HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL STATE TOURNAMENTS

Heading to Hot Springs

Mustangs saddle up for 5A final

Forrest City’s 6-10 senior center Trey Thompson, an Arkansas signee, finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in the Mustangs’ 65-51 victory over Pulaski Academy on Tuesday afternoon in the semifinals of the Class 5A boys basketball state tournament in Alma.
Forrest City’s 6-10 senior center Trey Thompson, an Arkansas signee, finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in the Mustangs’ 65-51 victory over Pulaski Academy on Tuesday afternoon in the semifinals of the Class 5A boys basketball state tournament in Alma.

ALMA - Forrest City had to play a lengthy stretch without its best player Tuesday, but the Mustangs’ bench more than made up for it to earn a spot in the Class 5A state championship game.

Sophomore guard Robert Glasper scored a team-high 19 points and the bench contributed 24 more as Forrest City defeated Pulaski Academy 65-51 in the semifinals at Charles B. Dyer Arena. Forrest City will play defending state champion Jacksonville for the title.

The Mustangs needed every bit of it with senior forward Trey Thompson, a University of Arkansas signee, on the bench for much of the game after taking a couple of spills.

“Our bench was tremendous,” Forrest City Coach Dwight Lofton said. “We had a major stretch when we didn’t know if Trey had a concussion or not. We put our other guys in there and kept rolling.”

Senior forward Jayshun Jordan stepped up in Thompson’s absence, making 5 of 8 shots and scoring 13 points in just 14 minutes. Senior guard Treveontae Coulter also came off the bench and scored seven points.

Thompson finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Dwain Whitfield also added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Forrest City.

“He just fell down and hit his head and took another fall,” Lofton said of Thompson. “He will be OK for the championship game. He’ll be just fine for us heading forward.”

Pulaski Academy trailed 11-9 after the first quarter and cut the lead to 22-17 with a basket by Lawson Korita at the halftime buzzer.

Forrest City’s balanced attack proved to be too much in the second half. The Mustangs (23-4) used an 11-5 run coming out of halftime and a 9-4 run to close out the third quarter to build a 42-34 lead.

Forrest City expanded out the lead to 49-38 with 5:46 left in the fourth quarter on a three-point basket by Glasper. Glasper finished with 11 points in the final quarter.

“The guys kept telling me they believed,” Lofton said. “Just look at the outcome now. We’ve got one more go.”

Korita and Marcus Wallace kept Pulaski Academy (22-6) in the game after halftime as they combined to score 34 of the team’s 37 second-half points. Korita finished with a game-high 24 points while Wallace added 15.

“It was so important for us to convert,” Lofton said. “Any time you have shooters like that who can run two or three off in a row, you have to keep scoring. We did a good job of putting points on the board.”

Forrest City made 15 of 23 from the field in the second half to help close out the game.

“They did such a good job on the front end defensively,” Lofton said. “As the game went on, we were able to go inside. Our guards allowed the inside to open up for us.”

JACKSONVILLE 52, HARRISON 38

Devin Campbell scored a game-high15 points and Tedrick Wolfe added 12 points and 7 rebounds as Jacksonville (26-4) defeated Harrison (18-9) and advanced to the state title game for the second consecutive season.

“That’s the goal of every basketball team in the world,” Jacksonville Coach Victor Joyner said. “We’ve just been blessed to get there two years in a row.”

Harrison was limited to four points in the first quarter, which allowed Jacksonville to take a 25-16 lead into halftime. Jacksonville then allowed just five points in the final quarter to secure the victory.

Silas Huskey finished with 13 points and Jordan Grant added 10 for Harrison.

State finals matchups Thursday-Saturday Summit Arena, Hot Springs

BOYS

CLASS 7A (8:45 P.M. THURSDAY) North Little Rock vs. Springdale CLASS 6A Jonesboro vs. LR Parkview CLASS 5A Forrest City vs. Jacksonville

CLASS 4A (5:15 P.M. THURSDAY) Brookland vs. Lonoke CLASS 3A Charleston vs. Episcopal Collegiate CLASS 2A Cedar Ridge vs. Clarendon CLASS 1A Concord vs. Wonderview

GIRLS

CLASS 7A (7 P.M. THURSDAY) Conway vs. Fort Smith Northside CLASS 6A Greenwood vs. LR Parkview CLASS 5A Huntsville vs. Paragould

CLASS 4A (3 P.M. THURSDAY) Central Arkansas Christian vs. Malvern CLASS 3A eStem vs. Harding Academy CLASS 2A Mountainburg vs. Spring Hill CLASS 1A Nemo Vista vs. Wonderview

Sports, Pages 19 on 03/12/2014

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