys
Augusta vs Palestine-Wheatley, 5:30 p.m.
Altheimer vs Harding Academy, 8:30 p.m.
Class AAA Region 3 Tournament
at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock
Friday, February 22-Senior Girls
Lamar vs CAC, 4 p.m.
Dover vs Pulaski Academy, 7 p.m.
Friday, February 22-Senior Boys
Hughes vs Pulaski Academy, 5:30 p.m.
Lonoke vs Dumas, 8:30 p.m.