Jonesboro blows past Hot Springs in opening round of Class 5A boys state tournament

By Kyle Sutherland I Photos by Ted McClenning

SHERIDAN - On the girls side, the Arkansas Activities Association sportsmanship rule was enforced in two of the three games on the second day of the state tournament and the story was the same for the opening boys game as defending state champion Jonesboro had their way with Hot Springs 65-26 a Yellowjacket Arena on the campus of Sheridan High School.

Hot Springs brought the intensity early, but once Jonesboro got rolling there was just no stopping them.

It was only a close contest for the first two minutes with the score tied at four before Jonesboro (23-3) was up 7-4, then 10-4, and then JHS really blew it open going on a 19-2 run over the course of 4:47.

“I don’t want this to come across in the wrong way, but there is always a target on whoever the Jonesboro team is that takes the floor and has been for a long time,” Jonesboro Coach Wes Swift said. “Same with North Little Rock, Parkview, you can name a few programs that anytime they take the floor people want to beat them. We don’t ever talk about it, we just talk about getting better. If you are going to be a target then let’s not be a stationery target, let’s be a moving target.”

Jonesboro held Hot Springs (15-13) to 16 first-half points and turned it up a notch even more in the third quarter allowing just two.

Though there are little to no weaknesses on the Golden Hurricane squad, Swift mentioned one area needing improvement was offensive rebounding. Swift and his staff put a heavy emphasis on that for the state tournament and it paid off against the Trojans.

“By far, that was our best rebounding game of the whole year,” Swift said. “We were badly worried about the lack of offensive rebounds coming into this game, so really happy about what we did.”

Oklahoma State signee Quion Williams led Jonesboro with 14 points while Jesse Washington had 13 and Isaac Harrell added 8.

George Washington signee Jabari West led Hot Springs with 11 points.

Jonesboro could very well have the deepest team and in those situations plaers sometimes get disgruntled for due to lack of minutes, but Swift feels very confident with his team’s chemistry.

“To make everything work, kids have to sacrifice playing time, stats, those kinds of things,” Swift said. “Our junior class, for example, is good enough to start for us right now and a lot of those kids come off the bench to play half of the game or less and they accept that. Our seniors know that they can play, so they allow them to come in and still cheer for them. It has been a lot of fun coaching this group.”

Jonesboro plays the winner of Siloam Springs/Sylvan Hills in the nightcap Thursday at 8:30.

Marion 65 Lakeside 41

Junior Jayden Forrest got off of the bus at Yellowjacket Arena ready to shine, scoring 11 of his 21 points in the first quarter. Marion (17-5) jumped on Lakeside (19-8) from the get-go leading after the first quarter 21-11, 37-22 at halftime, and 51-35 heading into the fourth quarter before besting the three-seed out of the South by 24 points.

Forrest’s 21 points led all scorers and his cousin Ryan Forrest along with Terrion Burgess each added nine a piece.

Jordan Mills led Lakeside with 12 points.

Marion will plays West top seed Russellville in Thursday’s nightcap at 8:30.

Lake Hamilton 64 West Memphis 54

The best game of the day was saved for last as both teams came out playing very well. West Memphis (16-11) got out to an 8-2 lead before the Wolves went on a 10-2 run to take the momentum. The stellar backcourt of senior Demetrius Sharp and junior Zac Pennington put on a shooting clinic and helped Lake Hamilton (20-6) take a 26-18 lead into halftime.

It was looking like Lake Hamilton would pull away in the third up 36-18, but West Memphis finally connected on its first 3-pointer of the game courtesy of Ronnie Townsend that led to a 7-2 run making it 38-25. Lake Hamilton got hot again and pushed it to a 45-25 lead at the start of the fourth, but once again the Blue Devils did what they needed to cut the lead to 13. 

Much to West Memphis’ dismay, every response they had was countered by Lake Hamilton and the deficit was never cut to less than nine points despite great effort from the Blue Devils.

Pennington led all scorers with 23 while Sharp added 21, 17 of those in the second half.

Ronnie Townsend led the Blue Devils with 13 points while Kobe Williams added 10.

Lake Hamilton advances to the second round to play Parkview on Thursday at 4:30.