By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT -- Two games, same endings, same results. The Mustangs hit their last-second shot against Cabot --too bad it wasn't the one they needed.
Tuesday, the Forrest City Mustangs trailed Jacksonville by three with less than 15 seconds left to play. The Mustangs had the ball and were looking for the last-second, game-tying three pointer to force overtime.
Instead, in a wild sequence of events Jacksonville trapped Vince Millen inside forcing the senior to kick the ball out to Nate Williamson, whose hurried shot caught nothing but net at the buzzer. But Williamson was well inside the three-point arc leaving the Mustangs with a one point 60-59 loss at home, after leading by 10 late in the fourth.
Friday, at Cabot, it was Jacksonville all over again.
Down by three, 58-55, with seven seconds left to play, the Mustangs inbounded under Cabot's goal and John Foreman pushed the ball up the court where they managed to get off the last-second shot once again -- this time by Derrick Brown, who like Williamson caught nothing but net, but had one foot on the three-point line, leaving the Mustangs with a stunning 58-57 AAAAA-East Conference loss to Cabot.
It is only Cabot's second win over Forrest City in the last 11 head-to-head meetings.
Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton was 9-1 against the Panthers going in, his Mustangs having won the last eight straight games, following a split with the Panthers in Lofton's first season (1996-97).
Cabot improves to 2-5 in the conference while Forrest City falls to 0-6 in the league.
Save for a pair of ties late in the second period, the Mustangs led until Cabot's Tommy Williams hit a running jumper with 40 seconds to play in the third period, giving Cabot a 43-42 lead. The Panthers did not trail again.
Up by one at the half at 29-28, the Mustangs roared out to a 42-32 lead with 3:37 left in the third period. They did not score again until Nate Britt's jumper with 5:20 to play in the fourth, a span of more than six minutes. In the interim, the Panthers used a 17-0 scoring run to rally from being down by 10 to leading by five at 49-44.
The Mustangs stayed close, getting within one at 54-53 with 1:24 to play after Anthony Bean's steal and layup.
The Panthers milked the clock, holding the ball from the 1:11 mark to the 33 second mark when Nick Roberts hit both ends of a one-and-one after being fouled by Britt, leaving Cabot in front 56-53. Millen's layup got the Mustangs back within a point at 56-55 with 24 seconds left.
Cabot's Brad Payne missed the front side of a one-and-one opportunity with 19 second to play but the Mustangs turned the ball over with 9.6 to play and had to foul Payne with seven seconds on the clock.
With the reprieve, Payne hit both free throws for a 58-55 lead setting in motion Forrest City's final two-pointer.
The Mustangs never led by more than three points during the first half.
Vincent Hardaway, playing his first game for the Mustanges this season, after recovering from a foot injury, started and finished with 13 points as did Bean. Britt added 11 while Lorenzo Spearman added eight and John Foreman finished with seven.
Williams led Cabot with 18 points while Roberts added 12 and Josh Watkins bagged 11 and Harrison Brumley chipped in nine, including a pair of threes early in the second period.
Cabot drilled five three-pointers, with Watkins getting three of those.
Hardaway claimed all three of Forrest City's three-pointers -- all in the first half.
Forrest City travels to Blytheville Tuesday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT -- The Forrest City Lady Mustangs had their way against Cabot for three periods Friday at Cabot.
Then Cabot woke up and the Lady Mustangs fell asleep, losing to the Lady Panthers 57-50.
Leading 25-19 at the half and 39-31 to start the fourth period, Forrest City went cold midway through the period letting their 44-38 lead dwindle to 48-47 with 2:16 to play before Cabot's Chelsi Sheridan tied the game at 48-48 with one of two free throws.
Teela Lee's rebound and putback basket for the Lady Mustangs with 1:26 put Forrest City back in front 50-48, but only briefly as Sheridan returned to the foul line where she hit two more free throws to knot the game at 50-all. Allie Gammill gave Cabot a 52-50 lead with a three-footer from inside the lane and the Lady Mustangs never led again.
In fact, Lee's basket stood as the final Forrest City points of the game.
With their head coach Skip Sanford under fire the past week and his Lady panthers mired in an uncharacteristic losing streak, the Lady Panthers were not to be denied against the Lady Mustangs, improving their conference mark to 3-4, good enough for the fourth spot behind Jonesboro, West Memphis and Jacksonville, all winners on Friday.
The Lady Mustangs, who won their first two conference games have now dropped four straight and stand at 2-4 in the league and in sixth place.
Brittney Goings led Cabot with 14 points while Gammill finished with 12 and three Lady Panthers ending with seven points each -- Allyson Boone, Sheridan and Emily Fulmer, who scored the final five points of the game on two free throws and a three-pointer just before the final buzzer.
Forrest City's Caronica Randle led all scorers with 20 points while Trina Wynne added 12 and Deosha Agnew finished with seven.
Down by two, 52-50, Forrest City had a chance to tie the game but suffered a turnover when Cabot's Stephanie Bradley pressured Agnew into making a bad pass.
The Lady Mustangs never got another shot.
Forrest City goes to Blytheville Tuesday night.
Senior guard Nikki Bass scored 13 points Friday night in just two periods to help lead the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots past Marvell 59-28.
It was the Lady Patriots' fifth consecutive win since losing to Barton 48-37 on Jan. 8.
The Junior Lady Patriots and senior Patriots won their games Friday against Marvell, giving P-W a home sweep.
For the Lady Patriots, the math is simple. Provided they get past Clarendon Tuesday, the Lady Patriots will face Barton on the road Friday in the game that will more than likely decide the 6AA Conference champion and the seeding for the upcoming district tournament.
