By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY -- Forrest City avoided falling farther into the depths of the AAAAA-East Conference standings Friday night by holding off the Searcy Lions 58-54 at Searcy.
It was the first conference win in three tries for Forrest City and the first win over Searcy since the Lions moved into the East Conference last year.
Lorenzo Spearmon put up 20 points to lift the Mustangs to their first conference win after an 0-2 league start.
Forrest City improves to 9-6 overall for the year and 1-2 in the conference which leaves them in a four-way tie for fourth place. Searcy falls to 0-3 in the East.
It wasn't easy for the Mustangs, although it probably should have been.
Leading 29-20 at the half, the Mustangs increased their lead to as much as 13 points, 33-20, in the third quarter before the Lions mounted a late rally to cut the Mustang lead to 39-38 to start the fourth quarter.
The final eight minutes was a roller-coaster ride for both teams.
The Lions tied the game twice in the first three minutes at 39-39 and again at 41-41.
Chris Williams' three put the Mustangs back in front 44-41 but the Lions stayed close getting a turn-around jumper from Chris Brown with 5:25 to play.
Spearmon's inside layup made it 46-43 Forrest and Cameron Henderson's rebound and putback of a miss by Williams gave the Mustangs a 48-45 lead with 3:12 remaining.
Spearmon dropped in two free throws for a 50-45 edge with 2:40 to play and Henderson finished a 3-on-2 fast-break with a finger-tip lay-in for a 52-45 Mustang cushion.
A long three-pointer by Searcy's Brandon Lynch with 57 seconds showing got the Lions back within six at 54-48 and Taurus Moore's layup made it a 56-48 Mustangs cushion with 10 seconds to play. Cory Weir's three and a Searcy jumper at the buzzer made the final score.
Henderson added 14 points for Forrest City while Williams finished with 10 points and Moore added six.
Lynch led the Lions with 19 points, including three, threes while Kyle Wray added 15 points. Lewis finished with eight.
The Mustangs will host Blytheville Tuesday at Mustang Arena.
The Cougars are tied for the league lead with West Memphis.
Trina Wynne and Viveca Kimble each recorded "double-doubles" for the Lady Mustangs against Searcy Friday, but their efforts weren't enough to keep the Lady Lions from taking a hard-fought 65-57 conference win.
The loss leaves the Lady Mustangs at 4-12 for the year and 0-3 in the East standings.
The Lady Lions, 7-9 overall and 2-1 in the AAAAA-East, led 18-13 after the first quarter and 30-27 at the half after Forrest City mounted a comeback over the final five minutes of the second quarter.
The Lady Mustangs cut Searcy's lead to 22-21 with 3:23 to play in the second quarter but couldn't take the lead as Searcy's Meagan Celsor, drove the lane for a wide-open layup to put Searcy back in front 24-21.
Celsor and Kasey Bartee each hit free throws and a field goal at the buzzer to keep the Lady Lions in front at the half.
Searcy maintained a seven-to-eight point lead in the third period and went into the final quarter holding a 40-34 lead.
After Searcy pushed their lead to 45-34, Wynne nailed a three and Kimble drained a jumper to get Forrest City back within six points at 45-39.
A layup by Searcy's Laura Giezeman helped the Lady Lions regain a 10-point lead at 49-39 with six minutes to play.
Led by Shari Rogers, Forrest City tried to stay close over the final four minutes with help from Torrie Willis and Wynne, whose three with 2:44 to play got tho Lady Mustangs back within four points at 55-51.
Willis missed a long three and Wynne missed a layup as Searcy pushed the lead back to 59-51.
Wynne finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds while Kimble had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sequoria Grady had 10 rebounds and two blocked shots but only eight points. Rogers finished with four points.
Kristen Parker led Searcy with 18 points while Bartee had 16 and Giezeman added 12.
The Lady Mustangs will host Blytheville Tuesday at Mustang Arena.
The Searcy Lady Lions won the junior varsity game 40-18. Jasmina Morton led Forrest City with 12 rebounds, eight blocked shots and three points while Anita McDonald had five points and LaShundra Rogers finished with four points. The JV Lady Mustangs are 1-4 for the year.
MARKED TREE -- Brad Jones scored 29 points as Marked Tree defeated Hughes 73-64 at home Friday in 3AA-South boys basketball action.
Robert Tyree had 22 points, while Dunawary Barnes had 10 points.
The Hughes girls lost their game to the Lady Indians 41-34.
*At Jacksonville, David Williams scored 12 points to push Blytheville past Jacksonville 53-47 Friday in a key AAAAA-East matchup for both team.
Josh Echols had 11, whle John Fowler had 10. Jacksonville's Mike Smith led all scorers with 15.
*Aaron Ferguson scored 15 points as Greene County Tech defeated Wynne 39-29 Friday.
Blaine Russell scored 13 points for GCT, while Theo Gaines led Wynne with nine.
*Joe Gibson scored 13 points as Turrell stormed back in the fourth quarter to defeat Parkin 51-32 Friday in a 3AA-South boys game at Turrell.
Parkin led 32-30 after three quarters, but was scoreless in the fourth quarter.
*Adam Jackson scored 20 points and hit two late free throws to give Cross County a 65-64 come-from-behind victory over Crawfordsville Friday.
Patrick Jones scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth period as Cross County (9-9, 1-5) rallied from a 49-38 third-quarter deficit
Aaron Bowles added 15 points for Cross County while Keith Bowles chipped in with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
*At Altheimer, the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots lost their first 6AA Conference game, falling to the Red Devils 69-48 Friday night.
The Lady Patriots slipped to 2-2 in the 6AA Conference, losing to Altheimer 48-34.
There are no junior high or high school games scheduled to be played in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
A full schedule of high school prep games will be played Tuesday as Forrest City will host Blytheville at Mustang Arena, Palestine-Wheatley will host Elaine and Hughes will make its third straight road trip, when they take on Crawfordsville.
The Forrest City junior high basketball teams will return to the court Thursday (Jan. 22)when the host West Memphis East and Hughes will host West Memphis West.
Calvary Christian School will play at Central Baptist Tuesday night and will host Southwest Christian School Thursday.
On Friday, Forrest City will host Mountain Home while P-W will
play a nonconference game at Arkansas Baptist in Little Rock.