Comets streak past Sand Lizards

MAGNOLIA — The competitive phase of Thursday’s Class 4A boys state quarterfinal game between Mills and Dardanelle was over in the first six minutes.

Mills jumped out to a 12-0 lead and cruised to a 49-29 victory over Dardanelle at Panther Arena.

Comets Coach Raymond Cooper stressed to his team the importance of getting a lead early in Thursday’s game.

“We were patient early,” Cooper said. “We didn’t want to get behind. Even if we took a little extra time, we wanted to make sure we got some scores. We didn’t want to let them put the air out of the ball.”

Senior forward Kevin Cross led the Comets with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Orion Virden, a senior guard, had 12 points and classmate Branton McCrary had 10 points.

The Comets (27-4) will play in the semifinals for the fourth consecutive season, the first three appearances coming in Class 5A.

Dardanelle’s season ended at 27-8. The Sand Lizards did not have a player score at least 10 points. Senior forward AJ Calavitta paced his team with eight points.

Mills led 12-0 in the first quarter. Cross scored four points during the Comets’ initial run, including a dunk that made it 6-0.

Dardanelle Coach Russell Sturdivant called two timeouts in the first 3:32 Wednesday, but the Sand Lizards’ breaks didn’t slow the Comets.

Mills led 16-4 at the end of the first quarter. The Comets closed the first half on a 8-0 run, with McCrary’s three-pointer before halftime increasing the lead to 29-12.

The Comets continued to roll in the second half. Soph- omore guard Josh Watson’s basket made it 39-20, which was the score entering the fourth quarter.

“They’re a super talented team,” Sturdivant said. “We knew we were going to have to play extremely well and get them on a night they weren’t playing well. That wasn’t the case. I didn’t think we played our best and I thought they were very good tonight.”

MAGNOLIA 64, MORRILTON 56

Derrian Ford scored 28 points as the tournament host Panthers (21-5) defeated the Devil Dogs (19-13).

Colby Garland finished with 15 points and Kadyn Roach had 10 for Magnolia.

Magnolia outscored Morrilton 14-3 in the second quarter and held the Devil Dogs without a field goal on their way to a 23-16 halftime lead.

Jansen Bell led Morrilton with 19 points. Xavier Wright scored 15 points, including five three-pointers.