JONESBORO -- Effort and cohesion were two things Wes Swift was looking for out of his Jonesboro Golden Hurricane on Thursday.
He got that and a little something extra in their season opener against fellow northeast Arkansas foe Manila.
Jonesboro crushed the Lions inside and didn't give them much on the perimeter either in strolling to a 71-37 victory in the first round of the Hurricane Classic in front of a huge crowd at Don Riggs Gymnasium.
Isaac Harrell scored 16 points and Devarious Montgomery had 12 points for Jonesboro (1-0), which showed very little rust in its first game.
"For our first one, I thought we played well," Swift explained. "I thought there was some things we needed to clean up. Matter of fact, when we went in at halftime, I asked the guys what was one of the things we needed to get better at, and every one of them said we were giving up too many of those elbow middle drives from the wing.
"In the second half, it wasn't totally clean, but it was a lot better. Overall, I thought the effort was really good from the start, though."
Going in, Swift fully believed his team would make mistakes in their initial outing, and they did -- just not many. They turned the ball over 11 times (four in the first half), but they also forced Manila (2-2) into 20 turnovers. The long-time coach was also hoping his players who just came over from football would play well coming off a season that didn't end until two weeks ago, and for the most part, they did.
Jesse Washington, fresh off a big year at wide receiver on the Jonesboro football team, scored 12 points and had four steals.
The one thing that stood out above everything else was the number the defending Class 5A champions did on the glass.
The Golden Hurricane outrebounded the Lions 42-17, with Harrell corralling nine and Montgomery collecting eight. Many of those boards resulted in second-chance opportunities that Jonesboro, more times than not, cashed in on.
Manila, which got a team-high 12 points from Jake Baltimore, led 5-2 with 5:07 to go in the first quarter after a three-pointer, but a stick-back from Montgomery on the other end began a quarter-closing 13-0 run from Jonesboro.
The Golden Hurricane didn't let up in the second quarter, where Harrell and Montgomery combined to score 15 points. It was Harrell's 15-footer that started an ending 10-2 rally that enabled Jonesboro to lead 37-16 at halftime.
Amarion Wilson went to work in the third quarter by scoring all seven of his points to help Jonesboro stretch its lead even more. His steal and runner near the end of the quarter that ensured a running clock would be in effect in the fourth.
"As the game went on, I thought we settled down," said Swift, who also got nine points off the bench from Phillip Tillman. "I thought Isaac got off to a really good start, thought Devarious did his Dennis Rodman stuff by being all over the boards, playing the top of our press and getting deflections. Those two were really good.
"We rebounded well, too. So there wasn't a whole lot I could be upset about. Of course, that may change after I watch the film."
Jonesboro, which was 28 of 56 (50%) from the field, will play Bentonville today in the semifinals. Brayden Nunnally added eight points and six rebounds for Manila. The Lions were 11-of-33 (33.3%) shooting.
BENTONVILLE 69, BROOKLAND 37
Bentonville (2-0) survived an early ejection to easily move into the semifinals.
Jaylen Lee led three players in double figures with 17 points, for the Tigers, who pounced away on a 15-0 run in the first quarter to move out front for good. Owen Dehrmann added 10 points, as did Caden Miller before he was forced to leave the game with 2:30 left in the first quarter after picking up his second technical foul.
Abel Hutchinson had eight points for Bentonville, which led 39-17 at halftime.
David York scored 13 points and Matt Harrel had nine points to lead Brookland (1-3).
BARTLETT, TENN. 79, RIDGEFIELD CHRISTIAN 27
Amarr Knox had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 5 assists for Bartlett (5-2), which pressed its way to a big lead in the first half and coasted the rest of the way.
The Panthers forced Ridgefield Christian (7-5) into 16 turnovers in the first quarter, with 10 of them coming off their press. Bartlett scored the first 22 points of the game and used its huge size advantage inside to do much of its damage.
Matthew Stokes, a 6-9 junior added 12 points as the Panthers had 13 players score, eight of which had at least five points. Bartlett shot 35 of 66 (53%) for the game. Noah Stracener had 16 points and six rebounds for the Warriors, who were 9-of-31 (29%) shooting and turned the ball over 31 times.