Mustangs return to form with quick ‘pick me up win’
It didn't take long for the Forrest City Mustangs to get past last Friday's loss to eStem, which sidetracked any hopes of an undefeated conference season.
All the Mustangs needed for a quick "pick me up" and one final month-long road trip, was a stopover at Wynne against a struggling Yellowjacket team.
It was the first place Mustangs (13-7 overall and 8-1 in the conference) taking on the last place Yellowjackets' (3-13 overall and 0-7) on the boys side of the 4A-5 conference.
The play by both teams proved a true reflection of their individual season marks.
Forrest City opened with a 120 run before Wynne's first points hit the board and left little to be decided after rolling to a 31-11 halftime lead which led to the final 60-24 Forrest City win.
Wynne was held to four points in the first quarter, six in the second and seven points in the third and fourth frames.
Tuesday's victory over Wynne was the 18th overall win over the last 21 meetings between the two teams.
Mykeion White led the Mustangs with 25 points, while Robert Echols finished with 21 points. Melvin Shaw added 16 and Harold Jonson finished with 20. From the foul line, the Mustangs dropped in 12 of their 17 free throws.
Wynne's Darcus Johnson led the jackets with 15 points, while Trevon Holmes finished with 10 and Javion Wilson had eight.
Forrest City will host Stuttgart Friday in their first home game since Jan. 7 and will close out rhe season at home.
The 4A-5 East Regional tournament will be played Feb. 23-26 at Highland and the Class 4A state tournament will be held at Magnolia March 1-5.
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In other 4A-5 conference games played Tuesday, Little Rock Mills, one game behind Forrest City in the boys standings, defeated eStem 52-46.
Keaton Cross had 10 points and six rebounds in a tight-knit contest for Mills (12-7, 7-1 4A-5). Jayce Tillman had eight points for the Comets.
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Arlie Lee’s 22 points and 10 rebounds powered Stuttgart (154, 7-2 4A-5) to a 71-43 win over Lonoke Tuesday. Ducky Banks had 21 points and Cedric Hawkins tossed in nine points for the Ricebirds.
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In 3A-6 conference games Tuesday, Lisa Academy West held off Palestine-Wheatley 65-60.
There were no individual states for the games at press time.
Varsity Girls
Tuesday's 4A-5 conference game between Forrest City and Wynne was far less than a solid effort by the Lady Yellowjackets, but was just good enough to secure a key home court conference win.
Kyra Morrow scored 14 points for the Lady Mustangs, but the game belonged to the Lady Yellowjackets who shook off a slow start to put away the Lady Mustangs 55-30 in a game played at Yellowjacket Arena.
With the victory, Wynne stays unbeaten in the conference at 80 and on top of the standings while pushing their overall season mark to 16-5.
Tuesday's game marked the first time in 13 seasons for a Lady Jacket basketball team to take the floor as a ranked team.
Forrest City slips to 4-5 in the conference and 9-5 overall with the loss, and more than likely into fifth place in the league depending on the outcome of other games played Tuesday.
Forrest City scored the first two points of the game, but Wynne answered with a 13-0 scoring run to lead 15-9 after the opening period. Wynne continued to move ahead holding Forrest City to only two points in the second quarter and settling for a 31-11 halftime cushion.
They extended that lead to 42-21, holding the Lady Mustangs to just 10 third quarter points, six of that total from Kyla Morrow.
Wynne's Darienne Carter finished with 13 points and eight rebounds while Derriona Spencer added 13 points and grabbed six rebounds, Zahryia Baker added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Lady Yellowjackets, who led 31-11 at halftime and 42-21 at the end of three quarters.
With wholesale subs on the floor for the final quarter and the personal foul situation mounting for the Lady Mustangs, Wynne outscored Forrest City13 to 9 to close out the game.
Forrest City will host Stuttgart Friday, while Wynne will host eStem tonight in a rescheduled conference matchup between the two schools and will play at Joe T. Robinson Friday, weather permitting.
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In a game played at Lisa Academy West, the PalestineWheatley Lady Patriots took a 6143 win over the Lisa Academy girls.