Blue devils headed to 5a state championship game
By BILLY WOODS
WM School District
RUSSELLVILLE — The West Memphis Blue Devils gave their fans coronary concern here Friday afternoon, but in the end they were able to take a deep breath and relieve the tension. West Memphis survived another horrid shooting performance from the freethrow line and a slow start, and handed Sylvan Hills a 66-57 loss in the quarter_nals of the Class 5A state tournament.
The Blue Devils (25-4) will take on Maumelle in the semi_nals on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
It was an uneven performance or the team that is ranked No. 1 in 5A and No. 2 overall. It was enough to shake their own head coach, Marcus Brown.
“Don’t need to have anymore of those,” said a relieved Brown. “But I’m just so proud of my kids for the way they fought back.”
The Blue Devils got off to a rocky start, trailing the Bears, at one point, 31-22 in the second quarter and then 31-24 at halftime.
After appearing to have the game sewn up in regulation, the Blue Devils even survived one other dagger, off the _ngertips of Sylvan Hills sophomore Nick Smith, who swished a three-pointer with 15 seconds left to tie the score 55-55.
Smith and the Blue Devils’ star senior forward Chris Moore jousted one another all afternoon, but it was the senior West Memphian who tipped the scales in his favor.
Moore poured through game-high totals of 30 points and 17 rebounds to go along with 3 blocks and 2 assists. Smith, likely the top sophomore in the state, hit 28 points in the losing cause.
“In the _rst half I thought me and Nick were just trading baskets,” said Moore. “I’d come down and get a basket, then he’d do the same on the other end. Nick’s got a bright future ahead of him, and I can’t wait to see what he’s got in him.”
The Blue Devils dominated most of the stat sheet, shooting 41 percent from the _eld to Sylvan Hills’ 37 percent. And the Blue Devils hammered the Bears on the glass, outrebounding them 41-20. They even won the turnover battle. West Memphis committed only 11 turnovers to Sylvan Hills’ 12.
But it was the missed free throws that have been a concern all season,and it reared its ugly head in the state tournament on Friday.
The Blue Devils hit 18 of 33 from the free-throw line, but more importantly they went 2 for their _rst 8 from the line in the fourth quarter and in overtime, killing a chance to put the Bears to bed.
West Memphis trailed from the opening moments of the second quarter up until senior guard Kyalan Sykes sank a crucial three-pointer with 6:34 left in the fourth quarter to give the Blue Devils a 45-44 lead.
“We needed it really bad, so my mindset was ‘this is what I do best, so I gotta do it.,”’ said Sykes, who scored 11 points. “I had missed a couple threes before that, but when I get cold I gotta keep positive. Coach says to shoot it, so I just ring it up.”
It was enough to push the team to a 51-46 lead with 5:07 to play.
A layup by Moore with 59 seconds and Jordan Mitchell’s one-out-two showing from the free-throw line with 38 seconds left appeared to be enough to cinch it for West Memphis in regulation.
But with Sykes in his face, Sylvan Hills’ Smith sank a triple from the deep corner to tie the game and sending it into overtime.
“During a timeout, I told our guys we want to foul with about 8 seconds to play,” said Brown. “We had a little mental lapse, but it was really good defense by Sykes. He was in his face. Again, though, we have to do what the coach says.”
But whaddya know, the Blue Devils sank two straight free throws when Mitchell popped a pair in to open the scoring in the overtime.
West Memphis scored the _rst 7 points in overtime to take a 62-55 lead with 58 seconds left.
The only points Sylvan Hills got in the extra frame were two free throws from Smith with 49 seconds to play.
But Moore and Mitchell, who scored 14 points and had 6 assists, sank 2 out of 4 from the free-throw line and Sykes put it away for good with a pair of charities with 5.6 seconds left.
“We missed a lot of open shots, layups and free throws, but we were able to overcome it and show the rest of the state what West Memphis basketball is all about,” said Brown.
Brown admitted the Sylvan Hills combination of 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones made his team a little uncomfortable.
“We knew they’d throw some zone on us, but our ball movement was a little
See BLUE DEVILS, page A7
Blue Devils’ Chris Moore blocks a shot in Saturday’s game against Maumelle.
Photos by Billy Woods
Blue Devils’ Jordan Mitchell operates in traffic against Maumelle.
From page A6
sticky,” Brown commented. “We were in cool mode, not attack mode. We finally woke up and started attacking the basket.”
