Tuesday, January 19 – Already, Cooper Williams had produced a lifetime memory in his final basketball season at Quitman when he made a last second three pointer to lift the Wolverines to a victory. Now he has another.
It was one of those nights that a player dreams about. This time Williams didn’t drain a game winning trey but he made a slew of them in Quitman’s 81-54 victory over Dodson. Seven to be correct and in only ten attempts. Talk about making it rain!!! The performance will go down as his career best for 3-pointers made in a game as will the 25 points he scored.
“Super” Cooper wasn’t the only one connecting from long range on the night as the Wolverines as a team made 14 of 22 bombs for a mind boggling 63.6% average which easily is a season best. Another season top team performance were the 34 points that the Wolverines scored in the first quarter that gave them a commanding 26 points lead after only eight minutes.
The victory upped the Wolverines mark to 11-3 and improved their winning streak to six straight. Dodson’s loss snapped a three game winning streak of their own and dropped the Panthers back to .500 on the year with a 6-6 record.
Joshua Smith and L.D. Manning added 11 points each in the blowout followed by nine from Eli Walker on the strength of three trey’s and seven from Blake Carter. John Pabaya added five, Logan Ponder 3 and Ty Simonelli one, to complete the scoring total which was easily the high water mark of the season. Caleb Barton scored 19 and Beau Canter added 18 to lead Dodson.
| Quitman (11-3) | 34 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 81 |
| Dodson (6-6) | 8 | 6 | 19 | 21 | 54 |
Quitman scoring: Williams 25, Smith 11, Manning 11, Walker 9, Carter 7, Pabaya 5, Ponder 3, Simonelli 2
Dodson scoring: Barton 19, Canter 18, Edwards 6, Box 3, Potts 2
Quitman survives late Saline rally
Thursday, January 21 – Saline won the second half but an eight point deficit at the break, as result of Quitman not allowing but four second quarter points, stood up in the end as the Wolverines sneaked away with the 63-59 victory. The seventh straight win improved Quitman to 12-3 on the year while Saline dropped to 4-6 after losing their second in a row.
Behind five points from Ryder Blanchard and four from Ethan Roberts the Bobcats took a 12-9 first quarter advantage. With five players scoring in the second, led by Logan Ponder’s four and by holding Saline to just two field goals in the second quarter Quitman took a 21-16 lead into the half.
Quitman had four players reach double figures led by 15 from Joshua Smith, who made all but two in the second half, that helped keep the fast charging Bobcats at bay. John Pabaya added 14, Blake Carter 13 and Cooper Williams chipped in with 11. Ethan Everett and Logan Ponder scored four each and L.D. Manning added a fourth quarter basket to round out Quitman’s scoring. Ethan Roberts scored 20 to lead Saline followed by 12 from Ryder Blanchard and 11 from Blake Clifton. Titus Jackson added eight and Kenton Lee Crawford four for the Bobcats.
Walker, Simonelli celebrate Homecoming with career scoring nights
Friday, January 22 – Georgetown played the role as proverbial “Homecoming Fodder” to a tee by making only four baskets and four free throws in the 62-16 blowout that gave Quitman an eight game winning streak and a 13-3 record heading into district play. Georgetown fell to 3-11 on the year.
Joshua Smith’s 16 points was the highest of eight Quitman players who tallied in the contest as head coach Mike Black emptied his bench early in the second half. Two Wolverines had career scoring nights in Eli Walker with 15 and Ty Simonelli with eight.
Additional contributors were Blake Carter, Cooper Williams and Ethan Everett with five each, Logan Ponder 4 and both Bailey Keys and Shane Rowe with a basket each. Georgetown, who never managed more than six points in a quarter was led by Tims with five and Riggs with four.
Tigers win final tune-ups before district play
For the third straight game Jonesboro-Hodge scored in the 40’s. For the third straight game the Tigers came away with a victory. The victories that were orchestrated by Assistant Coach Kris Cash, who stepped in while head coach Allen Tew was dealing with the Coronavirus, improved J-H to 6-4 on the season in the final tune-ups before district 1-2A play begins. The back to back contests began on Thursday with JHHS squeaking by Gibsland-Coleman 49-47 and followed up with a 40-32 victory over Summerfield on Friday.
Edward “Robbie” Kary scored seven of his team high 12 in the first quarter to pace J-H to an 11-6 lead. Davion McGuire scored his seven points on the night during the second and third to help keep the Tigers ahead and Tydre Malone and Cameron Joe scored five and four respectively in the fourth to pave the way to victory.
