Blue Devils down Blytheville, prepare for Hurricane

Blue Devils down Blytheville, prepare for Hurricane

Following a nail- biting victory in Blytheville, the West Memphis Blue Devils get ready to hosts the undefeated Jonesboro

Hurricane

WM School District BLYTHEVILLE — The Jonesboro Hurricane invade Lehr Arena tonight with a machine that seemingly can't be stopped.

The 20-0 Hurricane is not only the top-ranked team in Arkansas, it is ranked in five national polls, from No. 8 in Xcellent 25 Writers' Poll to No. 12 in Max Preps.

And it already owns a 33point win over the West Memphis Blue Devils this season. But there are some factors that may weigh heavily as Jonesboro gets set to face the Blue Devils for the second time in less than a month.

First, the Blue Devils (182 overall, 11-1 in the 6A/5A-3 Conference) haven't lost since they dropped that 74-41 decision at Hurricane Gym on Jan. 3. They have won their last seven games, including last Friday night's grind-it-out 50-45 victory over Blytheville.

Second, West Memphis head coach Larry Bray made three critical changes to his starting lineup since Jan. 3, putting ninth-grade star Chris Moore and juniors Zachary Byrd and Sidney Stinson into the starting group.

In that first meeting, Jonesboro ended all suspense in the first few minutes, rushing out to a 13point first-quarter lead before Moore and Byrd even entered the game for the first time.

Lastly, Bray, normally very reserved in praising any of his team, and especially this one, finally spouted a superlative about his current group after its escape act at Blytheville.

'You know, this team here…they are special,' Bray said. 'I've told them when they make up their minds they can do it. We never know from one night to the next who's going to do it for us. I'm just waiting on that night when everyone's clicking together.'

At Blytheville, no Blue Devil was clicking in the early going. Bray went against his own grain and started out in a zone against the Chicks (11-10, 5-7). The Chicks responded by hitting their first seven shots from the field to take a 15-3 early lead.

Add to that West Memphis' own shooting woes that saw it hit on 2 for 13 in the first quarter.

Rescuing the matter for a second straight Friday night, however, was junior guard Kelsey Hubbard, who drilled four threepointers, three of them coming in the second quarter. It paved the way for the Blue Devils to trim the Chicks' lead to 26-25 at halftime.

Meanwhile, Bray wouldn't budge from the zone.

'I didn't want to get out of it because I didn't want to get into foul trouble,' he said. 'Looking at film, (Blytheville) took it to the rack a lot at our place earlier in the year and they really hurt us with penetration. My main thing was making them shoot over the top of the zone.'

Which the Chicks did early.

But not late.

West Memphis took 25 shots to Blytheville's 12 in the first half and the hosts hit on 9 of them for a sizzling 75 percent. In the second half, however, the Chicks were only 5 of 20.

Meanwhile, Bray was scratching his head after watching his team get opportunity after opportunity to put the game away from the free-throw line in the second half.

Only to see his guys clank one shot after another in going 6 of 20 from the charity stripe, including 4 of 14 in the fourth quarter.

'We shoot them good in practice,' Bray said. 'It was terrible tonight, though.'

While Moore and Hubbard kept their team in the game in the first half, it was Byrd's recklessness on the boards and Stinson's cool head down the stretch that won it for the Blue Devils.

With the Blue Devils up 48-45 and 40 seconds left to play, Blytheville's A.J.

Love missed a three-pointer, Stinson rebounded and zipped a long outlet to Hubbard, who led all scorers with 18 points, who made the game-clinching layup.

Moore was outstanding with 14 points and a gamehigh 13 rebounds and while Byrd scored only 5, he grabbed 12 rebounds.

Tonight's game with Jonesboro begins with the girls game at around 6 p.m., followed by the boys game.

By Billy Woods