Patriots top Raiders in 5A East clash
By CHUCK LIVINGSTON
Marion School District
JONESBORO — Marion head coach Sammie Lewis has seen plenty of big second-half performances that turned into wins for his teams during his long tenure as a Jonesboro assistant.
On Tuesday night, he got his first one as the head man at Marion.
Lewis’s Patriots trailed Nettleton by as many as seven points in the first half, including five at halftime, but flipped the script after the break to take down a 67-54 victory inside Raider Gymnasium.
“Great job by our kids deciding to just play hard and refuse to be denied after halftime,” said Lewis. “Every time I looked up a different guy was making a winning play, whether it was diving on the floor for a loose ball, offensive rebounds that turned into points, or taking a charge. It was a tough, blue-collar effort, and one that we needed.”
Marion improved to 19-6 overall and 7-2 in the 5A East behind junior Jackson Black’s career-high 18 points and nine rebounds, while junior Jalen Neal also notched 18 points, and Chandler Randle finished with 10. Nettleton got 15 points from Braylin Green, 10 from T.J. Daley, and seven apiece from T.J. Whitney and Ja’Kobe Jamison.
The Raiders and Patriots swapped the lead four times in the first quarter, with Marion claiming a 9-8 lead after eight minutes.
Nettleton owned the second stanza, however, taking a 28-21 lead with 4:07 left in the half when Green scored on a layup, and the hosts enjoyed a 28-23 lead at halftime.
Marion got paint points from Korbin Littlejohn, Dexter Higgins, and Black to tie the game at 31 early in the third quarter, and Neal hit a turnaround jump shot through contact and hit the free throw to give Marion the lead for good at 36-33 with 2:13 left in the third.
On the last play of the third quarter, Neal just missed on a half-court heave to beat the clock, but Black claimed the rebound and scored on a layup to beat the third-quarter buzzer to give the Pats a 40-34 lead entering the fourth frame.
The Marion run carried into the fourth quarter, and the Patriots took the first double-digit lead of the night (52-42) when Black hit a short jumper from the foul line with 4:36 left in regulation.
A Neal three-pointer pushed the Patriot lead to 12 points, and Marion took its largest of the night (62-46) when Black hit a layup with 1:19 left.
Marion and Nettleton split their season series this year, but Marion would have the second tiebreaker on the margin of victory should the teams finish the year tied in the standings.
Nettleton topped Marion by four points in January, while Marion maxed out with a victory of 10 points or more Tuesday night at Raider Gymnasium.
“That’s obviously really big for us, but we have work left to do,” said Lewis. “We told our guys coming into this game if we’re up three, then I want you to think about scoring. It may be the first time anyone has told them that, but we were serious. Our guys played well enough that it wound up not mattering.”
5A East results from 2/11
Marion 67, Nettleton 54 Valley View 74, Paragould 66 Greene Co. Tech 69, Searcy 28 W. Memphis 64, Batesville 24
5A East standings on 2/12
Valley View 9-0 Marion 7-2 Nettleton 7-2 Greene Co. Tech 6-3 W. Memphis 4-5 Paragould 2-7 Searcy 1-8 Batesville 0-9
Marion senior Rylan Johnson (5) drives to the basket during his team’s win on Tuesday night.
Photo by Eryn Edwards
