By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JACKSONVILLE -- Forrest City made it a clean sweep Tuesday night at Jacksonville, dropping the Red Devils for the second time in AAAAA-East Conference play this season to keep their postseason hopes alive.
The win leaves the Mustangs in a tie for fourth with Blytheville, who upset No. 7 ranked West Memphis 51-46.
"That ripped my heart out," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "A Blytheville loss would have helped our cause."
Both the Mustangs and Blytheville are 6-6 in the league standings with two games to play.
Blytheville helped their chances for postseason with the win over the Blue Devils. Before Tuesday's game, West Memphis had not lost in conference play.
Blytheville's upset over conference foe West Memphis, left the Blue Devils at 11-1 but still the conference champions and the No. 1 seed from the East into the state tournament.
An 8-0 Forrest City run early in the fourth quarter would be the boost that Lofton's Mustangs needed to pull out the 64-60 win at Jacksonville.
In the first meeting between the two teams at Mustang Arena, Forrest City needed overtime to dispatch the Red Devils.
Jacksonville falls to 5-8 in the East standings and most likely out of the chase for a state tournament bid.
The Mustangs were down 47-45 in the fourth period before putting together a run to take a 53-47 lead.
Jacksonville came back with a pair of buckets, but the Mustangs were able to hold off the Devils in the end.
If there was a sticking point, it was Forrest City's cold shooting from the free throw line.
The team hit just 3 of 12 chances in the fourth quarter, including missing their final five attempts.
Jacksonville's Mike Smith wasn't able to counter the streaky play of the Mustangs, finishing with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Forrest City used streaks by different players to stay ahead of the Devils most of the game. Anthony Bean scored the first seven points of the game for the Mustangs, while Kerry Evans scored the final eight points.
Deangleo "Buck" Braddock came through big in the fourth while Nick Grady scored nine of his 12 points late in the second and early in the third.
Evans led all scorers with 23 points while Braddock scored 13 and Bean finished with nine.
Bretrick Miles led Jacksonville with 18 points.
The Mustangs will host Mountain Home Friday at Mustang Arena and will close out the regular season next Tuesday on the road against Jonesboro.
The Mustangs need to split the next two games to have a chance at getting to the Class AAAAA state tournament which will be played at North Little Rock High School.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JACKSONVILLE -- The postseason hopes for the Forrest City Lady Mustangs are still alive -- barely.
The Lady Mustangs took care of their business Tuesday, putting down Jacksonville's Lady Red Devils 72-49 but failed to get the help they were looking for from Mountain Home.
Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe was hoping for a Mountain Home win over Jonesboro Tuesday, which would have helped Forrest City's bid for a state tournament berth.
That didn't happen as Jonesboro took a 43-33 win over the Lady Bombers.
Forrest City is 6-6 in the conference and in fifth place, one game out of fourth, occupied by Mountain Home, the Lady Mustangs' Friday opponent.
Caronica Randle led the way Tuesday with 29 points, 11 rebounds and five assists while sophomore Sequoria Grady recorded her third consecutive "double-double" with 15 points and 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Katrina Floyd and Shay Agnew each finished with nine points while Shari Rogers had eight.
Jacksonville led 15-13 after one period but Forrest City regrouped to lead 32-25 at the half.
At the end of three, the Lady Mustangs held a 55-37 lead.
"It was a tough game," Jayroe said. "Even though we had a sizable lead after the third, we knew Jacksonville would make a run in the fourth and they did. We answered and got the win."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CHERRY VALLEY -- The Hughes Blue Devils withstood a 50-point performance by Marked Tree junior guard Brad Jones and a last-second three-pointer that just barely missed, leaving Hughes with an 83-82 win over the Indians Tuesday night.
The 3AA-South district tournament win puts the Blue Devils into Friday's championship game where they will face either Parkin or Crawfordsville.
The Blue Devils are the No. 1 seed into the district tournament, having won the 3AA-South Conference title with an 11-1 mark in regular season.
The Tuesday win assures Hughes of being no lower than the No. 2 seed going into the Region 4 Tournament at Marmaduke.
Marked Tree will be the No. 4 seeded team into the regional tournament.
Malcolm Curne led Hughes with 24 points followed by Jermaine Davis with 22 points and Johnny Washington with 20 points.
Leading just 40-36 at the half, after a hard-fought first half, the Blue Devils outscored Marked Tree 24-to-12 in the third period to lead 64-48 to start the final frame.
That's when Jones took over, scoring just about every possible way a player could score and almost single-handedly bringing the Indians back.
Hughes led 71-59 with 5:40 left when Jones caught fire. By the 3:40 point, Hughes' lead was cut to 75-67. When Hughes senior guard Jermaine Davis fouled out of the game at 2:38, Hughes was back in front by 11 points. With 1:40 to play, Hughes led 80-70. With 1:15 it was an 82-74 lead and with 23 seconds left, Jones layup chaved the Blue Devils' lead to 83-80.
Russ Gray's layup after a Blue Devil turnover cut Hughes' lead to 83-82 with eight seconds showing.
Curne lost the ball out of bounds to the Indians near midcourt with five seconds left.
On the inbounds play, Jones inbounded but was double-teammed and the final three-point shot by Marked Tree just missed at the buzzer, rimming out giving Hughes the win.
In the other boys' game, Parkin defeated Turrell 74-64 Tuesday.
Jamaille Little led all scorers with 26 points followed by Jeremy Marrs and Kendrick Washington each with 19 points.
Turrell was led by Addidus Cooper with 23 points, including seven 3-pointers. Nathethoe Gibson added 15 points for Turrell.
In the girls' division, unbeaten Turrell, the fifth-ranked team in the state, eliminated Hughes 60-43 Tuesday.
Anshel Cooper led Turrell with 14 points and Shalamar Williams added 11.
Hughes was paced by Victoria Doolittle's 17 points. Hughes, in the regional tournament for the first time since the 1997-98 season, will be the fourth seed into the bracket at Marmaduke. Turrell advances to play in Friday's championship game against either Earle or Marked Tree.
Turrell led by just 12 points, 32-20 at the half.
In the other girls game, Marked Tree pounded Cross County 49-18 Tuesday. Rudy Martin scored 17 and Naurita Bell added 10 for Marked Tree.
In 3AA-North District play at Bay, Maynard's Braden Watson hit a 3-pointer as time ran out to give the Tigers a 58-55 victory over Riverside Tuesday.
Watson led Maynard with 22 points followed by Daniel Cagle with 15.
Riverside was paced by a game-high 26 points from Dustin Kellems. Joe Ellis added 13 and Zac Reynolds added seven.
In the other boys' game, Robby Bollinger hit five 3-pointers and tallied 17 points to lead Bay past Crowley's Ridge Academy 54-51 in the senior boys' bracket.
Maynard advances to play top-seeded Buffalo Island Central at 5:30 Tuesday and Bay faces No. 2 Marmaduke at 8:30.
In girls' action, Jenna McDaniel scored 23 points to help Crowley's Ridge Academy advance in the girls' division with a 63-46 win over Riverside Tuesday.
Riverside was led by Karyn Douglas with 14 points and Amanda Dunigan with 11.
The No. 4 seeded Lady Falcons advance to face No. 1 Marmaduke Thursday at 4 p.m.
In other 3AA-North girls' action, Maynard dropped upset-minded Buffalo Island Central 58-30.
The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots will open play at the 6AA District Tournament tonight when they take the floor at 7 p.m. at Clarendon.
The Lady Patriots are the No. 2 seeded team into the district bracket.
A win tonight assures the team of a berth in the upcoming regional tournament, which will be played at Harding Academy in Searcy.