The Blue Devils also got 5 points apiece from Akyrahn Hazley and Immanuel Hoard.
Sylvan Hills’ Smith got very little support from his mates. DeShaun Fowlkes had 11, Tony Cribbs scored 8 and Corey Washington added 6.
As had been the case all day, there was a mad scramble for a rebound in heavy traffic, and as has been the case for the last four years, one Chris Moore came away with the possession.
Moore spotted his point guard, Jordan Mitchell near halfcourt and whizzed an outlet his way. With the West Memphis Blue Devils in clock-working mode, Mitchell saw an opening he couldn’t resist.
As he penetrated the basket, Mitchell appeared to change his mind and back the ball out front.
But it was too good a moment to pass up.
So, Mitchell whirled a nolook behind-the-back pass to Moore for a dunk, and just like that the door was shut on Maumelle.
The Blue Devils punched their ticket to Hot Springs on Saturday with a 59-43 victory over Maumelle in the Class 5A state tournament semifinals.
Mitchell’s dazzling pass which set the hundreds of West Memphians in attendance on fire, gave the Blue Devils (26-4) a 56-48 lead with just 1:57 left in the game.
The whole exhilarating day for Blue Devil Nation was defined by Mitchell, who had the most electrifying dunk of the tournament when he grabbed yet another outlet from Moore, found another open lane on the other end and threw down a vicious tomahawk dunk over Maumelle’s Dreshaun Doyne midway through the fourth quarter.
“I just felt the moment when it happened,” an exuberant Mitchell said. “On the pass, I know Chris is always behind me, and all I ever have to do with him is get it to him. He always knows what to do with it.”
Moore put up another double- double as he led the Blue Devils with 17 points and 15 rebounds to go along with 6 blocks and 2 assists.
For the 6-foot-7 senior who is bound for Auburn next season, it will be his second trip to the state championship game in his career. Jonesboro handed the Blue Devils a 55-49 loss two years ago, and Moore wants to make sure his high school career ends with glory.
“I’m so blessed to be a Blue Devil and to be going to the finals again,” said Moore. “But this time we’ve got to bring it all home.”
The team that had to grind out a 66-57 win in overtime 24 hours earlier against Sylvan Hills, made sure the semifinals were going to be an easier ride for its fans.
Maumelle (24-8) led just once in the game, and that was 13-12 near the end of the first quarter. And that lead lasted all of 35 seconds when Moore sank a midrange jumper with 4 seconds left before the buzzer to give the Blue Devils a 14-13 lead after one quarter.
Playing ahead all day was the formula that West Memphis head coach Marcus Brown emphasized all morning before the game. Brown has been battling the sniffles all week in Russellville and before he addressed the media he was already eager to head back to West Memphis.
“As soon as I get back home I’m going to Coast to Coast (minor medical),” Brown said. “I need a cocktail shot to get rid of this stuff.
“Getting out in front early was crucial as we learned (on Friday). We let a young Sylvan Hills get some confidence early against us. You can’t give a young team confidence in a game of this magnitude because they don’t know they’re not supposed to be in that spot. We didn’t want to let Maumelle fire away, fire away.”
Although the Blue Devils led the Hornets most of the day, it wasn’t until late in the third quarter before they pulled away.
With the score 33-25 West Memphis, Blue Devil senior Jaylon Lewis hit two free throws and then Mitchell drove the lane and completed a three-point play to make it 38-25.
The quarter ended in fashion when senior Kyalan Sykes drained a three-pointer with 1 second left to give the Blue Devils a 41-27 lead after three quarters.
The fourth quarter was nothing but a show for the Blue Devil faithful.
“Mitchell has thrown that (no look, behind-the-back) before,” said Brown. “Thank God Chris caught it. Nothing Jordan does surprises me because he’s talented as heck.”
The Blue Devil defense was also solid all day, limiting Maumelle to 31 percent shooting overall from the floor and just 2 of 13 from the bonus arc.
West Memphis shot 55 percent and it was 4 of 10 from the three-point circle.
Interestingly, the Hornets became the first team to outrebound West Memphis since late November, by winning the battle of the backboards 24-23.
Mitchell finished with 13 points and 5 assists while Lewis played a strong game with 12 points. Sykes and reserve Deon Williams scored 5 apiece for the Blue Devils.
Maumelle got 12 points from Nico Davillier and 11 from Courtney Lawrence.
