By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City's 62-60 win over Blytheville Tuesday night at Mustang Arena will be remembered as an upset win.
But it probably shouldn't be.
Blytheville came into the game as one of two teams unbeaten in AAAAA-East conference play at 3-0. The other was West Memphis.
Blytheville had the best overall record of the East boys' teams as well.
Not anymore.
The Mustangs continued their home floor dominance over Blytheville, sending the Chickasaws home with their first conference loss and knocking them out of a first place tie with the Blue Devils.
The Mustangs, on their home court and in their eighth season under coach Dwight Lofton, are now 6-2 against Blytheville.
Blytheville led 60-58 with 14 seconds left, before Forrest City's Taurus Moore sank two free throws to tie the game at 60-60.
Moments later, Blytheville''s Doug Echols missed the front end of 1-and-1 with .6 seconds left.
Forrest City Lorenzo Spearmon hauled in the rebound and passed ahead to Maurice Lowe who found John Foreman all alone under the basket for a layup at the buzzer.
Foreman, who played only the last few seconds of the Searcy win, came off the Mustang bench in the second period and finished with 19 points.
"I was playing a hunch," Lofton said. "I went to Foreman and he went in and hit his first shot. Then, he hit his second shot and then his third, which was a three. So I'm thinking, 'maybe I better keep this kid on the floor.'"
Foreman finished the second period with seven points and he started the second half -- hitting 10 points in the third period.
At halftime, Forrest City held a slim 21-20 edge. Chris Williams' long three at the buzzer gave the Mustangs a 44-40 edge to start the fourth period.
The Mustangs improve to 10-6 overall -- assuring the Mustangs a 10-plus win season for the fifth time in eight years. The Mustangs are 2-2 and move into third place in the conference.
Spearmon, a senior forward also had 19 points while Williams finished with nine.
Forrest City out-rebounded Blytheville 33-to-19 in the game.
Blytheville slips to 13-3 overall and 3-1, leaving them in a tie for second place in the conference with Jacksonville.
David Williams had 19 points, while John Fowler finished with 18 to lead Blytheville.
It was the second straight conference win for the Mustangs, who picked up their first league win Friday at Searcy after starting 0-2 in the East.
Forrest City will host Mountain Home Friday in another four-game set at Mustang Arena.
In other East games Tuesday, Jacksonville held off Cabot 65-60 and Chris Brown hit two free throws with 1.7 seconds remaining to lift the Searcy Lions to a 58-57 win over the Mountain Home Bombers.
AAAAA-EAST CONFERENCE
Senior Boys
Overall Conf
West Memphis 13-2 4-0
Blytheville 13-3 3-1
Jacksonville 7-9 3-1
Forrest City 10-6 2-2
Cabot 2-9 1-3
Mountain Home 5-12 1-3
Jonesboro 10-6 1-3
Searcy 9-9 1-3
Tuesday's Scores
Forrest City 62, Blytheville 60
Searcy 58, Mountain Home 57
West Memphis 66, Jonesboro 53
Jacksdonville 65, Cabot 60
Senior Girls
Overall Conf
Jonesboro 12-5 4-0
West Memphis 11-8 3-1
Cabot 13-2 3-1
Searcy 7-10 2-2
Mountain Home 9-6 2-2
Blytheville 8-8 1-3
Forrest City 5-12 1-3
Jacksonville 2-14 0-4
Tuesday's Scores
Forrest City 62, Blytheville 52
Mountain Home 62, Searcy 42
Jonesboro 56, West Mermphis 45
Cabot 67, Jacksonville 37
Friday, January 23
Mtn. Home at Forrest City
Cabot at Blytheville
Jacksonville at West Memphis
Jonesboro at Searcy
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Led by Viveca Kimble, Sequoria Grady and Trina Wynne, the Forrest City Lady Mustangs broke out of what has almost become a season-long scoring slump to put down Blytheville 62-52 for their first AAAAA-East Conference win of the year.
Tuesday's win was only the fourth time this season the Lady Mustangs have put 60 or more points on the scoreboard.
The win helps the Forrest City girls improve to 5-12 and 1-3 in the conference.
Blytheville led 10-9 after the first period but Forrest City regrouped to take a 25-22 lead at the half and stretched that advantage to 50-36 to start the fourth period.
Kimble finished with 19 points and had five rebounds in just three periods of playing time, while Grady had a "double-double" with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The junior blocked two shots in he game. Wynne added 16 points and had two rebounds while Shari Rogers handed out 11 assists and grabbed 10 rebounds to record her own version of a "double-double."
Teela Lee added three points and grabbed three rebounds while Crystal Seawood finished with two points before fouling out with four minutes to play.
"It was a good game to watch and a good win for us," said Forrest City Coach Sue Jayroe. "The girls, as they have all season, played hard and this time they were able to finish out with the victory."
The Lady Mustangs shot only 33 percent from the free throw line hitting three of their nine chances while Blytheville went to the foul line 21 times and sank 10 free throws.
"That's 10 points we just gave them, and that's 10 points too many," Jayroe said. "We have to cut down on our fouling."
The Lady Mustangs also won the girls' junior varsity game 26-23.
LaShundra Rogers, in one period of playing time, scored seven points and had three steals.
Jasmina Morton finished with six points and 10 rebounds while Deandrea Washington had four points and Shardavia Davis added three points. Tasha Mills and Anita McDonald chipped in with two points apiece.
