By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustangs rolled to their second highest finish ever Saturday at the Forrest City Grocery/Rumble on the Ridge tournament.
In an all-Arkansas third-place matchup, the Mustangs defeated Buffalo Island Central from Monette 81-53.
It was the best finish for a Forrest City team since the 2000 Rumble, when the Mustangs finished second. In eight Rumble tournaments, the Mustangs have had one second-place finish, one third-place finish, two fourth place finishes, two fifth-place finishes, one sixth place finish and one eighth place finish.
Senior Sherman Allen led the Mustangs with 21 points as Forrest City led 28-26 at the half and then pulled away in the second half.
"We definitely shifted into another gear in the second half," said Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton. "They were rolling."
BIC played the game without leading scorer and Arkansas State University signee Brandon Ballard, who was on the bench nursing an ankle injury suffered in Friday's semifinal loss to Bolivar, Tenn.
Junior guard Brooks Taylor picked up the scoring slack for BIC with 31 points but it wasn't enough to overcome Forrest City. No other BIC player had more than four points.
Mustang senior forward Chris Williams had 18 points for the Mustangs and ignited the Mustang Arena crowd with a fourth-period run scoring eight straight points in the fourth period on two dunks two layups and one free throw, taking the Mustangs from 58-42 lead to a 67-42 cushion with 4:44 to play.
BIC had no answer for Williams and never got any closer than 23 points during the final two minutes.
Sophomore Marcus Britt finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Kelson Stewart came off the bench to score eight points for the Mustangs while Lacody Braddock added six points.
Britt and Williams were both named to the All Tournament Second team. Williams averaged just over 16 points for the three games while Britt averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds through three games.
Forrest City trailed 15-8 after the first period but outscored BIC 20-to-11 in the second period to lead 28-26 at the half. Forrest City shot 70 percent from the floor in the second half, outscoring BIC 53-to-27.
The Mustangs hit 33 of their 56 shots from the floor and were 12 of 16 from the free throw line.
The Mustangs defeated Lanier, Miss. 79-70 in Thursday's opening round game but fell to Poplar Bluff, Mo. 73-60 in Friday's semifinal matchup in which All-American Tyler Hansbrough had 41 points and 16 rebounds for Poplar Bluff.
In the fifth-place game Saturday, it was the Lanier Bulldogs taking home the trophy by defeating Reserve Christian, La. 85-52.
All-American Monta Ellis, who has signed with Mississippi State, finished with 49 points and seven rebounds. Through three games, Ellis averaged 46.6 points a game and was named the Times-Herald Outstanding Player.
Ellis drilled eight, three pointers in the game to become the Rumble on the Ridge record holder for most three pointers made during the three games. Ellis finished with 22, shattering the old record of 16 held by Nathan Watson of Fort Payne, Ala, set in 2000.
Ellis also broke the tournament's individual scoring record with 54 points in Friday's semifinal game. The old record of 44 points was set by Al Jefferson of Prentiss, Miss. in 2002.
Denham Springs, La., last year's runner up, finished seventh defeating Richwood, La. 64-58 in the seventh-place game, using 20 points from senior Tasmin Mitchell.
Denham finished 1-2 in the Rumble.
Richwood, making its first appearance at the tournament, finished 0-3.
RUMBLE ON THE RIDGE
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Tyler Hansbrough-P. Bluff, Mo.
Tasmin Mitchell-Denham Springs, La
Monta Ellis-Lanier, Miss.
Demond Carter-Reserve Christian, La.
Willie Kemp-Bolivar, Tenn.
ALL TOURNAMENT SECOND TEAM
Brooks Taylor-BIC
Marcus Britt-Forrest City
Chris Williams-Forrest City
Ben Hansbrough-P. Bluff, Mo
Wayne Chism-Bolivar
TOURNAMENT MVP
Tyler Hansbrough-Poplar Bluff
TIMES-HERALD OUTSTANDING PLAYER
Monta Ellis- Lanier, Miss.
JIMMY WILLIAMS MEMORIAL SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Bolivar, Tenn.
FORREST CITY -- The highly anticipated matchup between Poplar Bluff's Tyler Hansbrough and Bolivar's Wayne Chism fizzled out Saturday night,
Hansbrough, a 6-foot-9 senior forward from Poplar Bluff, Mo., has already signed with North Carolina and is regarded by the national recruiting services as the No. 1 senior in the country.
Chism is a 6-9 junior forward from Bolivar and is among the country's top 100 juniors.
The two went head-to-head Saturday in the finals of the eighth annual Forrest City Grocery/Rumble on the Ridge basketball tournament played at Mustang Arena.
The Hansbrough-Chism matchup brought out a full house that included Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes and former Arkansas Razorback and Olympic gold medalist Mike Conley.