Justin Calahan and Tydre Malone scored five each to lead J-H to a 14-4 advantage in the pivotal third quarter that helped erase a nine point, first quarter deficit and lifted the Tigers to the closer than expected 49-47 victory. The win propelled J-H to a 5-4 record and dropped Gibsland-Coleman to 6-10.
Malone, who finished with a team high 16 points, was also instrumental in keeping Gibsland-Coleman at bay by adding seven more in the final quarter. Calahan had eight, Edward “Robbie” Kary scored seven and both Cameron Joe and Javion Andrews chipped in with six each. Gibsland-Coleman was led by James with 21 and Coleman who had eleven.
Frantic finish lists Weston past Forest 53-48
Friday, January 22 – The long ride home from Forest, located in West Carroll Parish, ended up a lot more enjoyable than what it looked like it be thanks to the Wolves scoring one more point in the fourth period than they had compiled in the previous three for the best rally of the year. With the win Weston improves to 9-13 on the year while Forest fell to 3-12 after their eight straight defeat and second loss to Weston in seven days.
It started by for Weston and then got worse. The Wolves were behind by six after the first period, nine at the half and 14 entering the fourth period. Ten each by Jace Holt and Davis Tolar, who finished with 16 and 15 points respectively led the furious rally that saw Weston win the quarter by a 27-8 margin. Landon Roberts also came up big with 8 of his 11 points on the night.
Castor clips short handed Weston 51-45
Tuesday, January 19 – With the game tied at 35 after three quarters of play Castor gave their fans something to cheer about by winning the fourth quarter by a 16-10 margin to take their second victory of the season over their former district foe. The loss dropped the short handed Wolves, who had only six players dressed out, to 8-12 on the year. Castor won for the fourth time in their last five to improve to 4-7 on the year after beginning the season with six straight losses.
Eli McBride scored seven of his team high 13 points in the first quarter to pace the Wolves to a 14-8 advantage only to see Castor come storming back to take a 28-24 lead into the break. Jace Holt tallied 8 of his 11 points on the night in the third to help bring Weston even. Braden Theriot added nine, Landon Roberts seven and Kaden Shirley five to round out the scoring. Castor was led by Young and Clark who scored 19 and 18 respectively.
| Quitman (13-3) | 15 | 16 | 17 | 14 | 62 |
| Georgetown (3-11) | 6 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 16 |
QHS scoring: Smith 16, Walker 15, Simonelli 8, Everett 5, Williams 5, Carter 5, Ponder 4, Rowe 2, Keys 2
GHS scoring: Tims 5, Riggs 4,
| Weston (9-13) | 7 | 8 | 11 | 27 | 53 |
| Forest (3-12) | 13 | 11 | 16 | 8 | 48 |
WHS scoring: Holt 16, Tolar 15, Roberts 11, Theriot 6, Albert 2, Henderson 2, McBride 1
FHS scoring: Seamons 20, Hudson 15, Williams 9, Miley 4
| JHHS (6-4) | 11 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 40 |
| Summerfield (5-15) | 6 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 32 |
JHHS scoring: Kary 12, Malone 9, McGuire 7, Joe 6, Leonard 4, Andrews 2
SHS scoring: Kennedy 21, Wilson 3, Tate 3, Kennedy 3, Jackson 2
| Gibsland-Coleman (6-10) | 15 | 13 | 4 | 15 | 47 |
| JHHS (5-4) | 6 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 49 |
JHHS scoring: Malone 16, Calahan 8, Kary 7, Joe 6, Andrews 6, Leonard 2, Boston 2, Gray 2
GCHS scoring: James 21, Coleman 11, Adams 6, Simpson 5, Reese 2, Stephens 2
| Saline (4-6) | 12 | 4 | 17 | 26 | 59 |
| Quitman (12-3) | 9 | 12 | 19 | 23 | 63 |
SHS scoring: Roberts 20, Blanchard 12, Clifton 11, Jackson 8, Crawford 4, Williams 1
QHS scoring: Smith 15, Pabaya 14, Carter 13, Williams 11, Everett 4, Ponder 4, Manning 2
| Weston (8-12) | 14 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 45 |
| Castor (4-7) | 8 | 20 | 7 | 16 | 51 |
Weston scoring: McBride 13, Holt 11, Theriot 9, Roberts 7, Shirley 5
Castor scoring: Young 19, Clark 18, Bates 8, Jordan 4, Alsap 2
Saline goes overtime to win 1B opener over Dodson
Friday, January 22 – Blake Clifton scored four, Kenton Lee Crawford made a trey and Titus Jackson added a basket in overtime to lift Saline over Dodson 60-54 in District 1B opener for both teams. The victory snapped a two game skid and improved the Bobcats to 5-6 on the season. Dodson fell to 6-6 after losing their second straight.
