Blue Devils win Neosho Classic over break

Blue Devils win Neosho Classic over break

West Memphis and Marion tip off 6A play Friday night

By Billy Woods

WM School District Months before the season even began, Marcus Brown anticipated his team’s lack of experience and decided to test its mettle right away. After losing six key players in the rotation from last year’s state runner-up team, Brown said the current team would need: 1. To play a lot of games in the non-conference.

Check.

The Blue Devils have played 14 non-conference games on precipice of Lriday night’s 5A-East Conference opener at home against Marion.

2. It would need to play a lot of road games.

Check.

The Blue Devils have only played two home games thus far.

3. It would need to play some tough competition.

Check.

The Blue Devils have played state powers Lort Smith Northside, Conway and Little Rock Parkview along with the No. 3 team from Oklahoma and the No. 2 team from Ohio.

Today, the Blue Devils stand at 12-2, fresh off a Neosho (Mo.) Holiday Classic championship in which they beat Memphis Mitchell 61-50 last Saturday night in the championship game. Lriday’s game against Marion should do nothing but stoke Brown’s fan base. It should be a capacity house at Lehr Arena with a raucous atmosphere.

“Hopefully, our schedule has gotten us ready, especially from a mental standpoint, for our conference season,” said Brown. “I wanted to see our kids play from ahead and play from behind just to see how they react. We accomplished that. My biggest thing with this group is I didn’t want them to get comfortable. I wanted them to be put in some adverse situations.”

Junior forward Chris Moore was named the MVP of the Neosho Classic after his 23-point, 15 rebound game against Mitchell. He will face plenty of length in Friday night’s game against Marion as the Patriots have welcomed back 6-foot-8 center Timothy Ceasar, who played for Marion as a sophomore, but who transferred to Southwest Christian Academy last season.

Ceasar has long arms, lots of athleticism and swats shots well.

Besides Ceasar, however, the Pats have one of the best shooting guards in the state in junior Detric Reeves, who scored at least 20 points in each of last year’s three games against West Memphis.

But the Blue Devils have been playing at a high level, too, especially Moore and senior point guard Cavin Paige, who has had two double-digit assist games this season.

“(Marion’s) been playing some good ball,” said Brown. “It’s the first conference game for both teams, and both teams are having good seasons.

It should make or a huge crowd Lriday night.”

The Lady Devils are also fresh of a holiday tournament championship, winning the Lyndel Thomas Classic in Harrison.

Interim head coach Sonja Tate’s team swept through three games and now is awaiting some payoff now that conference play is about to begin.

“The dynamic of the team has changed since we started the season, but the girls have responded well,” said Tate. “A lot of pieces have moved on. I thought we grew a little bit this past week. I’m looking forward to the most important part of the season.”

Action on Lriday night begins at 5 p.m. with a junior varsity gamed, followed by the girls varsity at approximately 6:10 p.m.

and finally the boys varsity game.

Blue Devils’ Terry Burgess (0) has played a key role in the team’s 12-2 start to the season.

Photo by Billy Woods