Blue Devils vanquish Greene County Tech

Blue Devils vanquish Greene County Tech

West Memphis locks up number-two playoff seed

WM School District Informed that his team had just clinched the No.

2 seed from the 5A-East Conference, West Memphis boys head coach Marcus Brown paused and conceded guarded satisfaction.

“It’s an OK consolation for us,” he said, following his team’s 64-52 victory Tuesday night at Lehr Arena over Greene County Tech.

The Blue Devils’ firstround match-up in the Class 5A state tournament next Thursday at Lake Hamilton High School has been decided. They will face El Dorado (12-13 overall, 7-7 in the South) at 5:30 p.m.

West Memphis clinched second place in the East with help from Nettleton, which defeated Jonesboro 49-45 Tuesday night. The Raiders and the Hurricane are now 9-4 in league play with Jonesboro still slated to play league-leading Marion Friday night in the two teams’ final regular-season game.

Even if West Memphis (22-5 overall, 10-3 in the conference) is upset at Mountain Home Friday and Nettleton wins over Searcy, the Blue Devils still have the tie-breaker over Nettleton.

Brown, who hasn’t handed out compliments to his team unless it has been sufficiently warranted this season, was far less diplomatic about his team’s free-throw shooting against Tech (16-9, 5-8).

The Blue Devils clanked free shots all night to the tune of a 9-for-24 effort.

“I’m not happy about it all,” said Brown, an 89 percent free-thrower in his career at Murray State University. “I don’t know what to say about it. I mean, in practice we run when we miss them. I guess at this point in the season we’ve done all we can do. The players just have to step up there and make them.”

Facing a team that made the Blue Devils conjure up a mild miracle last month to come away with a 74-72 overtime victory at Tech, West Memphis was again faced with some early difficulties.

Star junior Chris Moore, who drew an audience of University of Memphis assistant coach Sam Mitchell, drew two early fouls and sat out some of the first quarter and all of the second quarter, all the time getting just one point out of the blue-chipper through the first half.

But the Blue Devils more than made up for it with a stellar defensive effort, especially on Tech’s own star junior, point guard Zane Butler, who torched West Memphis for 34 points last month.

Butler and the Eagles went the entire first half without a three-pointer, as Tech misfired on its first 11 attempts behind the bonus arc. Part of the plan came as Brown continuously threw fresh defenders at Butler, who ended the night with just 13 points.

“We tried to keep putting different guys on (Butler) the first game, but we just kept relaxing,” said Brown. “We just get into some bad habits when the ball is on the other side. We tend to stand around. But tonight, we paid attention to where he was at all times.”

With Moore cooling his heels on the bench, the Blue Devils still led 3123 at halftime. When the 6-foot-6 forward returned to start the second half his presence was felt immediately, as he scored 6 quick points and the hosts built a 40-25 lead.

Moore ended the night with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Tech, however, wouldn’t go away quietly into the night.

The Eagles sliced the Blue Devil lead to 49-45 with 5:59 still to play, but Moore scored two baskets and junior reserve Deon Williams hit a layup to give the home team some breathing room at 55-45.

Closing out his career at home, senior point guard Cavin Paige put up 10 points and 5 assists. Paige was one of several Blue Devils charged with guarding Butler.

“There was some pressure with me wanting to go out with a bang,” said Paige.

“(Butler) is real quick.

Coach kept telling us to put two people on him going downhill.”

The Blue Devils finished with a solid 54.2 percent shooting percentage from the field for the game, making 25 of 46 attempts while limiting Tech to 19 for 50 for 38 percent. West Memphis also forced 14 turnovers and committed just 10 miscues itself.

Senior Corliss Brewer added 11 points for the Blue Devils while Immanuel Hoard had 8 and Terry Burgess and Mark Robinson pumped in 6 apiece.

By Billy Woods