By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BEEBE -- The Hughes Blue Devils won their fifth consecutive state tournament game Thursday afternoon and ran their postseason mark (at regional and state) to 15-8 since the 1996-97 season.
Senior guard Lonnie Smith, who missed 24 games during the season recovering from a broken leg suffered during the Hughes' football season, scored a game-high 29 points, to help push the Blue Devils past Prescott 73-52 at the Class AAA State Tournament at Beebe High School.
It was another step toward defending the Class AAA state title Hughes won a year ago by defeating Clarksville 70-65.
Hughes will return to action today at 5:30 p.m., when they take on East Poinsett County in the quarterfinals.
A win today sets up a Saturday semifinal game against either Pulaski Academy or Subiaco Academy.
The Class AAA championship will be played Friday, March 8, at Pine Bluff's Convention Center at 8:45 p.m.
Smith scored the first 11 of the 17 third period points after Hughes' had taken a 44-33 halftime lead.
Both teams pushed the tempo, something Hughes Coach Brad Brannen wanted his team to do, but had to weather more than 25 fouls whistled by the officials working the game.
The Blue Devils canned 19-of-26 free throws to help their winning effort.
While both teams seemed to flourish with the game's fast-paced first half, only the Blue Devils were able to survive the 25 combined fouls that were called.
The Blue Devils led 26-24 after the first period and 44-33 at the half.
Brannen continued to rotate his players in and out of the game to keep fresh legs on the floor and to help avoid potential foul problems, although Smith encountered those foul problems early.
The foul problems hit Prescott harder, with the Curly Wolves being whistled 12 times in the first half which placed two of Prescott's main players in trouble.
Prescott, which ends the season at 26-5, tried to rally in the third, closing in on the Blue Devils to cut the lead to five, 50-45 with one minute and a half to play in the period.
The Curly Wolves ran out of gas and the comeback attempt slowed.
Robert Davis hit a free throw to get the Blue Devils' lead back to six points and after missing another free throw, Davis charged in to grab his own miss and hit a seven-foot jumper to give the Blue Devils a 56-47 lead.
Antonio Cotton and Jermaine Davis each hit big baskets to close out the third period for Hughes and a 61-47 lead.
Davis' three-point shot came from about 25 feet and caught the net at the buzzer.
Kevin Fulks led Prescott with 16 points. Joe Stueart, Decolen Prater and Justin Tidwell all added 10 points each.
Hughes, which outscored Prescott 12-5 in final quarter, picked up 14 points from Cotton. Jermaine Davis finished with eight points while Robert Davis added five and freshman guard David Dowden added four points.
In other boys' games played Thursday at Beebe, Subiaco Acaemy defeated Valley View 65-59 and Dumas pulled a huge upset by eliminating No. 1 seeded Hamburg 48-42.
Pulalski Academy and Subiaco Academy will play tonight at 8:30 p.m. while Lonoke and Heber Springs will hook up at 2:30 p.m. today.
Dumas returns Saturday to face the Lonoke-Heber winner at 2:30 p.m.
In AAA girls' action Thursday, Lamar defeated Star City 58-44, Highland used overtime to get past Gentry 79-74 and Pulaski Academy advanced by ousting Piggott 61-44.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs successfully opened their first-ever fast-pitch softball season Thursday with a 19-4 win over Little Rock McClellan at Forrest City's Sports Complex in three innings.
Alicia Kennedy delivered a double and a triple for the Lady Mustangs who scored 11 runs in the bottom of the third inning to end the game under the 15-run after three limit.
McClellan scored all four of its runs in the top of the first before Forrest City tied the game at 4-4 in the home half of the inning and went ahead 8-4 after two full innings.
"We made some errors in the first inning," said Coach Amber Main, "but we settled down and played much better in the second and third innings."
The Lady Mustangs will host Little Rock Mills Tuesday, March 5.
The Forrest City Mustang baseball team will try again today to open their season, when they host Brinkley, weather permitting, at 4:30 p.m.
The Mustangs will travel to Jonesboro Tuesday, March 5, to play the Hurricane at 4 p