Patriots sweep Blue Devils in ‘Crosstown Showdown’

Patriots sweep Blue Devils in ‘Crosstown Showdown’

Marion boys, girts invade West Memphis, come back with pair of wins

By Tyler Bennett

Marion School District The Marion Patriots pulled out the brooms on Friday in Lehr Arena, sweeping both West Memphis teams in the first meeting between the teams on the hardwood this season. Both teams also improve to 1 -0 in conference play in the first year of the new 5A conference.

Marion’s trip to 501 Broadway Avenue started with an intense girls game full of tight defense and strategic coaching. The Lady Patriots (9-6 overall, ^1-0 conference) were down by as many as seven points in the first half, but managed to fight their way back and outscore the Lady Blue Devils (7-4, 0-1) 29-21 in the second half.

The Lady Patriots used a fast paced game full of fast breaks to tire the Lady Devils down the stretch. Marion was able to make the Devils chase them late in the game despite not making any three pointers in the game.

Marion junior guard Joi Montgomery led all scorers with 20 points.

The next closest Patriots players were senior forward Mikiya McAdory with 10 points and Tashlee Milow with seven.

The Lady Devils were also led by a junior guard, Aryah Hazley, who finished with 12 points.

West Memphis junior forward Tiera Bradley finished with eight points despite not playing in the first half.

Marion was able to secure the lead late thanks to the shot of the game from junior guard Keiana Delaney with less than 30 seconds in the game. Delaney drove into the paint and got her one-handed floater to drop despite being fouled to put the Lady Pats up by four.

Neither team would score after Delaney’s shot, and the Lady Pats secured the 47-43 win in front of the standing-room-only crowd. The second half of the night was a match up between two top ten teams and four of the top 40 players in the state. The Blue Devils (12-3, 0-1) won all of the meetings between the teams last year, but Marion (8-3, 1-0) had his team fired up before the game.

“Our boys have been waiting for this for a while,” said Clark.

“They’ve been looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd like this and they were just waiting for a chance to prove themselves.”

While Marion has been known for their offense so far this season, the Patriots came out of the locker room proving their defense was ready for the task as well. Marion’s defense blocked three shots in the first quarter and held an athletic West Memphis team to just eight points.

Despite the great defense to start the game. West Memphis proved that you can not get comfortable in a rivalry game, Marion led 25-8 before the Blue Devils went on a 16-0 run to trim the Marion lead to one. The Pats saw their big lead evapbut they still led 27-24 at half-time.

“They beat us in the second quarter,” said Clark.

“I told them during the break that we can’t afford to lose any more quarters if we want to win, and they responded by winboth the third and fourth quarters.

The Patriots indeed won both quarters, outscoring the Devils 36-28 in the second half. Marion was able to keep the Devil offense at bay despite four made three pointers from West Memphis junior forward Immanual Hoard. Hoard led all scorers in the game with 22 points.

Marion’s defense was able to stop the number three player in the state for the majority of the game.

Patriot forwards Timothy Ceaser and Tristan Haymon held West Memphis junior forward Chris Moore to just six points.

Detrick Reeves was the leading scorer for the Patriots with 18 and a dunk in transition in the first quarter. Ceaser also had a dunk and finished with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Junior guard Makyi Boyce also had a solid performance, finishing with 12 points in the win.

Up next for the Patriots is a trip to Nettleton this evening. The girls will play the Lady Raiders (121, 1-0) at 6:00 pm, followed by the Marion boys against the Raiders (7-3, 1- 0) at 7 o’clock.

Marion’s Keyshawn Woods (2) challenges Blue Devil Jamal Macklin (4) on the inside during the Pats’ win over the Blue Devils last Friday night.

Photos by Billy Woods

Marion’s Jala Henderson (32) goes up for a block against West Memphis point guard Aryah Hazley (1). The Lady Pats beat the Lady Devils on Friday at Lehr Arena.