Senior guards, defense help boost host Osceola

OSCEOLA — The host team was anything but gracious to Helena-West Helena Central on Thursday night.

Osceola forced 22 turnovers and got solid contributions from senior guards Zion Spears and Jariq Scales to corral the Cougars 59-50 in the final opening-round game in the Class 3A boys state tournament in front of a jampacked Seminole Arena.

“It was just an electric atmosphere, and the guys played hard and fed off that energy,” Osceola Coach Vernon Wilson said. “They weren’t afraid of [Helena-West Helena’s] size, just kept attacking, kept attacking. But I thought our defense was pretty good, too.”

The Seminoles certainly got what they wanted on the defensive end against the Cougars. Osceola (22-5) applied pressure on Helena-West Helena from the opening tip and didn’t ease up until the outcome was decided.

But things weren’t always rosy for the Seminoles. They missed a large number of point-blank shots and were dominated on the glass, 40-20, by the much larger Cougars. But Osceola eventually wore down Helena-West Helena in the second half, and that was plenty enough to extend its season.

Scales had a game-high 19 points, and Spears followed with 14 points for the Seminoles, who will play Valley Springs at 8:30 p.m. today in the quarterfinals.

Senior guard Demond Franklin scored 15 points for Helena-West Helena (21-6).

“We just made too many turnovers,” Helena-West Helena Coach Willie Jackson said. “We fought hard, but we were just too careless with the ball. It seemed like every time we got a little momentum, we’d throw it away.”

The Cougars had nearly as many turnovers (13) as they did field-goal attempts (14) in the first half. Despite that, Helena-West Helena trailed just 30-24 at halftime and was within 32-30 in the third quarter. The Cougars were in possession of the ball with a chance to knot the game up but missed a 2-footer in front of the rim. Spears would later score on the other end to start an 16-3 run that put Helena-West Helena in a bind the rest of the way.

“I think we got in [Helena-West Helena’s] legs some in the second half,” Wilson said. “We like to play 10-15, and we want to keep up the pressure the entire game. I thought that helped us down the stretch.

“And Spears is just a dog. He’s not afraid of anything, and he just stepped up to the challenge.”

Osceola shot 17 of 46 for the game and finished with 9 turnovers. Helena-West Helena, which got 7 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks from junior center Brian Miller, finished 18 of 46 from the field.

ASHDOWN 66, TUCKERMAN 48

A 10-0 run in the third quarter allowed Ashdown to run away from Tuckerman and into the quarterfinals.

Junior guard Lamar Wilkerson scored 18 points and senior guard Kaiden Hunter had 12 points for Ashdown (252), which trailed 24-21 at halftime but shot 70 percent (14 of 20) in the second half. Junior forward Notoris Nelson had 11 points.

Senior guard Bomani Roberson scored 24 points and junior guard Ben Keton had 12 for Tuckerman (33-8).