By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City notched a huge win Tuesday by putting away Little Rock Central 57-51 at Mustang Arena.
The Wynne Yellowjackets lost a close one Tuesday against Hughes at Wynne.
Even though the results differed, the two mirrored each other in many areas.
The Mustangs proved a major point Tuesday and have many more to prove as the season progresses.
They would like to start tonight when they host Wynne in a three-game set beginning at 5 p.m.
Tuesday, against Central, the Mustangs used a strong fourth quarter to pick up the win. They did most of their work from the foul line -- hitting 30-of-45 chances while putting the Tigers at the line just 10 times during the entire game.
Forrest City (3-3) trailed 13-11 after one quarter and trailed 23-18 at the half. Sophomore Cameron Henderson hit a layup to force a 36-36 tie to start the final period which saw Central regain the lead at 44-39 before Roy Parker's jumper with 2:34 to play put the Mustangs in front for good.
For Forrest City, the victory over central was the first in five tries under head coach Dwight Lofton. Before Tuesday, the Mustangs had lost twice to Central by a total of four points.
Against Hughes Tuesday, the Yellowjackets led 35-27 at the half and 52-47 to start the fourth quarter.
Hughes forced a tie with four minutes to play and went ahead by two. Eventually the 'Jackets were forced to start fouling and netted just 11 points in the final quarter as Hughes held on for a 69-63 win.
It was the first game of the season for the Yellowjackets while Hughes was playing for only the second time.
Wynne was awarded a forfeit victory over Hughes last week after Hughes was unable to complete the contractual obligation for what was supposed to be the season-opener at Hughes.
Wynne (1-1) comes into Mustang Arena tonight hurting.
Starting senior Todd Sparks is out of the lineup for a while due to a hairline stress fracture in his foot.
Sparks suffered the injury during the regular football season.
The boys game will tip following the senior girls game.
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs will be healthier entering tonight's home game against the Wynne Lady Yellowjackets.
The Lady Mustangs have been battling the flu bug for the past couple of weeks, but head coach Sue Jayroe said Thursday everyone is getting better and she expects to have everyone available.
The Lady Mustangs (1-4) lost to Little Rock Central Tuesday, falling in the second half after leading the entire first half.
The Lady Yellowjackets used 14 points by Quinita Harris to put away the Hughes girls 54-35 on Tuesday to improve to 2-0 for the year.
Wynne trailed 12-9 after the first quarter but rallied in the second quarter to lead 25-21 at the half.
Tonight's game begins at 5 p.m., when the junior varsity girls take the floor.
The senior girls will follow at approximately 6 p.m., and the senior boys will play the final game.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
WEST MEMPHIS -- Did the Forest City Junior Mustangs start AAAAA-East Conference the way head coach Jimmy Williams wanted them to?
Not exactly.
Playing on the road at West Memphis East Thursday, the Junior Mustangs fell in the final 15 seconds when East buried a three-pointer to take a 37-36 win.
The loss leaves Forrest City at 3-2 overall and 0-1 in the league.
The Junior Mustangs led 15-4 after one quarter and 21-11 at the half. The second half was a much different story.
Forrest City led 29-24 to start the fourth quarter but ran out of patience in the final quarter allowing East to take the come-from-behind win.
"We didn't play with any discipline in the second half," Williams said. "We made too many bad decisions and had too many turnovers. They didn't do what I asked them to do. Basically, we fell apart."
Stephon Weaver led Forrest City with 16 points while Marcus Britt had 14.
*MacArthur opened AAAAA-East conference play with a 49-39 win over Blytheville Thursday in junior boys' basketball at Cyclone Gym.
Roosevelt Griffin scored 14 points, while Grant Cook had 12 and Jeremy Thomas 11 for MacArthur (5-1, 1-0 AAAAA-East).
*West Memphis Wonder blanked Jonesboro Annie Camp 10-0 in the first quarter and held on for a 32-27 win Thursday in junior boys' basketball.
Wonder led 22-11 at halftime and 24-18 after three quarters.
Chris Parks scored six points to lead Annie Camp (2-2, 0-1 AAAAA-East).
The Forrest City Junior Lady Mustangs may have played their best game of the year Thursday at West Memphis East, despite the fact that the team's leading scorer did not score a point.
