Chicks advance to district title game

JONESBORO-- The second seeded Blytheville Chickasaws defeated the Forrest City Mustangs down the stretch, 71-59, after a back and forth three quarters of play.

The 5A-East District Tournament semifinal win sends the Chicks to Saturday night's championship game against top-seeded Nettleton.

In the first quarter of the semifinal, the Chicks were helped out by three charges taken by seniors Bobby Cook and Tydarius Pope and one taken by junior Trey Jamison, who helped the Chicks hold a, 17-16, lead after the first quarter of play.

"We were scrappy, and charges were big because defensively we weren't doing a very good job of keeping anybody in front," said Blytheville head coach McKenzie Pierce. "Luckily, our second line of help, which is something we always talk about when you're not on the ball just think about what you're going to do when the guy in front of you gets beat. What are you going to do. We were fortunate that we had guys in the right spot and there taking charges."

"Those charges kept us kind of fired up and afloat," said Pierce.

The Mustangs, however, would knock down two free throws with 45.8 seconds left in the first half to tie the game up at 30 to end the first half.

Forrest City jumped out to a 36-32 lead out of halftime before Chickasaw senior AJ Love connected on a layup and Jamison hit a layup and connected on the and-one opportunity to give the Chicks a 37-36 lead. Chickasaw junior Tony Newmy would find senior Josh Richardson in the post to bring the Chicks lead to three before Mustang senior guard Trajon Norment knocked down a Mustang three-pointer to tie the game back up at 39. Newmy, however, would hit a layup with 30 seconds left in the third quarter to end the quarter tied up at 46.

Richardson connected at the line to finish a three-point play to give the Chicks a 49-46 lead early in the final quarter of play. After back-to-back layups from Pope and Newmy the Chicks forced the Mustang bench to call a 30 second timeout. Out of the timeout, senior Austin Phelan hit Richardson with a layup to bring the lead to seven points. Richardson then laid the ball in for two more points to increase the lead to nine points with 4:10 left on the clock. The Mustangs connected on back-to-back layups to cut the Chickasaw lead to, 57-52, but then Newmy and Phelan connected on Chickasaws long balls to put the Chickasaws up, 63-52.

Mustangs forward Damian Blackwell Jr. fouled out of the ball game. Jamison, however, would miss both free throw opportunities. Phelan hit a layup to bring the Chicks up, 67-57, with a little over a minute to go in the final quarter. Pope then got open underneath the rim to where he would throw it down with two hands. Love finished the Chickasaws scoring night with a layup to bring the lead to, 71-57. However, the Mustangs would hit a layup of their own as the time ran down to finish the game, 71-59.

Pope and Jamison led the Chicks with 13 points apiece. Richardson chipped in 11 points.

"The plan all night going into the game was pound it inside to Josh, I think both games he's had at least 20 and 10 against them, and we knew they're a little undersized. We knew they didn't have one person that can stop him, and unfortunately he probably wasn't on the floor but five minutes," said Pierce. "Our bench did a great job, Tydarius Pope did a heck of a job once again with his energy and rebounding and keeping us afloat down there and getting some points in the paint."

Also contributing for the Chickasaws was Love with 10 points, Newmy with nine points, Phelan with seven points, sophomore Winston Peace with five points and senior Bobby Cook with two points.

"Overall just a great team effort," said Pierce.

The Chickasaws then had to wait to see who their opponent would be on Saturday in the 5A District title game between the Nettleton Raiders and the Green County Tech Golden Eagles.

The Raiders would defeat the Eagles on a baseline jumper to win, 55-54, in the final seconds of play.

Saturday's title matchup between the Raiders and the Chickasaws will be the second time this season the two times have met in a title game. On Dec. 27, the Chickasaws defeated the Raiders, 59-53, in the Northeast Arkansas Invitational Tournament at Arkansas State's Convocation Center. Also, the Raiders defeated the Chicks by a one point margin in the conference.

In the other meetings the Chickasaws defeated Nettleton, 63-60, at home and lost, 48-45, at Nettleton.

jfondren@blythevillecourier.com