Poplar Bluff, only the second Missouri team to play in the Rumble, became the first Missouri team to win it all, taking down Bolivar 65-60.
William Chrisman High School (Mo.) finished fourth at the 2001 Rumble tournament.
Hansbrough finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds against Bolivar Saturday, but it was Bolivar's Willie Kemp who stole the show. The junior point guard finished with 36 points and four steals in the loss.
"We wanted to come down here and win,'" Kemp said. "This was a hard game, it was physical and we really wanted to win."
Kemp was named to the all-tournament first team and Chism was named to the second team. Bolivar was also awarded the sportsmanship award.
"He really doesn't like to shoot that much," Bolivar coach Rick Rudesill said. "But everyone was in foul trouble and on the bench. So he felt like he had to. And he can take over a game."
The game looked like it was going to go Bolivar's way in the fourth quarter until a technical foul turned the game around.
Bolivar led 59-56 when Chism picked up his fifth foul and on his way off the court was hit with the technical. Hansbrough made all four free throws and then hit a layup on the inbounds play off a nice pass from Brad Chronister.
The six-point play put the Mules in front 62-59 with 2;23 to play in the game. Bolivar never recovered.
"Huge," Rudesill said of the call. "That swung the whole game. Wayne didn't keep his cool and he ... we can't do that."
Bolivar, only the second Tennessee team to reach the finals of the tournament, led 18-16 after one period but trailed 32-29 at the half after Poplar Bluff tied the game at 26-26 with 3:50 to play in the first half and then outscored Bolivar 6-to-3 to take the lead.
Polar Bluff was able to hang on to a 48-46 lead to start the fourth period but fell behind with 6:03 to play when Bolivar tied the game at 50 and then used a jumper by Kemp to take the lead.
Bolivar finished with a total of 15 personal fouls in the loss and Poplar Bluff hit 10 of 14 free throws.
Chronister finished with 12 points for Poplar Bluff.
Tyler Hansbrough finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Bolivar's Willie Kemp was named to the all-tournament first team and is the only player of the five on the team who hasn't committed to play college basketball.
Hansbrough is headed to North Carolina. Monta Ellis has signed with Mississippi State. Tasmin Mitchell is going to LSU.
Reserve Christian guard Demond Carter has committed to Baylor, but the junior can't sign until next season.
RUMBLE ON THE RIDGE
SATURDAY'S SCORES
Seventh-Place Game
Denham Springs, La. 64, Richwood, La. 58
Fifth-Place Game
Lanier, Miss. 85, Reserve Christian, La. 52
Third-Place Game
Forrest City 81, BIC 53
Championship Game
Poplar Bluff, Mo. 65,
Bolivar, Tenn. 60
RISON -- Four turnovers proved costly for the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots Friday against Rison in the Class AA quarterfinals.
Rison, Class AA's top-ranked team, trailed Palestine-Wheatley three times in the first half before regroupng to do what they have done all year, put up a lot of points.
Rison scored 28 consecutive points in the second half to take a 50-30 win over the Patriots, ending Palestine-Wheatley's season. It was the second consecutive time the Patriots have been eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Rison advances to face Junction City in one of two Class AA semifinal games set for Friday. Charleston and Jessieville will decide the other semifinal.
Trailing 18-15, Rison regained the lead on its opening possession of the second half and never trailed again.
Reggie Jones capped a nine-play, 73-yard Rison drive, scoring from a yard out. Wayne Wainwright's extra point made it 22-18 with 7:23 left in the third quarter.
Rison regained possession at its 40 four plays later and used just six plays to tack on another score, this time a one-yard run by Aaron Terry. Wainwright added the extra point to 29-18 with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter.
Palestine-Wheatley pulled within 43-24 on a 17-yard scoring pass from Fred Leak to Brad Barton, but Rison answered with a 25-yard touchdown run with 1:38 left to make it 50-24 before Fred Leak scored Palestine-Wheatley's final touchdown.
Palestine-Wheatley, ranked No. 5 in Class AA, scored on it's opening possession. Rashun Barnes ran 57 yards to set up Fred Leak's 11-yard touchdown run. Elijah Duncan's extra point was blocked, leaving the Patriots ahead 6-0 with 10:27 left in the opening quarter.
The Patriots recovered a Rison fumble at the Wildcats' 35 on the ensuing kickoff, but turned the ball over on an interception. P-W held Rison on downs and then moved to the Wildcats' 20 before another interception, which was returned 94 yards for the touchdown, stopped the Patriots and gave Rison the 7-6 lead with just over a minute to play in the first period.
*CHARLESTON -- They're back.
Charleston, in the state playoffs for a 17th consecutive season, earned a return trip to the Class AA semifinals with a 28-0 win over the Hughes Blue Devils Friday night at Alumni Field.
