By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Jacksonville wanted the conference win over Forrest City Tuesday night at Mustang Arena.
Forrest City wanted it more. Even though it took the Mustangs a few more minutes than regularly scheduled.
The Mustangs got season-high scoring efforts from three of their starting five and solid help from the bench to hand Jacksonville a 83-74 overtime loss.
In the senior girls' game, the Forrest City Lady Mustangs used 21 points from Katrina Floyd and 20 by Caronica Randle to hand Jacksonville a 74-50 conference loss.
The conference sweep puts both the Mustangs and Lady Mustangs right back in the hunt for a postseason berth in the Class AAAAA State Tournament.
"We're back in it at this point and now it's up to us to finish out," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "This win tonight ranks up there in the top five since I've been here."
It was the fourth overtime game the Mustangs and Red Devils have played since Lofton took over as head coach of Forrest City to start the 1996-97 season.
Each team has won twice in overtime and each team has won one overtime game on the other's home court.
To say the Mustangs needed a win Tuesday would be a vast understatement. Headed into the AAAAA-East Conference battle, the Mustangs had won only once in seven tries at Mustang Arena this season. They had lost the last four meetings against the Red Devils.
Senior guard Kerry Evans led a balanced Forrest City scoring attack with a season-high 25 points, including seven points in the overtime period.
Lorenzo Spearmon poured in a season-high 22 points, five of that in overtime while sophomore Nick Grady had his best day ever as a Mustang, finishing with 19 points, including three, three-pointers.
But it was Roy Lee Parker who had the biggest basket of the game on his way to eight points.
Parker hauled in a long pass from Spearmon near midcourt with 1.9 seconds to play in regulation, fumbled the ball under the goal and still made the point blank layup to tie the game at 71-all, sending the game into overtime.
Jacksonville had taken a 71-69 lead on two free throws by Bretrick Miles after Grady fouled out. The Mustangs were forced to inbound from underneath the Jacksonville goal.
The Mustangs grabbed a quick 73-71 lead in overtime on a baseline lay by Evans and then broke a 74-74 tie with two minutes to play when Evans drove the lane for another scoop layin. Spearmon hit two free throws and Evans broke free for the slam and foul with 32 seconds left. Spearmon completed the 12-to-3 overtime period with a slam at the buzzer. Jacksonville did not score during the final two minutes of the game.
The Mustangs improve to 6-10 overall and 3-3 in the conference, leaving them in a four-way tie for third with Blytheville, Jonesboro and Searcy.
The Red Devils led 14-12 after one period and 33-28 at the half.
Early in the third, the Mustangs pout together an 8-to-2 run, highlighted by Spearmon's slam with 3:59 to play putting Forrest City in the lead at 41-37.
The Mustangs held a 52-44 lead to start the final frame after outscoring Jacksonville 24-to-11 in the third.
Jacksonville cut Forrest City's 54-44 lead down to 54-53 with a 9-0 run chewing up less than a minute on the clock. After forcing a 55-55 tie with five minutes left, Jacksonville broke in front 62-57 using a 6-0 run. Forrest City outscored Jacksonville 7-to-5 during the final two minutes to tie the game at 69-69.
Jacksonville beat the Mustangs 83-81 in overtime during the 1997-98 season while Forrest City returned the favor, winning 74-68 in OT in the 1999-2000 season. Jacksonville won in OT 54-52 two years ago. The first three overtime games were decided by a total of 10 points.
DeShawn Garry led Jacksonville with 18 points while Mike Smith added 16 and Terry Peterson finished with 14. Miles and Richard Johnson had eight points each.
Forrest City will host Jonesboro Friday night.
*In what looked like a run-away early, the Forrest City Lady Mustangs needed a strong second half to put away the Lady Red Devils. Forrest City improves to 3-3 in conference and 9-10 overall while Jacksonville remains winless in the East.
The Lady Mustangs led 17-5 after one period after scoring the game's first seven points.
Forrest City's lead at half was 32-20 despite the fact that Jacksonville hit only 2-of-17 free throws in the first half. Kanetra Pendleton scored nine of Forrest City's 15 second-period points.
The Lady Mustangs opened the second half strong, putting together a 12-to-2 run to push their lead to 44-22.
The run was aided by five Jacksonville turnovers and just as many missed shots.
From there, Forrest City went on to hold a 57-36 lead to start the fourth period.
It was the first-ever win over Jacksonville by a Sue Jayroe-coached Lady Mustang team.
"The 24-point win was big for us, especially with Jonesboro coming in Friday," Jayroe said. "But I'm not sure 24 points is a wide enough margin to get past Jonesboro."
Beisdes Randle's 20 points, the senior forward grabbed 10 rebounds. Pendleton added 12 points and had five assists in the game while Sequoria Grady, who got into early foul trouble, finished with 10 points, five assists, nine rebounds and only one blocked shot. Shari Rogers had six points.
Amika Lane led Jacksonville with 18 points while Justin Rial added nine and Becky Townsend and Jessica Beaver each finished with eight points.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
GILLETT -- And the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots remain unblemished in the 6AA Conference.
Led by Libby Martin's 14 points Tuesday night, the Lady Patriots out-lasted Gillett 40-36 in league play.
Palestine-Wheatley improves to 10-7 and 7-0 for the year.
"The girls played hard, but at times we didn't play very smart," said P-W Coach Lanny Allen. "We got into some foul trouble which hurt us, but the good news is that we hit 10-of-17 free throws which was probably the difference."
Nikita Love finished with 11 points while Brittney Flenory had nine and LaRhonda Bender added six.
Both teams were locked in a 31-31 tie early in the fourth before P-W regained the lead.
The Lady Patriots have won seven of their last eight games.
*In senior boys' action Tuesday, the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots got back on the winning track in conference with a 59-34 win over Gillett Tuesday.
Palestine-Wheatley had four players in double figures as Quentin Mason led the way with 14 points while Vince Jones added 13. DeVille Pickett helped out with 12 and Brandon Roberts added 10.
"The last two games have been big wins for us," said P-W Coach Terry Clardy. "The back-to-back victories should help us down the stretch as we get ready for district."
*Phil Hicks led the Palestine-Wheatley Junior Patriots to a big win over the Gillett Junior Wolves Tuesday.
The Patriots will travel to Marvell Friday night.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
MEMPHIS -- It was experience vs youth Tuesday night as Hughes stepped out of conference play to take on Middle College High School in Memphis.
Middle College is in its first year of organized basketball.
Jermaine Davis led the Blue Devils to a 75-56 win by scoring 25 points. David Dowden added 17 and Malcolm Curne finished in double figures for the third straight game, with 16.
The Blue Devils, 11-5 overall, pushed the lead to 30 points and the two teams played the final five minutes of the game with a continuously running clock.
Turrell 48, Cross County 40
Adidus Cooper scored a game-high 16 points to pace Turrell in a 48-40 home win over Cross County Tuesday in senior boys' basketball.
Joe Gibson added 11 for Turrell (11-10, 7-1).
The Hughes Lady Blue Devils got 14 points from Victoria Doolittle and 10 points from Candace Smith Tuesday in a 69-29 romp over the Middle College senior girls.
Hughes led 42-19 at the half.
Hughes will get back into 3AA South conference play Friday when they travel to Earle.
The Blue Devils lead the league with an 8-1 conference record while the Lady Blue Devils are second at 6-3.
Turrell 51, Cross County 9
Shaunnatay Delaney led Turrell with 15 points as the No. 8 Lady Rockets remain undefeated with a 51-9 win over Cross County Tuesday.
Tiffany Nickols added nine points for Turrell, who plays at Crawforsville Friday.