The effort, however, wasn't good enough as the Junior girls fell to West Memphis East 37-35.
Forrest City's Matisha Dobbins, battling flu-like symptoms, failed to score for the second time this week. Dobbins, the leading scorer for the junior girls, did not score Monday in a loss to Wynne.
"We had good looks at the basket and took good shots," said Forrest City Coach Jacky England. "The shots just weren't falling for us."
East led the entire game before Forrest City grabbed the lead midway through the fourth quarter and had their chances to win the game late.
Tiara Eabron led Forrest City (3-2, 0-1 AAAAA-East)with 10 points while Astrin Allen and Bookita vaughn added nine points each. Fareeda Washington finished with six points.
The eighth-grade junior girls defeated East 24-17 using 12 points from Cassandra Jackson and eight points from Vaughn.
*With MacArthur Junior High leading conference rival Blytheville 28-19 going into the fourth quarter, a final-frame breakdown soon led to the Junior Lady Chickasaws' first AAAAA-East win, 36-34 at Cyclone Gym Thursday.
*West Memphis Wonder kept Annie Camp winless on the young season with a 38-19 victory Thursday in junior girls' basketball.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Palestine-Wheatley Patriots got their first win of the year Thursday night and they did so under the guidance of girls' coach Lanny Allen, subbing for Patriot coach Terry Clardy.
Allen took the junior girls, senior girls and senior boys to Cotton Plant for a three-game set while Clardy was busy elsewhere with the Junior Patriots.
The Junior Patriots were playing a semifinal game against Harding Academy at the Junior Jaguar Classic Tournament in McCrory.
Jesse Adams, a 6-3 Patriot guard/forward, poured in 28 points to lead Palestine-Wheatley past Cotton Plant 77-68.
Adams, the cousin of Palestine-Wheatley senior Vince Jones, transferred to P-W during the summer from Texas.
Cotton Plant led early but the Patriots regrouped to take a 34-30 halftime lead and pushed that to 59-43 to start the final quarter.
Rashun Barnes, just out of football, came off the bench to score 10 points while Justin Tomblin had eight and Tony Huntley added nine.
Osas Oyara finished with six points while Jones added seven as the Patriots improve to 1-3 for the year.
*Ryan Williams scored 32 points and Jonesboro shot 63 percent from the floor in a 95-80 victory over Earle Thursday night in the opening round of the 19th annual KFC-Taco Bell-Pepsi Hurricane Classic at Hurricane Gym.
In other first-round games, Buffalo Island Central downed defending champ Overton, Tenn., 73-58; Memphis Trezevant topped Doniphan, Mo., 68-53; and Sheridan used a big fourth quarter to down Greene County Tech 60-52.
Jonesboro (2-2) faces Sheridan in tonight's semifinals at 8:30 p.m. while BIC tangles with Trezevant in the other semi at 7 p.m.
*Down seven points at the halftime break, East Poinsett County rallied for a 59-52 victory over Jacksonville in the Mountain Home Shootout's quarterfinal round.
Marcus Monk led the way with a double-double consisting of 33 points and 16 rebounds.
EPC faces Little Rock Mills tonight at 8:30.
*Junior forward Kyle Wray led the Lions with 20 points in a 55-52 victory over the Devil Dogs in the semifinals of the White County Medical Center Invitational in Searcy.
Jonesboro raced to a 24-6 first-quarter lead and cruised past Pine Bluff Dollarway for a 65-46 win Thursday in the Lion White County Medical Center senior girls' basketball tournament.
Rachel Allison scored 17 points and Tiffany Cole added 12 to pace Jonesboro (3-4).
*The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots lost to Cotton Plant 51-32 Thursday to remain winless at 0-4.
Tonisha Wynne, who finished with 10 points to lead P-W, scored the first seven points of the game before Cotton Plant regrouped to lead 11-8 after one quarter.
Fallon Parker finished with eight points for the Lady Patriots while Whitney Smith had six and Bernice Sparkman added four.
The Junior Lady Patriots 'B' team lost to Cotton Plant 20-19.
P-W plays at Cross County tonight beginning at 5 p.m.