SEARCY — Senior guard Chase Anderson led hot shooting Jessieville with 24 points in a 60-45 victory over Manila in Tuesday’s opening round of the Class 3A boys state tournament at the Riverview High School Activity Center.
Jessieville (22-9) connected on 21 of 34 shots from the floor, including an 11-of-15 performance in the second half, as the No. 4 seed from Region 2 eliminated the leg weary Region 3 champions.
“The beauty of this team is when we’re shooting it well and [sophomore post player Johnny Jordan] is getting his shots underneath the basket, we can be very effective,” Jessieville Coach Eddie Lamb said. “If we take care of the basketball, we’re pretty good and we did that in the second half.”
Jordan finished with 16 points and six rebounds.Braden Davis added 14 points and handed out six assists in the second half.
Jessieville also hit its free throws, going 12 of 13 from the line, including 6 of 6 by both Anderson and Davis.
“Chase played his game tonight,” Lamb said. “I’ve been on Chase. I’ve been really pushing Chase. He played really well tonight, and I’m really proud of him.”
Manila (21-9) was coming off a hard-fought 65-60 victory over defending state champion Earle on Monday,but it was left struggling in the second half against Jessieville.
Manila senior guard BradyJones and junior forward Scott Eubanks each had 17 points, but Manila had only three other players score for a combined 11 points.
Jones also had three assists and hit a 35-footer at the end of the first quarter to give Manila an 11-10 lead.
Jessieville held a 24-22 halftime lead and took control in the third quarter by hitting 7 of 10 attempts from the floor. Jessieville wrapped the game up with its free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter.
HARDING ACADEMY 66, HOXIE 45
Harding Academy (25-6) defeated Hoxie (18-12) for its 18th consecutive victory behind a combined 50-point performance from seniors Locke Adair, Hunter Gentry and Will Francis.
Adair led the Wildcats with 18 points, Hunter had 17 and Francis added 15. Harding Academy scored the game’s first six points, never trailed, led 25-15 after one quarter and 43-28 at halftime.
Colton Watson’s 15 points paced Hoxie, while Jacob Defries added 14 and Noah Adamson scored 11.
CHARLESTON 67, CENTERPOINT 46
Charleston used a 24-point effort from Matthew Ward to earn a victory over the Centerpoint Knights in the opening round.
Charleston never trailed, leading 19-4 after one quarter and 25-19 at the half.
Hayden Newhart added 14 for Charleston (22-3).
Daniel Ramirez led Centerpoint with 13 points.
Sports, Pages 25 on 02/27/2013