Blue Devils go long

Blue Devils go long

West Memphis clinches spot in state tournament

WM School District LITTLE ROCK — The West Memphis Blue Devils have their ticket punched for the Class 7A state tournament next week.

After their 55-46 victory at Little Rock Central last Friday night, the only thing still in question is what the team's seeding will be in the Big Dance at Cabot March 2-5.

It took some hot threepoint shooting in the first half and ball-control offense in the second half to beat Central. West Memphis (14-11 overall, 7-5 in the 7A/6A-East Conference) drained six treys in the first half in taking control of the game in the first two quarters.

'It's not like we can't shoot three-pointers,' said West Memphis head coach Larry Bray. 'We got guys who can shoot them.

Sometimes they just lack the confidence. I've told them you can only make 'em or miss 'em. No use worrying about whether or not they're going in.'

Friday night's play was typified best in senior point guard Ahmere Albert, who was playing loose and confident in directing the offense and also depositing three threepointers in the first half for all 9 of his points.

When told after the game that Albert looked like he was playing without a care in the world, Bray replied, 'He probably didn't.

'On a couple of those three-pointers I told him he pulled them a little too quickly. But overall he played with a lot of confidence.'

Albert hit the Blue Devils' only three-pointer in the first quarter as the visitors held a 15-13 edge after the first eight minutes. But it was bombs away in the second quarter as Brandon Atwood got it going by hitting a trey while being fouled and then converting the free-throw for a fourpoint

play.

One minute later senior Dylan Gazo found nothing but the bottom of the net from behind the arc, which gave West Memphis a 2216 lead. Albert then made back-to-back threes and suddenly it was a ninepoint Blue Devil lead at 28-19.

The final dagger came at the halftime buzzer as Gazo side-stepped a defender and swished a trey to give his team a 3322 lead at intermission.

'We did shoot it well tonight, but one thing I thought was just as important was our turnovers were down,' said Bray.

'That's one thing that's been hurting us lately.'

Even though senior Robert Harris canned a three-pointer less than two minutes into the third quarter, Central (12-12, 5-7) sliced its deficit to two points (36-34) with 3:19 left in the third quarter.

But West Memphis responded strongly as Gazo put back a missed shot and sophomore stalwart Zachary Byrd sank two free throws and then scored from close range to give the visitors a 42-34 edge after three quarters.

West Memphis' hopes were sustained as Bray went to his spread offense immediately at the start of the fourth quarter. The result was three layups, a rebound basket and a dunk by Byrd for the only field goals of the stanza.

West Memphis had five players score 6 or more points while Central got a game-high 25 points from Cameron Johnson. Besides teammate Jacobi Platt's 8, no other Tiger scored more than 2 points.

Harris added 11 for the Blue Devils while Gazo had 8 and Martavious Johnson had 6. A win Tuesday night at Lehr Arena against North Little Rock would give them the No. 2 seed from the 7AEast Conference, which would pit them against the No. 5 seed from the West at 5:30 p.m. on March 2.

A loss to North Little Rock would give West Memphis the No. 3 seed from the East.

By Billy Woods