By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SYLVAN HILLS -- The Sylvan Hills Bears took 50 trips to the free throw line Thursday night and made 29 of those chances count.
In doing so, the Bears were able to hold off the Forrest City Mustangs 55-48 in the Mustangs' official season-opener.
"We had out chances, we just didn't get it done," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "You are not going to beat very many teams who go to the free throw line 50 times in a ball game."
The Bears scored 26 points from the field and 29 from the line.
In contrast the Mustangs were 13-of-20 from the foul line.
"We played as well as we did Tuesday night at Marianna, with the exception of our inside game, which I thought fell off just a little," Lofton said. "Our perimeter people played well but we just didn't get it done on the defensive glass. Plus we were in foul trouble."
Senior guard Kerry Evans led the Mustangs with 14 points while junior Lorenzo Spearman finished with 11 and Anthony Bean added eight.
Sophomore guard Taurus Moore turned in another solid performance for the Mustangs.
Sylvan Hills forward A. Mason led the Bears with 16 points.
The Bears led 15-8 after the first period and were up 27-18 at the half. After three periods, it was Sylvan Hills 32-26.
Forrest City fell behind 25-10 in the second before the Mustangs used an 8-to-2 run to close out the first half.
The Mustangs opened the second half with a run to close the gap to 32-28 before James Jackson turned a conventional three-point play to put the Bears back in front 35-28.
Sylvan Hills was clinging to an 11-point lead, 51-40 with 1:58 to play in the game, when the Mustangs put together an 8-to-1 scoring run to cut the Bears' lead to 51-48 with about a minute to play.
Nick Grady had a chance to cut the Bears' lead to two but missed a wide-open jumper. In the battle for the rebound, the Bears got the rebound and call and went back to the free throw line to put the game away.
"Grady had a legitimate look with about 44 seconds to go, but hit the front of the rim," Lofton said.
Lofton said his Mustangs missed too many point-blank shot -- "shots which we have to make. That is the bottom line."
The Mustangs are scheduled to play Hughes on Friday, Nov. 22, but that game may be cancelled if Hughes is still in the state football playoffs.
Caronica Randle recorded a "double-double" Thursday night, scoring 28 points and grabbing 18 rebounds to lead the Lady Mustangs past Sylvan Hills 58-42.
Trinia Wynne helped out with 16 points and had three steals while Viveca Kimble and Katrina Floyd finished with four points each.
The Lady Bears led 14-12 after the first period, but any thoughts of a home win quickly disappeared in the second period when the Lady Mustangs outscored their former conference foes17-to-9 to lead 29-23 at the half.
By the end of the third period, the Lady Mustangs led 42-35.
"I liked the way we started even though we were behind after the first period," said Lady Mustang Coach Sue Jayroe. "The girls put it together and we made some adjustments and were able to get the win."
The Lady Mustangs will open play Monday in the Mount St. Mary's Heavenly Hoops Tournament at Little Rock.
Forrest City plays Watson Chapel at 5:30 p.m.
"Watson Chapel has some height," Jayroe said. "And out tallest girls are 5-10, so we will have to take away their height advantage somehow."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Marcus Britt scored 18 points to lead three players in double figures Thursday night as the Forrest City Blue Mustangs opened their season with a 45-29 victory over the Wynne Junior Jackets at Mustang Arena.
Britt scored eight of his points in the fourth period -- all on forced Wynne turnovers and break-away layups.
Michael Alston added 11 points and Stephon Weaver finished with 10 to lead a balanced Forrest City scoring attack.
Britt, Weaver and Alston all started for coach Jimmy Williams along with Preston Echols and Larry Bean. Echols finished with two points and Bean had four.
It was Wynne's first loss of the year after opening their season Monday with a victory over Forrest City White.
Lonnie Harris led Wynne with 13 points.
The Blue Mustangs, who were scheduled to open Monday against Hughes, had to wait until Thursday when Hughes postponed their basketball season after the senior Blue Devils made the football playoffs.
The Blue Mustangs led 11-10 after the first period and pushed that lead to 21-13 at the half.
Britt started the second half with a long three as Forrest City used an 11-to-6 effort to take a 32-19 lead to start the fourth period.
Weaver and Britt started the final frame with a forced steal and then converted a nice two-on-one fast-break layup which pushed the score to 36-21 before Britt scored on back-to-back layups and Alston put back a missed three by Bean to extend their lead to 43-24.
*In girls action Thursday, the Blue Lady Mustangs fell to Wynne 32-17 in their opener. Wynne used 12 points by Alicia Tucker to improve to 2-0 for the year.
Matisha Dobbins led Forrest City with eight points while Astrain Allen added four points.
The two teams ended the first period locked in a 7-7 tie before Wynne began to pull away in the second period to lead 16-10 at the half. By the start of the fourth period, Wynne led 26-16.
For Williams, who is coaching both the varsity boys and girls this season, Thursday's game marked the first time in 25 years that Williams has coached a girls team.
Williams coached girls' basketball at Palestine before the consolidation with Wheatley and then remained two years after the two schools merged.
"Coaching girls is so much different than coaching boys," Williams said. "You have to talk to the girls differently and use different methods to motivate them than with boys. Plus, the girls' game, has changed a lot."
In the eighth-grade boys game, Jeremy Washington scored five points and Chad Doyle added four in a 39-23 loss to Wynne's eighth-graders.
The Palestine-Wheatley Junior Patriots will face Brinkley at 7:30 p.m., Saturday in the finals of the Wheatley Tournament.
The P-W junior girls will play Cross County in the 6:15 p.m girls' final.
Phil Hicks led P-W with 19 points while Keisha Stovall had 19 for the girls.
* PREP BASKETBALLThursday's Scores
Senior Boys
Black Rock 60, Williford 34
Tuckerman 71, Hoxie 62
Sylvan Hills 55, Forrest City 48
Senior Girls
Bay 66, Weiner 25
Forrest City 58, Sylvan Hills 42
BIC 54, Gosnell 42
Brookland 44, Walnut Ridge 38
EPC 36, Armorel 33
Marmaduke 67, CRA 35
Maynard 63, Corning 51
Rivercrest 73, Parkin 28
Riverside 66, Marked Tree 53
Valley View 62, Piggott 31
Westside 44, Manila 40
Williford 52, Black Rock 39
Junior Boys
Hoxie 53, Tuckerman 43
Forrest City Blue 45, Wynne 29
Junior Girls
Bay 43, Weiner 35 (OT)
BIC 35, Gosnell 14
Black Rock 37, Williford 27
Brookland 36, Walnut Ridge 22
EPC 51, Armorel 13
Marion 35, MacArthur 30
Marmaduke 47, CRA 41
Maynard 37, Corning 32
Riverside 43, Marked Tree 12
Valley View 45, Piggott 30
Westside 45, Manila 26
Wynne 32, Forrest City Blue 17
Junior High Tournaments
Wheatley Invitational
Palestine-Wheatley 44, McCrory 13 (JGirls)
Palestine-Wheatley 35, McCrory 32 (Jr Boys)