By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
It doesn't matter what happens Friday night when Hughes plays Turrell in the final game of the regular season.
The Blue Devils outscored the Parkin Tigers 43-to-25 in the second half Tuesday to take a 90-54 win at Hughes.
The 3AA-South victory gives the Blue Devils the outright conference championship, the No. 1 seed into the upcoming district tournament and an automatic bid into the regional tournament, since the Blue Devils will draw a bye all the way to the semifinals of the district.
The top four teams from the district tournament advance to regional play.
Hughes improves to 13-5 overall for the year with one game left to play and 10-1 in the conference.
Each of the remaining 3AA South conference teams have at least three losses, which means even if Turrell defeats Hughes Friday, it won't matter or change what the Blue Devils have already accomplished.
"Of course we want to win out," said Hughes Coach Brad Brannen. "We need to keep it in high gear going into postseason."
A year ago, in the 6AAA Conference, Hughes finished in a tie for third in the final conference standings and rolled through the district tournament, defeating Brinkley, Pine Bluff Dollarway and Lonoke to earn the No. 1 seed into the regionals, where they beat Dover, lost to Pulaski Academy and beat Lonoke to claim the No. 3 seed into the Class AAA state tournament.
The Blue Devils turned back Prescott in the first round before losing to EPC in the quarterfinals, finishing 24-10.
Hughes' lone conference loss came against Turrell.
The Blue Devils waited until the second half to kick their high-octane offense into overdrive, leading Parkin only 38-36 at the half.
"We came out in a full court man to start the third period and really turned up the intensity," said Brannen. "That was the difference. We forced a lot of turnovers and held Parkin scoreless until midway through the third period."
Once again, it was Hughes' big four that did the majority of the scoring damage -- Jermaine Davis, Johnny Washington, Malcolm Curne and David Dowden -- who combined to score 75 of Hughes' 90 points.
Davis led with 24 while Washington added 22, Curne 17 and Dowden 12. Courtley London added eight points.
Hughes' guard Kevin Hatton didn't score but did the little things, according to Brannen.
"He (Kevin) was blocking out and rebounding and just taking care of the little needs on the floor," Brannen said.
Jamaille Little led Parkin with 20 points while Antonio Woods and Darryl Mitchell finished with 14 points each.
In other 3AA-South games played Tuesday it was Turrell holding off Marked Tree 59-57 led by Joe Gibson's 26 points.
Marked Tree led 38-35 at the end of the third quarter before Turrell (8-3 in 3AA-South) rallied in the final period to earn the win.
Brad Jones led Marked Tree (4-7 in 3AA-South) with 22 points.
And at Cross County, Earle eventually pulled away from the Thunderbirds in the fourth quarter to take a 51-44 victory.
The Bulldogs and the Thunderbirds were tied 33-33 at the end of the third quarter before the Bulldogs, who led 22-20 at halftime, finally pulled away to the win.
Crawfordsville, also 8-3 in the 3AA and tied for second with Turrell, played a nonconference game Tuesday against Cotton Plant and will play at Earle in Friday's season finale.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
WEST MEMPHIS -- The Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs played what may been their worst games of the year Tuesday at West Memphis.
Both West Memphis teams put up 78 points to sweep Forrest City, winning the boys game 78-46 and defeating the Lady Mustangs 78-53.
The losses severely damaged Forrest City's postseason hopes leaving both Mustang at 3-5 in the AAAAA-East Conference and both teams in sixth place.
Senior forward Caronica Randle did all she could do in the Lady Mustangs' loss, scoring 27 points as college scouts from Arkansas State and the University of Alabama at Huntsville watched from the stands.
"She (Randle) did not know the scouts were there," said Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe. "She took over the game and played her heart out. She was about the only one who came prepared to play. It wasn't a good night for us at all."
Sophomore Sequoria Grady was the only other Lady Mustang in double figures, finishing with 10 points.
The No. 1 ranked Lady Blue Devils improve to 8-0 in the league.
West Memphis led 24-11 after one period and 45-27 at the half.
Cabot is second in the girls' side while Jonesboro is third.
In the boys' game, junior forward Lorenzo Spearmon led the Mustangs with 13 points while senior guard Kerry Evans added 10 and Nick Grady finished with six.
"It was just a bad night all the way around," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "We couldn't shoot the ball and we reverted to making too many turnovers (21). We haven't had that many in a game in a while."
West Memphis' Desma McCoy, who played only the first and fourth periods, finished with 17 points while Tim Bates added 14 and Larry Bray Jr. added 13 for the eighth-ranked Blue Devils.
Forrest City trailed 39-26 at the half.
Jonesboro and Searcy each posted victories Tuesday to force a tie for second in the girls' side of the standings.
