Patriot boys complete season sweep of Blue Devils

Patriot boys complete season sweep of Blue Devils

Marion girls fall in overtime to West Memphis

By Tyler Bennett

Marion School District The Marion Patriots split their games last Friday with the West Memphis Blue Devils in front of one of the loudest crowds in Patriot Arena history.

Marion’s boys completed the regular season sweep of the Devils and remain undefeated in conference.

The Lady Pats erased a 12-point deficit to force overtime.

Fans started filing into Patriot Arena during the junior varsity game and the girls game quickly became a standing-room only event. Officials at the scorer’s table had difficulties hearing whistles at times because of the crowd noise.

Marion’s boys team (15-3 overall, 8-0 5A East) had a strong start in the first meeting with the Devils (17-5, 5-3), holding them to eight points in the first quarter. However, West Memphis appeared to remember the slow start and looked very aggressive in the opening quarter on Friday. The Devils led the Pats 11-10 heading into the second quarter.

The second quarter saw the Patriots change their defensive scheme and answer the determination of the Devils. Marion forwards Tristan Haymon and Timothy Ceaser began to press West Memphis junior Chris Moore, holding the talented forward to two points in the second quarter.

“I think Tristan and Tim did a great job tonight against Chris,” Marion guard Makyi Boyce said after the game. “T-Money (Tristan) showed out tonight.”

The second quarter was also the point when Marion junior guard Detrick Reeves began to heat up.

Reeves played limited minutes in the quarter, but still made three tough shots against the West Memphis defense and finished the first half with nine points.

Ceaser also added six points of his own in the second as the Pats outscored the Devils 14-10 in the second quarter. Marion led West Memphis 24-21 at halftime.

The Patriots started the third quarter with 8 unanswered points and ramped up the defensive intensity. However, the Patriots missed some makeable shots and only outscored the Devils 14-8 in the quarter.

West Memphis trailed by nine at the end of the third, but the Devils were able to cut the Marion lead to three midway through the fourth quarter. Hayman stopped the Devil run with Marion’s only three pointer of the night. Marion would hold serve the rest of the way with Devils, outscoring them 9-8 down the stretch for the 55-48 final score.

“It’s always good to beat the best competition in the state,” Marion head coach David Clark said about sweeping West Memphis after the game. “West Memphis has an excellent program and a known tradition (of winning), but we’re trying to start our own tradition.”

Reeves led all scorers in the game with 22 points followed by West Memphis’ Tmmaual Hoard with 15 points. “Coach told me to calm my game down,” said Reeves. “I forced a couple shots, but I tried to just let them come to me tonight.

Haymon was the only other Patriot in double digits with 10 points, followed by Ceaser and Keyshawn Woods with eight each.

Ceaser also made his presence felt defensively with six blocks in the game.

The Lady Patriots (1210, 4-4) found themselves down by as many as 12 in the first half of their game against the Lady Blue Devils (11-7,4-4), trailing 28-19 at the end of the first half. However, the Lady Pats fought back in the second half, starting with a 13-2 run at the beginning of the third quarter to take a 32-30 lead. The Lady Pats outscored the Lady Devils 18-4 in the third quarter, taking a 37-32 lead into the fourth.

“I told them we needed to win the half,” head coach Shunda Johnson said about her halftime message.

“We needed to win the half and stop Aryah Hazley.”

The Lady Patriots would outscore the Lady Devils 25-16 in the final two quarters, but West Memphis’s Hazley would not be stopped. Hazley had 18 points at the end of the first half and would be their only player to reach double digits.

The Lady Pats would also have a tough time at the foul line in the fourth quarter, making three of their nine attempts. Marion had the ball tied at 44 at the end of regulation, but could not get a shot off, sending the game into overtime.

West Memphis would outscore the Lady Pats 9-5 in the final four minutes, securing the 53-49 win. Marion committed six fouls in the overtime period.

Hazley was the game’s leading scorer with 34 points, followed by Marion guards Joi Montgomery and Keiana Delaney with 14 points each.

The Patriots will end their three game home stand on Tuesday night against the Nettleton Raiders.

Action from Patriot Arena on Tuesday, February 5 is scheduled to start with the girl’s game at 6:00 pm.

The Lady Raiders (19-1, 8-0) won the first game earlier this season and are still undefeated in conference play. Marion’s boys made ESPN’s Top 10 plays the last time they played the Raiders (12-5,6-2) and won the game 66-46.

Marion’s Jala Henderson (32) goes up with Lady Devil point guard Aryah Hazley (1). The Lady Pats fell to West Memphis in overtime.

Photo by Billy Woods

Makyi Boyce (1) shoots a tough shot in front of a crowded Patriot Arena. The Patriots remain undefeated in conference play.

Photo by Tyler Bennett n r