Monday, March 3, 2003

Blue Devils earn state bid

Jermaine Davis pours in 40 points to lead Hughes into regional finals, Class AA state tournament berth

By FRED CONLEY

T-H Sports Editor

MARMADUKE -- Hughes senior guard Jermaine Davis out-dueled Bay sophomore Derek McMasters Saturday night to help get the Blue Devils back to the Class AA state tournament.

Davis hit nine, three-pointers and finished with 40 points as Hughes held off Bay's second-half rally to post an 82-63 semifinal win over the Yellowjackets at the Region 4 Tournament being played at Marmaduke.

McMasters finished with 38 points and scored Bay's first 16 points of the game.

Marmaduke, the host team, downed BIC 68-60 in the other boys' semifinal game to set up today's championship game against Hughes, scheduled to tip at 2:30 p.m.

By reaching the regional title game, both Hughes and Marmaduke qualified for the Class AA state tournament, which begins Tuesday at Newark.

Today's championship game will decide which team will enter the state tournament as the No. 1 seed from Region 4 and which team will be the No. 2 seed from Region 4.

A Hughes win over Marmaduke will put them into first-round state tournament action Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. A loss to Marmaduke puts the Blue devils in a first-round state tournament game Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

Hughes (18-5) and the top-seed from the 3AA South district tournament and Marmaduke, the No. 3 seeded team from the 3AA North district, will be matched up against the top two teams from Region 1 -- Charleston and Lavaca.

The win over Bay Saturday was the 11th consecutive victory for the Blue Devils, since losing to Turrell on Jan. 15.

Davis struck for five threes in the first half and as Hughes led 17-10 after the first period and then used a 24-to-11 run in the second period to take a commanding 46-23 halftime lead over Bay and appeared ready to run away with the game using a 9-0 run and a 12-0 burst.

Davis owned 26 of Hughes' 46 first-half points.

Bay (21-13) riding the hot hand of McMasters and Ryan Prince, battled back from the 23-point halftime deficit to cut the lead to 60-47 to start the fourth period, despite two more threes from Davis.

Bay outscored Hughes 24-to-14 in the third period.

A 6-0 scoring spurt early in the fourth by Bay, left Hughes hanging on to just a six-point lead, 60-54 wafter two free throws by Robby Bolinger, and back-to-back steals and layups by McMasters and Brett Hogan.

Davis answered by swishing an off-balance, hanging 'three,' his eighth of the game, from the right corner. The senior floor leader then rebounded on one end and drove the lane, hanging and feeding Ayo Ogunsakin for the layup to make it 65-54.

Malcolm Curne stickback of a Davis miss made it a 10-point game at 67-57 before Davis drilled his ninth three for a 70-57 cushion.

Going to the spread offense, Hughes worked Courtley London loose for an easy backdoor layup for a 72-57 lead and then used hit eight of 11 free throws down the stretch to nail down the win.

"We didn't change any of our shots in the second half. We took the same shots, they just weren't falling for us."Hughes' Coach Brad Brannen said.

Thursday, in a first-round game against Maynard, Hughes trailed by 15 at the half and 10 to start the fourth period, but rallied to take a 93-91 win to set up Saturday's semifinal game.

Bay turned back Marked Tree 62-42 Friday to get to Saturday's semifinal.

London and sophomore David Dowden each finished with 10 points for Hughes while Ogunsakin and Curne had nine points each.

A year ago, the Blue Devils entered the Class AAA state tournament as the No. 3 seed and defeated Prescott 73-52 in the opening round before losing to EPC 76-72, finishing the season at 24-10.

Hughes, the 2001 Class AAA state champions, are making their fifth consecutive state tournament appearance.

"We seem to be on a roll," said Brannen, 42-15 overall since taking over the Blue Devils. "We just have to find a way to keep this thing going for a few more days."

Turrell and Marmaduke will play for the girls' regional title today at 1 p.m.

Wildcats end Patriots' bid for AA state

By FRED CONLEY

T-H Sports Editor

SEARCY -- For the third straight year, the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots failed to get past the regional tournament.

Facing the host team, the Harding Academy Wildcats at the Class AA Region 6 Tournament Friday night at Harding in Searcy, the Patriots saw their season end on the heels of a 74-68 loss to the Wildcats.

Bradley Watkins led Harding Academy (14-5) with 21 points in the victory over the Patriots.

Palestine-Wheatley, which opened the season with a 10-game winning streak, was hoping to qualify for the upcoming stste tournament.

The celebration was short-lived for Harding as fourth-seeded Elaine took a 72-67 win Saturday in semifinal action.

Vince Jones led P-W with 25 points while DeVille Pickett added 20.

Elaine will face Altheimer in today's championship game, an all 3AA-South conference matchup, at 2:30 p.m., at Harding Academy.

Both Elaine and Altheimer advance to the Class AA state tournament, scheduled to start Tuesday at Newark.

PREP BASKETBALL

PREP BASKETBALL

Schedules & Scores

Back to 2003 Archives Index