By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
FORREST CITY -- Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton wanted to start the second half of the AAAAA-East conference schedule on the top side of .500.
Following Friday's home-court loss to the road warrior Jonesboro Hurricane, the Mustangs now have to start round two in the hole.
Forrest City fell to the Hurricane 83-63 Friday and slipped to 6-11 overall and 3-4 in the league. The Jonesboro win leaves the Hurricane, who are 4-0 in East road games, in a tie with Searcy for second place in the conference at 4-3, behind unbeaten West Memphis.
The Mustangs fall into a tie for fourth place with Blytheville.
Kyle Gartman led five Jonesboro players in double figures with 21 points and Jonesboro shot 61 percent from the floor.
Ryan Williams scored 18 points and Ronnie Tagge added 16, including a three-point shot from halfcourt at the buzzer to give Jonesboro a 43-30 lead at the half.
Seniors Matt Byrd and Matt Gilbow added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Jonesboro got a strong performance in the paint from Gilbow, who scored six of his 12 points and Williams inside while Byrd and Gartman knocked down open 'threes' off screens to put the Hurricane up 22-17 at the end of the first period.
Forrest City cut the lead to 22-21 after scoring the first four points of the second period but Jonesboro pushed their 25-23 lead to 30-23 midway through the second.
Forrest City's Anthony Bean hit one free throw to bring the Mustangs within 30-24 but Williams cut in front of a defender for a layup off an inbound feed under the basket and Gartman hit a 17-footer for a 34-24 lead.
The Mustangs, who got 21 points from Kerry Evans, got as close as eight points late in the half but Williams canned two free throws and Tagge hit a running '3' from just inside the halfcourt line at the buzzer for a 43-30 edge at the break.
Forrest City got a bucket and a free throw from Roy Parker to open the second half and Evans drilled a '3' to cut the lead to 46-36 but JHS scored the next eight points to put the game out of reach.
The Hurricane led 54-36 with 3:51 left in the third period.
Forrest City shot 54 percent (24-of-48) from the field while Jonesboro held a 23-16 edge on the boards.
Jonesboro pulled down eight offensive rebounds and attacked the basket for shots in the lane or kickouts against the Mustang defense.
Forrest City will take on West Memphis Tuesday night at West Memphis.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
FORREST CITY -- The Forrest City Lady Mustangs wanted a win over Jonesboro Friday in the worst way.
Entering the game, tied with the Jonesboro girls for fourth place in the AAAAA-East, Forrest City could have slipped into fourth all by themselves with a win.
Instead, it was the Jonesboro girls taking a 70-62 win and slipping into fourth place in the standings behind 27 points from Sara Lehman.
"My girls really wanted this game," said Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe. "They were disappointed it didn't turn out that way but they played very well and I am very proud of their effort. We played with much more maturity tonight. There is still a lot of basketball to play. We have seven conference games left and looking at the first half and some of the upsets that have taken place, anything can happen and I feel like we are still very much in the race."
Lehman wasn't the game's high scorer however. That honor went to Forrest City's Caronica Randle, who finished with 29 points and nine rebounds.
Katrina Floyd was the only other Lady Mustang to reach double figures, finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Shari Rogers had nine points and four assists while Sequoria Grady finished with eight points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Jonesboro got 13 points from Aquasha Anderson while Tara Lehman added 10.
The Lady Hurricane outscored Forrest City 19-to-12 in the first period and built a 37-25 lead at the half using 14 first-half points from Lehman.
Coming off a tough 37-35 overtime loss at Mountain Home, Jonesboro got things cranked up and ran the floor on almost every possession.
Jonesboro pushed their lead to 17 in the third quarter before the Lady Mustangs cut the lead to 55-49 with 5:19 after seven straight points from Randle.
Lehman's sixth 'three' and a free throw put the Lady Hurricane back up 58-49.
Forrest City, which had earlier victories at Cabot and Blytheville, trimmed the lead to 64-60 with 1:31 to play on a long three-pointer from the corner by Randle but Jonesboro hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:07 to finish off the Lady Mustangs.
The Lady Mustangs fall to 9-11 overall and 3-4.
The Lady Mustangs will travel to West Memphis Tuesday to face the No. 1 ranked Lady Blue Devils.
The three-game set begins at 5 p.m., with a junior varsity girls' game.
EARLE -- Johnny Washington, Jermaine Davis and David Dowden combined to score 60 of Hughes' 73 points Friday as the Blue Devils rolled up Earle 73-55 in a 3AA South conference game at Earle.
Washington led the way with 21 points while Davis had 20 and Dowden 19.
The Blue Devils improve to 12-5 overall and 9-1 in the league.
The Lady Blue Devils fell to 6-4 in the conference losing to Earle 53-44.