The Tigers (11-0-1) will travel to Jessieville next Friday.
It was the third straight shutout for the Tigers and the 10th in 12 games.
The Blue Devils (10-3) had just 123 yards of total offense -- most of which came in the second half.
Junior Marcus Washington led the Blue Devils' deception-based single wing offense with 15 carries for 103 yards -- he had only 18 yards in the first half.
"I know we've had a lot of shutouts, but if you'd told me we were going to shut out this team, I would've called you a liar," Charleston coach Stephen Wood.
"The things they do, it takes you a quarter to get used to. They're so fast..
We gave them a job to do, we worked it all week and they did their job."
In a familiar scene, senior Drew Hill did most of the damage for the Tigers..
Hill ran 13 times for 129 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 84
yards -- both for touchdowns.
Hill got the hometown crowd in a frenzy on the game's first play. The senior
took the handoff, ran left, stopped, shook a tackler, cut back across the
field and ran 80 yards for a touchdown.
"We had him and turned him loose. That's basically what happened," Hughes
coach James Wright said. "He's got a lot of speed. They've got a great
ballclub."
Hill's second touchdown was almost as quick. He caught a pass from
quarterback Matt Stewart in the left flat, turned and ran 53 yards to cap a
two-play drive with nine seconds left in the half.
"The last three games we've scored super early in the game, and that just
sets the tone every single game," Wood said. "If we don't do that, all of
these games could've been totally different."
Stewart, who completed all but one of his four passes in the first half,
topped the Tigers' second scoring march with a 1-yard touchdown run with
9:31 left in the half. Kicker Eduardo Carmona booted the third of his four
extra points to make it 21-0 at halftime.
Hill's last touchdown came on another big play. He pulled in a pass from
Stewart and ran 31 yards for a touchdown with 8:46 left in the game.
Hughes marched into Tigers territory three times in the second half but came
up empty-handed each time.
"They just seemed to come up with the big plays," Wright said. "They were
just bigger than we were, and they were overwhelming us."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
TURRELL -- The Forrest City Junior Mustangs rallied from five points down with less than a minute to play, and pulled out a 52-50 win over the Osceola Junior Seminoles Saturday at the Turrell Invitational Tournament.
The Junior Mustangs led 18-10 after the first period, but sloppy ball-handling and poor rebounding, according to Forrest City Coach Chris Houser, allowed the Seminoles to take a 25-24 lead at the half.
Forrest City's sluggish play in the third period helped Osceola increase their lead to as many as eight points which eventually led to a 42-36 Osceola lead at the end of the third quarter.
Forrest City trailed by eight, 48-40, with less than three minutes to play in the game and went to their full court press defense, which force some turnovers.
That move ignited a 10-to-2 run by the Junior Mustangs which forced a 50-50 tie.
The run was capped by back-to-back baskets by Cameron Moore off Seminole turnovers, the second of which was a three-point play to tie the game at 50 with 22 seconds to play.
Another defensive stand by the Junior Mustangs gave Forrest City a chance for the win with 15 seconds left and the game tied.
Holding for the final shot, shooting guard Jesse Mitchell penetrated and pulled up from the foul line to knock down the go-ahead basket with 2.9 seconds to play.
A last second three-pointer by the Junior Seminoles was no good, and the Mustangs escaped with a 52-50 victory.
"It was really a true statement of the heart and the will to win by these young guys to be able to come back late in the game the way they did," Houser said. "There's not many times that you can play as poorly as we did, and still get the victory. Jesse, Cam, and our defensive intensity really stepped it up in the final minutes".
Mitchell finished with 21 points, including 9-0f-11 free throws.
Cameron Moore followed with 15 points.
Mitchell and Moore combined to score the final 12 points of the game in the comeback.
Teraye Lee added five points, and grabbed three rebounds, and Henry Henderson had three points and five rebounds.
The Junior Mustangs will play Tuesday at 4 p.m., in the second round of the Turrell Tournament against Marion, Houser's former team.
*The Forrest City Junior Lady Mustangs advanced to the second round of the Turrell Invitational Tournament Saturday with a 52-19 win over Earle.
Cassandra Jackson led the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Leterica Lucas added 16 points and four steals while Kristen Rucker handed out seven assists.
The Junior Lady Mustangs will return to tournament play Wednesday at 4 p.m., when they face either Marion or West Memphis East.
The first home appearance for the Forrest City junior high basketball teams will be on Tuesday, dec. 7, when they host Marianna.
* The Hughes junior and senior girls and the senior boys will open their basketball season Tuesday when they host Marvell at Blue Devil Gym.
*The Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs will host Little Rock Central, Friday, Dec. 3, at Mustang Arena.
It will be the return match between the senior boys' teams.