West Memphis boys rebound from Marion loss with win against Searcy

WM School District The West Memphis Blue Devils got punched in the mouth for nearly four quarters at Marion last Friday night, so the bruises were still visible by the time they showed up at Lehr Arena on Tuesday night for their game against Searcy.

But the team shook off the ill effects in plenty of time for the opening tip.

Enjoying their quickest start out of the gate all season, the Blue Devils rushed out to a big early lead and then withstood a mild Searcy rally for a 50-41 victory.

The Blue Devils (9-5 overall, 1-1 in the 5A-East Conference) scored the first 11 points of the game and led 16-1 at the end of the first quarter.

Quite the opposite of last Friday night at Marion when the Patriots jetted out to a 20-1 lead.

“I was absolutely pleased with the way we started the game,” said Clay. “If we had kept that up all night it would have been even better. But we got away from doing the things that gave us that big early lead.”

The onslaught continued into the early moments of the second quarter when Kearrius Townsend and Kameron Barnes tipped in a pair of errant shots to give the hosts a 20-1 lead.

That’s when the home team took its foot off the pedal.

Undaunted, Searcy (10-6, 1-1) slowly chipped away at the huge deficit to make it a 12-point game at halftime (29-17). West Memphis then established its hold on the game to open the second half with a 3-pointer and two free throws by point guard D.J. Barrett and a 10-foot jumper by Chico Washington for a 36-17 Blue Devil lead.

But Searcy’s strength, which was well-noted by Clay and his staff during video preparation for the game, showed up.

Guard Isaiah Carlos hit four 3-pointers in the second half and Cameron

Continued on Page 15 WEST MEMPHIS BOYS (cont.)

Hicks, younger brother of former Lion star Freddie Hicks, hit a pair of long treys to finally make it a two-possession game at 4741 with 4:34 to play in the game.

“(Searcy) hit some shots with hands in their faces, and that’s fine,” said Clay.

“But there were some of those shots that were wide open and we didn’t cover the perimeter. We gotta get better at that.”

The Blue Devil defense indeed buckled down after that, holding the visitors scoreless the final fourand- a-half minutes.

They pretty much had to, though. The Blue Devils were terrible from the freethrow line, sinking just 7 of 18 and missing five charities in the final two minutes.

“We work on free throws in practice till we’re blue in the face,” Clay stated.

“We’ve shot them pretty good all year, but tonight it was terrible.”

Barnes hit 11 of his teamhigh 13 points in the first half while Barrett and Washington each chipped in 9. Townsend scored 13 for West Memphis and Manuel Dunn and Dequarious Birdo each hit 4.

Searcy’s Carlos was the game’s top scorer with 22 points while Hicks tallied 9.

The Blue Devils travel to Nettleton on Friday night in a crucial league clash.

The Raiders have rushed out to an impressive 13-3 record and they have acquired some top 10 ranking votes in the Arkansas Sports Media Poll. Full results of that match-up in Wednesday’s edition.