District play began in earnest for the local prep basketball teams this past week. Once the dust had settled in Jackson Parish the Quitman and Saline boys teams had surfaced at the top of the district 1B and 2C standings. Jonesboro-Hodge is treading water in the middle of the pack in District 3-2A play while Weston is up the proverbial creek without a paddle. 

Results from games played January 23 – 28:

Quitman 59 Weston 41: (Friday) With the Wolverines draining everything they threw up and Weston unable to score, in all reality the contest was over just three minutes in. Back-to-back-to-back three-pointers, two by Logan Ponder and another by Eli Walker gave Quitman a quick 9-0 lead that ballooned to 16-0 before Braden Theriot got Weston on the board.
To their credit, Weston fought back to shave six points off by the half as Theriot added eight more and Tait Henderson scored six to bring the Wolves to within 30-20. The lead stayed between the 15-20 point range throughout the second half sans another run by Weston in the fourth that got them to within ten again but 9 of 12 free throw accuracy squelched any further rally.
Logan Ponder led the way with 23 points and 8 boards for Quitman while Eli Walker chipped in with 11. Blake Carter, who took a frightful spill but thankfully was ok, scored nine and blocked four shots and Brayden Smith added 8. Noah Leach scored six and Riley Duck made a basket to round out the scoring. Theriot and Henderson, with 17 and 14 points respectively, scored all but ten of Weston’s points with Mitchel Mathews ending with 8 and Nathan Wages adding a basket.
The victory sets up a key matchup with Doyline on Tuesday for the top spot in district 1B as both enter with a 2-0 record. The sixth loss in the last seven games dropped Weston to #34 in Division V forcing the Wolves to finish strong over the next four district contests or risk facing missing the postseason.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
Quitman	22	8	12	17	59
Weston	6	14	6	15	41

Saline 69 Dodson 37 (Friday): Not pleased with the effort given against JHHS on Thursday and knowing how distracting Homecoming can be, head coach Klint Robinson gave his team a directive first thing Friday morning – You better hit the floor ready to play. Judging by the results they heard him loud and clear.
Saline jumped all over Dodson to take a commanding 20-6 first-quarter lead and never let off the gas to post their second-largest victory since way back in November. Making the quick start all the more pleasing, it was the ceremony participants that did all the early damage.
Freshman Gavin Dailey led the way with 11 points followed by Trent Ledbetter, who finally seems to be recovered from a series of injuries, posting a season-best 10 points on the strength of a pair of three-pointers. Will Dyson had six, Shawn Staggs finished with five, DJ Rager-Ridley followed with 4 and Wesley Crawford hit a three-pointer – all in the first three quarters as Saline built a 51-24 lead.
That set the stage for the best production of the year by the reserves who pasted Dodson for 18 points in the fourth quarter led by six from Conner Roberts and five each from Jay Nash and Nathan Peoples. Gunner Fontenot added a basket for good measure.
The victory improved the Bobcats to 5-1 in district 2C play setting up a key Tuesday matchup with co-leader Atlanta that will have a tremendous bearing on district title aspirations for both teams. The 20th loss of the season against five victories for Dodson ended a season best two-game winning streak and dropped the Panthers to 1-5 in the district.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
Saline	20	12	19	18	69
Dodson	6	9	9	13	37

Lakeview 43 JHHS 35 (Friday) JHHS held Lakeview to the fewest points they had scored in the last 18 games. The problem is that the Tigers scored less than they have all year. The balance of the game was still in hand heading into the fourth quarter with Lakeview holding a slim 26-24 advantage in the low-scoring affair before besting JHHS by a 17-11 margin in the final frame.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Tigers who now sit at 9-11 overall and 3-3 in district 3-2A play. The season series sweep improved Lakeview to 18-7 overall and 5-1 in the district to stay one game back of district leader Winnfield.
Savantez Phillips scored 10 to pace the Tigers with Jarrius Lumpkin adding nine. Zion Gray ended with eight, Ajay Tew scored six and Cameron Leonard added a basket to round out the Tiger’s scoring effort. Jones was the high point man for Lakeview with 16 followed by Driver with 9 and both Sowell and Pikes with 7 each. Taylor added four.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
JHHS	12	7	5	11	35
Lakeview	15	6	5	17	43