The Lady Patriots, 11-10 and 7-1, have won three straight conference titles since joining the 6AA in the 1998-99 season. P-W had not lost a conference game until the loss to Barton.
"Barton beat us by 11, which means we have to defeat them by 12 to have a shot at the outright title," P-W Coach Beverly Bass said. "I don't think we were ready the first time we played them, but we are playing better now. It will be an all-out war on Friday."
Brittney Flenory added 12 points in Friday's win over Marvell while Beth Varvil and Nikita Love finished with nine points each. Edwina Bryant and Libby Martin had three points each.
The 6AA district tournament will be held at Barton, beginning on Feb. 11.
The Class AA Regional Tournament will once again be played at Harding Academy in Searcy, beginning Feb. 18.
The Hughes Blue Devils rolled to their biggest win of the season Friday, defeating DeWitt 92-39 in 6AAA Conference play.
The 53-point winning margin was the most by a Hughes teams since a 55-point win over Elaine in the 199-00 season. Hughes registered a 54-point win over Brinkley during the 1997-98 season as well.
Jermaine Davis led Hughes with 24 points while Antonio Cotton added 14 in the win.
Hughes improves to 17-5 and 7-1 in the conference.
The Blue Devils face Dumas Tuesday on the road.
by FRED CONLEY
Soon, Forrest City Athletic Director Bill Baxter will be able to breathe easier with a little more free time on his hands.
Last week, Baxter officially signed, sealed and delivered his resignation to Forrest City Superintendent Lee Vent, effective in May. He has been the athletic director since July, 1996.
Although Baxter has always officially been listed as a "part-time athletic director" he is quick to tell you the job, as enjoyable as it has been for the Forrest City businessman, is anything but part time.
"That's one of the reasons I'm giving it up," Baxter said last week. He almost has too. Baxter already has one full time job -- that of running his insurance business, Baxter, Horner and Devereux.
He says there have been times when his business has ground to a halt when school matters surfaced requiring his undivided and full attention.
"I've never been satisfied being just a part time athletic director," Baxter said. "The district needs a full time A.D. on site. Because I'm not on site all the time, I have not been able to be as productive as a school A.D. needs to be. It's time the school district had a full time person in this position. There are too many things happening in the district now and we are still trying to turn this 'big old ship' around. They need a full time person to keep turning that wheel."
Nonetheless, Baxter says he will take with him "tremendous enjoyment" from his five years at the helm of the school district's athletic program, especially when it comes to the support from the Mustang fans and the the people of Forrest City.
"They have been solidly behind every project that we have undertaken during my tenure," Baxter said. "I could name so many people, but I would leave someone out. They all know who they are and how they have meant to all the district has accomplished."
Looking back Baxter said he has probably made some mistakes along the way, but he has also developed a unique outlook.
"The best thing to do is always what's right," Baxter said. "The second best thing to do is what's wrong. But the absolute worst thing to do is to do nothing at all. I've probably made some mistakes, but I hope doing nothing wasn't one of those mistakes. If I did something wrong, that is better than doing nothing."
During Baxter's time as A.D., the district seen plenty of changes including going to a two junior high system in all sports, bringing back girls' volleyball and adding cross country and beginning intramural sports. A new athletic complex was added as was Mustang Arena, following the 1998 fire which destroyed Sam Smith and a new basketball/P.E. facility at Lincoln. Construction of the new junior high building is now underway.
"When I took over, the old football field house (the Corral) was the newest building we had in the district and it was more than 30 years old," Baxter said.
Baxter said he thinks the hiring of current Mustang basketball coach Dwight Lofton, was his first official duty as athletic director. Since then, he has brought several new coaches to Forrest City.
"We have some good people in coaching positions here," Baxter said.
Baxter isn't disappearing entirely. He will continue to put together and direct the annual Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving Tournament -- which he started in 1997.
"That is a quasi-school event and something I really enjoy doing," Baxter said.
Baxter says he will always support Forrest City and help in whatever ways he can, after he steps down.
"But once I step down, I will step out of the way and make room for whomever the district hires to take my place," Baxter said. "It would certainly be beneficial to the district if they could hire from within, but I don't even know if they have started looking for anyone yet or if they have anyone in mind or even if anyone has shown an interest in the position."
In short, Baxter concludes he will always remain ever the optimist when it comes to matters of Forrest City.
"I suppose my name will always be linked with Mustang Arena and the athletic complex and other things," Baxter said. "But when you link my name to those things you also have to link my name to the won-loss records compiled by the different teams."
* PREP BASKETBALL
Boys' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
West Memphis 7-0 13-5
LRock Mills 4-1 15-3
Blytheville 3-2 9-7
Jacksonville 3-3 6-10
Sylvan Hills 2-3 8-6
Jonesboro 2-3 6-11
Cabot 2-5 5-13
Forrest City 0-6 2-14
Girls' AAAAA-East
Conf. O/all
Jonesboro 5-0 16-2
West Memphis 6-1 17-2
Jacksonville 5-1 14-3
Cabot 3-4 10-10
Sylvan Hills 2-3 9-4
Forrest City 2-4 6-10
Blytheville 0-5 8-9
Little Rock Mills 0-5 0-0
Tuesday, January 29
AAAAA-East
Forrest City at Blytheville
Sylvan Hills at Cabot
LR Mills at Jacksonville
Jonesboro at West Memphis
6AAA
Hughes at Dumas
DeWitt at Delta
Lonoke at PB Dollarway
6AA
Palestine-Wheatley at Clarendon
Elaine at Barton
Marvell at Gillett
Junior High
Monday, January 28
West Memphis West at Forrest City Blue
Forrest City White at West Memphis East