Rachael Burks had 12 points for Hughes while LaTerria Broyles and Tisha James added nine points each.
Hughes will host Parkin Tuesday.
MARVELL -- Nikita Love poured in 22 points Friday night to help keep the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots unbeaten in 6AA Conference play.
The Lady Patriots pulled away fvrom an 18-16 halftime lead to take down Marvell 48-34.
The Lady Pats improve to 11-7 for the year and 8-0 in the conference.
Libby Martin and Brittany Flenory each added eight points while LaRhonda Bender helped out with six points and Andrea Cooper finished with four.
It was the second victory over Marvell this season. In the first meeting, played at P-W, the Lady Patriots won 58-49.
In junior girls' action Friday, Tonisha Wynne scored 12 points to lead the Junior Lady Pats to a 226-12 win over Marvell.
Keisha Stovall added eight points and Fallon Parker finished with four.
The junior girls are 10-0 for the year and 5-0 in the league.
In senior boys' play, the Marvell Mustangs used 19 points from Larry Thomas to take a 67-64 win over the P-W Patriots, their second of the year over P-W.
DeVille Pickett led P-W and all scorers with 36 points. Vince Jones added 10 points.
The Patriots slip to 14-6 overall and 4-4 in the conference.
P-W will host Clarendon Tuesday night.
Jonesboro Annie Camp rallied from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to turn back the Forrest City Blue Junior Mustangs 49-44 in a junior high boys' make-up game played Friday.
Jonesboro (7-7, 5-5) outscored Forrest City 24-2 in the fourth quarter, after trailing 42-25 at the end of three periods.
Murray Watts finished with a game-high 23 points for Annie Camp and Jackson added 11 for the contest. Cody Pace had nine points and 11 rebounds for Annie Camp.
The Blue Mustangs got 13 points from Marcus Britt and 10 points from Michael Alston while Stephon Weaver was held to seven points and Cordero Allen added eight.
Forrest City led 16-10 after the first quarter, and 33-20 at the half.
*The Annie Camp Lady Whirlwinds breezed past Forrest City Blue Friday 55-4 in junior girls' basketball.
Talya Haskins led Annie Camp (16-0, 9-0) with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The win keeps Annie Camp in first place in the AAAAA-East with a two-game advantage.
The Whirlwinds host Forrest City White tonight while Forrest City Blue will host Jonesboro MacArthur.
Oral Roberts University forward Kendrick Moore, of Forrest City, continues to rank in the nation's top five in blocked shots and continues to add to his school career blocks total.
Moore, who recently eclipsed former NBA veteran Mark Acres' school record of 164 blocks (1981-1984), now has 172 blocks in just 50 career games (3.37 avg.) from 2001-present.
The 6-8 senior, who spent his first two years at Dawson (Montana) Community College, set the school's single-season block record with 103 last season and has 69 this year.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Friday's Scores
Senior Boys
Bay 66, CRA 65
Brookland 82, Corning 45
Buffalo Island Cent. 73, Walnut Ridge 45
Conway 65, LR Central 53
Crawfordsville 57, Turrell 49
Delaplaine 67, Swifton 51
East Poinsett Co. 70, Manila 29
Gosnell 53, Trumann 47
Highland 69, Hoxie 63
Hughes 73, Earle 55
Jonesboro 83, Forrest City 66
Marmaduke 78, Rector 45
Marvell 67, Palestine-Wheatley 64
Mountain Home 56, Jacksonville 46
ORC 70, Biggers-Reyno 66
Osceola 75, Harrisburg 39
Paragould 51, Wynne 49
Parkview 72, McClellan 43
Pocahontas 66, Piggott 61
Riverside 92, Maynard 83
Searcy 42, Blytheville 41
Tuckerman 66, Newark 46
Valley View 46, Rivercrest 45
Weiner 89, Ridgefield 54
WMemphis 40, Cabot 24
Senior Girls
Biggers-Reyno 66, ORC 44
Earle 53, Hughes 44
Jonesboro 70, Forrest City 62
Mountain Home 56, Jacksonville 37
Palestine-Wheatley 48, Marvell 34
Paragould 41, Wynne 27
Searcy 58, Blytheville 56
Turrell 54, Crawfordsville 11
Weiner 57, Ridgefield 28
West Memphis 54, Cabot 50 (2OT)
Junior Boys
Annie Camp 49, Forrest City Blue 44
Hughes defeated Earle
East Poinsett Co. 45, Manila 40
Junior Girls
Annie Camp 55, Forrest City Blue 4
Palestine-Wheatley 26, Marvell 12
Monday, February 3
Junior High
Jonesboro MacArthur at FCity Blue
FCity White at Jonesboro Annie Camp