JHHS 61 Saline 41 (Thursday) For two quarters the game remained close but an adjustment at the half by JHHS head coach Allen Tew to pound the ball inside proved fruitful for the home-standing Tigers as they ran away to what turned out to be an easy win.
The rare Thursday contest started slowly for both teams with J-H holding a slim 20-18 lead at the half. Jarrius Lumpkin, Cameron Leonard, Zion Gray, and Ajay Tew all made three-pointers for the Tigers who seemed content to bomb away from deep while Saline stayed close thanks to seven points from Wesley Crawford and six from DJ Rager-Ridley.
The second half was a different story altogether, especially in the third quarter. Taking advantage of their decided size advantage, the Tigers kept pumping the ball inside for a plethora of easy shots that resulted in Gray scoring seven in the frame and both Tew and Savantez Phillips adding six each, and Symeon Malone chipping in with four points as JHHS scored a game-best 25 in the frame to blow things open.
Phillips ended up leading JHHS in scoring with 18 assisted by 12 each from Tew and Gray. Leonard had 8 and Lumkin 7 with Malone finishing with four. Seven players scored for Saline but none reached double figures. A bright spot for the Bobcats was the second-half play of freshmen Gavin Dailey and Eli Ferguson who scored eight and five. Will Dison and Wesley Crawford added seven apiece for Saline followed by five from Shawn Staggs and three by Jacob Jones.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
JHHS	10	10	25	16	61
Saline	6	12	11	12	41

JHHS 61 Saline 41 (Thursday) For two quarters the game remained close but an adjustment at the half by JHHS head coach Allen Tew to pound the ball inside proved fruitful for the home-standing Tigers as they ran away to what turned out to be an easy win.
The rare Thursday contest started slowly for both teams with J-H holding a slim 20-18 lead at the half. Jarrius Lumpkin, Cameron Leonard, Zion Gray, and Ajay Tew all made three-pointers for the Tigers who seemed content to bomb away from deep while Saline stayed close thanks to seven points from Wesley Crawford and six from DJ Rager-Ridley.
The second half was a different story altogether, especially in the third quarter. Taking advantage of their decided size advantage, the Tigers kept pumping the ball inside for a plethora of easy shots that resulted in Gray scoring seven in the frame and both Tew and Savantez Phillips adding six each, and Symeon Malone chipping in with four points as JHHS scored a game-best 25 in the frame to blow things open.
Phillips ended up leading JHHS in scoring with 18 assisted by 12 each from Tew and Gray. Leonard had 8 and Lumkin 7 with Malone finishing with four. Seven players scored for Saline but none reached double figures. A bright spot for the Bobcats was the second-half play of freshmen Gavin Dailey and Eli Ferguson who scored eight and five. Will Dyson and Wesley Crawford added seven apiece for Saline followed by five from Shawn Staggs and three by Jacob Jones.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
Quitman	19	9	11	12	51
Castor	12	8	11	15	46

JHHS 67 Many 49 (Tuesday) Zion Gray shook off a slow start to score 25 points over the final three quarters to lift the Tigers past district doormat Many and give JHHS a winning 3-2 record in district play for the first half of the schedule.
Jarrius Lumkin hit 8 of 10 free throws to propel him to 14 points on the night and Ajay Tew turned in his best long-range shooting quarter of the year by connecting on four trey’s in the first on the way to 13 in the game. Cameron Leonard became the fourth Tiger to reach double figures when his second three-pointer of the night lifted his total to ten. Savantez Phillips tallied three points and Za’Marrion Palmer totaled two to round out the Tiger’s scoring effort. Many’s losing streak reached 13 straight times after a season-opening victory to fall to 1-13 on the season and 0-4 in district play.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
JHHS	15	11	17	24	67
Many	14	6	14	15	49

Doyline 87 Weston 67 (Tuesday) Only five Doyline players scored but two had over 30 points led to the second-highest scoring total given up by the Wolves this year. The most were also by Doyline when they won by a 92-77 margin back on November 18th. The loss overshadowed a fine effort from Bryce Zehr who did his best to keep Weston in the “track meet” by posting 27 points that included three 3-pointers in the second quarter. Braden Theriot and Mitchel Mathews also reached double digits in scoring with 14 and 12 but the Wolves could manage only 9 points otherwise with Tait Henderson scoring six, Ja’Michael Fourd making a three-pointer, and Nathan Wages adding a first-quarter basket.
Jamaria “Juicy” Clark, who holds the best single-game point total of 70 in the state, led Doyline with 37 followed by 30 points from Damarrion McClendon, on the strength of five three-pointers.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	TOTAL
Weston	14	19	15	16	67
Doyline	20	27	18	22	87

Boys District Standings

District 3-2A	District	Overall
Winnfield	2-0	18-4
Lakeview	5-1	18-7
Mansfield	3-2	10-5
JHHS	3-3	9-11
Red Rvier	1-3	10-14
Many	0-5	1-14

District 1B	District	Overall
Quitman	2-0	15-10
Doyline	1-0	20-2
Castor	0-1	11-11
Weston	0-2	9-18

District 2C	District	Overall
Saline	5-1	15-13
Atlanta	4-1	9-18
Georgetown	3-1	18-8
Calvin	3-2	16-9
Dodson	1-5	5-20
Central-J’ville	0-5	0-14

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