Forrest City led 10-7 after the first period but trailed 16-12 at the half.
The two teams ended the third period tied at 18-18.
Forrest City improves to 2-4 in junior varsity action.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Shooting layups will more than likely be the focus of practice the next few days for the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots.
After a tough loss to Altheimer on Friday, the Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots were able to rebound Tuesday against Elaine, despite missing as many as 10 point-blank layups in the game.
"We've been working on our free throws in practice, maybe we should concentrate more on our layups," said P-W Coach Lanny Allen.
Tonisha Wynne scored 12 points and the Lady Patriots escaped several last-second shots by Elaine to take a 45-44 conference win.
Bernice Sparkman helped out with 11 points before fouling out, and Fallon Parker added 10 points. Cara Lansford finished with eight and Whitney Smith added four.
The Lady Patriots, who improve to 3-2 in the 6AA, led 15-12 after one period but Elaine used a 10-to-2 second period to lead 22-17 at the half.
Elaine held the lead through the third period and led 35-30 to start the final period.
The Lady Patriots stayed close with help from Wynne and Parker.
After Elaine took a 44-36 lead on a three pointer with 3:12 to play in the game, the Lady Pats scored the next six points to get within two at 44-42 with 1:26 left on the clock.
After both teams missed 'one-and 'one' front ends, Wynne's long three with 29 seconds left in the game put the Lady Patriots in front 45-44.
Elaine missed their last point blank shots at the buzzer.
Shekelia Duncan and Crystal Morant each finished with 20 points to lead Elaine, which falls to 1-5 in the 6AA Conference.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Palestine-Wheatley let one slip away Tuesday night.
The Elaine Panthers scored 29 points in the fourth period Tuesday night which was just enough to slip past the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots 78-75 in a key 6AA Conference game played at Patriot Gym.
The Patriots led 75-74 with 36 seconds left in the game but couldn't stop the surging Panthers, who improve to 5-1 in the conference. The league loss was the second straight for the Patriots, who fall to 3-2 in the 6AA.
Andrew Gibson and Johnathon Thomas each poured in 25 points to lead the Panthers. Gibson hit four threes in the decisive fourth period, including three of Elaine's four straight three pointers that helped the Panthers battle back from being down 65-53 to getting within four points at 69-65 with 3:35 to play.
Elaine cut Palestine-Wheatley's lead to 69-67 after a Patriot turnover with three minutes to play.
P-W's Jesse Adams, a cousin of former Patriot standout DeMike Jones, broke inside for an easy layup to get the Patriot lead back to 71-67. Adams would go on to finish with 18 points.
Elaine's Lenner Rogers converted a baseline layup to get the Panthers back within two at 71-69 but Fred Leak's double-pump floater made it 73-69. Thomas' basket with 1:59 left the Patriots nursing a 73-71 lead and forced Palestine-Wheatley Coach Terry Clardy into calling a time out.
Following the break, Osas Oyara's baseline basket pushed the Patriot lead back to 75-71 but Gibson buried a long three from deep in the corner to make it a one-point game at 75-74.
The Patriots suffered a key turnover with 36 seconds to play when they lost the possession on a jump ball with the arrow pointing to Elaine.
Two Elaine free throws with 28 seconds left in the game put the Panthers up by one at 76-75 and Gibson's layup, after a Patriot turnover, made the final.
Vince Jones, Palestine-Wheatley's big senior center, led the Patriots with 20 points, before fouling out with five minutes to play in the game.
Tony Huntley added 14 points for the Patriots while Jestin Tomblin had nine points.
Rogers added 13 points for Elaine while Derrell Daniels had six.
The Patriots used an 11-0 run in the first period to break a 10-10 tie and a close game on their way to a 21-12 lead to open the second period.
The Patriots maintained a 10-point lead for most of the second stanza before settling for a 39-31 lead at the half.
P-W opened the third period with Jones and Tomblin both being whistled for their fourth personal fouls just seconds apart while Elaine was in just as much foul trouble after officials had called 30 fouls in the first half.
The Panthers stayed close and trailed 52-49 to start the fourth period.
By the time the final eight minutes began to roll off the clock, Palestine-Wheatley had three players on the floor with four fouls each and one with three fouls while Elaine had two players on the floor with four fouls each.
The Patriots led by as many as 10 points -- 63-53 -- with six minutes to play before Elaine began to climb back into the game.
Palestine-Wheatley will step out of conference play Friday for a road trip to Arkansas Baptist in Little Rock.
Tuesday night Arkansas Baptist defeated Little Rock Lutheran in a 5AA-North game.
*Phil Hicks scored 21 points to help lead the Palestine-Wheatley Junior Patriots past Elaine 61-54 Tuesday night.
Raphael Williams helped out with 15 points while Taylor Clark had 13.
The Junior Patriots led 17-14 after the first period but fell behind 32-25 at the half. Palestine-Wheatley regained the lead at 44-41 to start the fourth period.
Eleven of Hicks' 21 points came in the third period.
Palestine-Wheatley High School will host a seventh-grade boys and girls basketball jamboree on Saturday, Jan. 24.
The four-team, round-robin 20-minute quarter format will include Palestine-Wheatley, Forrest City, Marianna and Brinkley teams.
Admission to the jamboree will be $1 per person. The games will sart at 8 a.m.