Warriors unleash first-quarter flurry
NASHVILLE — Two days of sitting in a hotel not knowing when they were going to play isn’t anything new for Western Grove.
It obviously didn’t bother them Friday.
Western Grove hit four three-pointers as it jumped out to an early 16-0 lead and held on to defeat Izard County 54-43 in the opening round of the Class 1A boys basketball state tournament at Scrapper Arena.
The Warriors (23-3) will play Acorn at 8:30 tonight in the quarterfinals of the tournament after both team pulled off upsets in the first round. Acorn defeated Wonderview 67-63 in overtime Tuesday before wintry weather that moved through the state forced the tournament to be pushed back two days.
“Two years ago we had [a weather delay] happen in regionals and this year we had it happen in regionals, so we were used to it, maybe more so than IZC was,” Western Grove Coach Josh Manes said.
“I think we were getting a little bored, so I thought we really came out to play.”
The Warriors used two three-pointers from Nick Grice and one each from Andrew Smith and J.J. Brown to build their 16-0 lead.
Their swarming defense also forced the ice-cold Cougars (31-10) into eight first-half turnovers, with Izard County’s first field goal coming on Taylor Reynolds’ basket with 18 seconds to play in the first quarter.
Western Grove already led 17-3 by that point, but the game was hardly over.
Izard County began to adjust to Western Grove’s 1-3-1 zone defense, and the Warriors started to struggle with their shooting.
The Cougars cut the lead to 27-19 going into halftime and eventually pulled to within 42-38 on a three-point play by Coby Jones with 3:27 to play.
“Early in the game I believe we were playing on adrenalin, but after that they wanted to stay in that man and pressure us more,” Manes said.
Smith finished with 17 points and Grice and Brown added 11 apiece to pace Western Grove.
Reynolds scored 16 points off the bench before fouling out.
EMERSON 71, CONCORD 39
Emerson (30-3) raced out to a 23-point lead 12 minutes into the game and never looked back as it advanced to the quarterfinals with a victory over Conway.
Emerson will play either County Line or Hughes at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
Emerson led 27-12 after the first quarter and pushed that advantage to 41-18 midway through the second quarter. They led 47-21 at halftime and 62-31 after three quarters in the mercy-rule win.
Jeffers Jefferson led Emerson with 19 points, Jaleen Jackson had 18 and Tavlon Revels had 10.
Trey Adams scored 18 points to lead Concord (18-20).
COUNTY LINE 45, HUGHES 42
County Line’s Josh Wilhelm grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled and made two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to ice the Indians’ victory.
County Line (25-9) will play Emerson in the quarterfinals.
Wilhelm grabbed teammate Cody Goodson’s missed front end of a oneand-one attempt with 3.5 seconds remaining. The 6-5 junior immediately went to the line and made both free throws.
Hughes’ Marlon Warren, who had 19 points, missed a 24-foot three-point attempt at the buzzer.
Wilhelm finished with 15 points and Goodson had 14 for the Indians.