Forrest City will host Cabot Friday night at Mustang Arena in a two-game set beginning at 6 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
In what might have been the worst officiated game in the history of Palestine-Wheatley, the Patriots and Lady Patriots earned a sweep over visiting Clarendon Tuesday night in 6AA Conference action.
The Patriots got 22 points from Deville Pickett, 14 points from Vince Jones, 13 points from Quentin Mason and 11 from Brandon Roberts in a 68-49 win over the Lions.
Mason hit three, three-pointers in the game while Pickett drilled two. While the Patriot due was raining perimeter shots, Jones and Roberts dominated the inside game.
The Patriots improve to 15-6 overall and 5-4 in the conference with three games remaining in the regular season.
P-W led 14-9 after one period and answered a 7-0 Clarenson run in the second period with their own 8-0 run to lead 36-20 at the half.
It was 47-32 to start the fourth period which saw Mason hit a pair of threes bunched around a long two-pointer to push the P-W lead to 63-39.
Charles Moore led the Lions with 26 points.
*The Lady Patriots got 16 points from Nikita Love and 14 from Libby Martin in a 48-36 win over the Lady Lions.
LaRhonda Bender added nine points and Brittany Flenory finished with five.
P-W improves to 12-7 for the year and stays unbeaten in the 6AA Conference at 9-0 with three games to play.
The Lady Pats led 12-8 after one period and 23-19 at the half before pushing their lead to 38-26 to start the final frame.
Monique Bradley led Clarendon with 15 points, including three, threes.
The P-W Junior Patriots used 14 points from Phil Hicks and 11 points by Adam Kennedy to take a 39-35 win over the Junior Lions.
Palestine-Wheatley will host Barton Friday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Hughes Lady Blue Devils used overtime to hold off Parkin's Lady Tigers Tuesday night in a key 3AA South Conference game.
Four Hughes players finished in double figures -- led by LaTisha James' 18 points -- in a 71-68 win over Parkin.
Shemiko Porter added 16 points while Victoria Doolittle finished with 14 and Marley Lemons added 12.
Parkin's Latoya Gibbons led all scorers with 28 points.
Hughes, which improves to 8-6 overall and 7-4 in the conference, led 16-14 after one period and 33-22 at the half.
Parkin battled back in the second half, outscoring Hughes 23-to-14 in the fourth period to force a 61-61 tie at the end of regulation.
The Lady Blue Devils will play unbeaten Turrell Friday night in the final regular season game.
The Lady Rockets are ranked eighth in the Associated Press state-wide poll and third in the combined AAA-AA-A standings.
Turrell is 23-0 and 11-0 in the conference.
The 3AA South junior high district tournament will begin Tuesday, Feb. 11, at Earle.
Tuesday night, the Hughes junior girls lost to Parkin 32-24.
Yakita Johnson had 11 points for Hughes and Joyce Tucker had six.
Niki Collins led Parkin with 17 points.
The Forrest City Mustang baseball team will open the 2003 season on Feb. 20, at Marion and the P-W Patriots will open their season Feb. 24, at McCrory.
Reggie Murphy will coach Forrest City while Dan Cockrell will coach P-W.
Forrest City will begin it's fast-pitch softball season on March 6, while the P-W Lady Patriots will start March 10 when they host DeValls Bluff.
Amber Main will coach the Lady Mustangs and Lanny Allen will coach P-W.
* PREP BASKETBALL
Tuesday's Scores
Senior Boys
Bay 91, Marmaduke 71
BIC 75, Rector 53
Earle 51, Cross County 44
Hughes 90, Parkin 54
Jonesboro 54, Blytheville 42
Mountain Home 63, Cabot 48
Nettleton 40, Paragould 30
Palestine-Wheatley 68, Clarendon 49
Pocahontas 57, Brookland 50
EPC 77, Harrisburg 40
Gosnell 59, Valley View 39
Osceola 91, Manila 61
Turrell 59, Marked Tree 57
Searcy 67, Jacksonville 55
Trumann 71, Rivercrest 52
Tuckerman 45, Bradford 43
Turrell 59, Marked Tree 57
West Memphis 78, Forrest City 46
Senior Girls
Cabot 37, Mountain Home 32
Cushman 53, Williford 40
Earle 53, Cross County 23
Delaplaine 43, Weiner 40 OT
GCT 62, Marion 43
Hughes 71, Parkin 68 OT
ICC 59, Viola 56
Palestine-Wheatley 48, Clarendon 36
Turrell 57, Marked Tree 34
Jonesboro 57, Blytheville 37
Nettleton 51, Paragould 47
Salem 56, Mt. Pleasant 43
Searcy 60, Jacksonville 51
West Memphis 78, Forrest City 53
Junior Boys
MacArthur 44, Blytheville 37
Palestine-Wheatley 39, Clarendon 35
Junior Girls
Cross County 35, Earle 21
MacArthur 60, Blytheville 12
GCT 43, Marion 20
Parkin 32, Hughes 24