Ethan Roberts led Saline in scoring with 20 points that included an outstanding 8 of 9 performance from the free throw line. Titus Jackson finished with 17 with all but two coming in the second half. Blake Clifton was the third Bobcats to finish in double figures with ten on the night. Dodson also had three reach double figures in Caleb Barton, Beau Cantor and Quinton Edwards scoring 19, 14 and 13 respectively.
Ruston evens district 2-5A record
The 65-29 whipping of West Ouachita that past Friday evened Ruston’s district 2-5A record at 2-2 and helped Ruston wipe the bad memory of losing 52-47 loss at home to West Monroe. The major difference in both contests was the second and third periods. In the loss, West Monroe made as many shots (13) as the Bearcats were allowed to take while it was Ruston who took a 29-12 advantage over the Chiefs to coast to victory.
Ruston is now 13-3 on the year and 2-2 in district play. West Ouachita fell to 7-7 and 1-2 in 2-5A play while West Monroe, ranked 2nd in Class 5A entering the contest by the LHSAA, moved to 2-0 in 2-5A play and with their third straight win that improved the Rebels to 10-2 on the season.
It was backcourt mates Joshua Dean and Markel Jones who led the way for Ruston. Dean made four of eight from the three-point line on his way to 16 points while Jones, who in the earlier stages of the season was the leading scorer, reached double digits with ten after being held to single digits in the last several games. Jonesboro native Rollin Belton added 9, Jackson Pilgreen 8, Lontravious Dimmer 7 and both Braylan McNeal and Johntarious Thomas chipped in five. Kalen Dobbins three pointer and Dillon Wilson’s basket round out the Bearcat scoring. Garrett Dunn led West Ouachita with ten followed by 8 from Joseph Lenard. Chase White and Tanner Wise added four and Harrison May scored three for West Ouachita.
In the West Monroe contest a bright spot for the Bearcats, who was forced to play a second straight without freshman sensation Jamadrion Lillie, was the season best 13 points from Braylan McNeil and one of the better scoring nights of the year for Jackson Pilgreen, who finished with nine. West Monroe was led by 16 from Demareo Taylor and 15 by Tyler Pleasant, who combined to make 14 of 24 shots, including three trey’s.
| Saline (5-6) | 13 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 60 |
| Dodson (6-6) | 15 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 3 | 54 |
SHS scoring: Roberts 20, Jackson 17, Clifton 10, Crawford 5, Dison 3, Blanchard 3, Staggs 2
DHS scoring: Barton 19, Cantor 14, Edwards 13, Box 4, Hall 3, Potts 1
| Ruston (13-3, 2-2) | 16 | 13 | 26 | 10 | 65 |
| West Ouachita (7-7, 1-2) | 5 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 29 |
RHS scoring: Dean 16, Jones 10, Belton 9, Pilgreen 8, Dimmer 7, Thomas 5, McNeal 5, Dobbins 3, Wilson 2
WOHS scoring: Dunn, Lenard 8, White 4, Wise 4, May 3
| Ruston (12-3, 1-2) | 13 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 47 |
| West Monroe (10-2, 2-0) | 9 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 52 |
RHS scoring: McNeal 13, Pilgreen 9, Dean 8, Scott 5, Jones 4, Thomas 3, Belton 3, Brewster 2
WMHS scoring: Taylor 16, Pleasant 15, Campbell 8, Jones 5, Dade 4, Cooper 2, Glass 2
Additional Tuesday, January 19th scores for Jackson Parish Journal coverage area schools found Calvin beating Georgetown 67-23 in 4C play, Cedar Creek over Delta Charter 68-58 for their second straight 1-1A victory. Class B Choudrant downed Class 2A D’Arbonne Woods 69-35 and Winnfield lost their district 3-2A opener 73-63 to Red River out of Coushatta. On Friday, January 22nd Simsboro crushed Franklin Parish 92-64, Union topped Choudrant 83-46 and Winnfield beat Lakeview 67-59.