A stirring upset bid by Jonesboro-Hodge fell just short as Franklin High made a shot with only two seconds left to play to escape with 45-43 a regional round victory. With the victory Franklin improves to 19-5 and advances to the LHSAA Division IV quarterfinals. The heart breaking defeat ends the Tigers season at 10-17.
Turn about fair play! Local fans will soon not forget the incredible 29-28 last second victory JHHS pulled off in the 2021 Class 2A quarterfinals in football where the Tigers trailed 28-15 with under three minutes to play. This time it was the favored, “non-select” #3 ranked team that produced the improbable rally.
First it was the Tigers who had stunned the raucus home crowd with a rally of their own. JHHS was down 37-31 heading into the fourth quarter. Senior guard Ajay Tew then put the Tigers on his back to score 7 points in the final frame and along with a spirited defensive effort led JHHS to outscore Franklin 12-4 to give J-H a 43-41 lead with only around 40 seconds left to play.
Proving deserving of their lofty ranking, the Hornets refused to fold and made a basket to tie the score. This set up what turned out to be the decisive play in the game as Franklin employed a full court pressure defense and forced a turnover on the inbounds play with 30 seconds remaining. For 28 seconds Franklin patiently maneuvered the ball around before stinging the Tigers with a basket with just two second left setting off a wild celebration.
Tew closed out his JHHS career by scoring 15 points to lead the Tigers in scoring. Zion Gray and Jarrius Lumpkin, who made three in the final frame, chipped in with eight each followed by 7 from Savantez Phillips. Cameron Leonard tallied three and ZaMarion Palmer hit a basket to round out the JHHS scoring. Jayshawn Johnson scored 14 to lead Franklin, who advances to the Division IV quarterfinals where they will play another District 3-2A school in #6 Lakeview.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL |
| #19 JHHS (10-17) | 12 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 43 |
| #3 Franklin (19-5) | 12 | 12 | 13 | 8 | 45 |
FHS scoring: J. Johnson 14, Page 8, Bell 5, Te. Johnson 5, Ceaser 4, Tr. Johnson 2
Top ranked Zwolle runs past Quitman 86-61
Logan Ponder scored a season-high 25 points and Brayden Smith tied his season-best with 13 but top-ranked Zwolle simply had too much firepower for the short-handed Wolverines to overcome. The second-round defeat ends Quitman’s season with an 18-13 record while Zwolle improves to 31-2 and moves on to face #8 Choudrant in the Division V “non-select” quarterfinals.
The high-scoring Hawks came out firing on all cylinders to take a commanding 29-13 advantage over the Wolverines playing without post player Blake Carter, who suffered a head injury in a baseball game over the past weekend. Quitman played inspired ball to start the second quarter and outscored the Hawks 13-5 to narrow the deficit to nine points but Zwolle made a late run to go into the break with a 44-31 advantage.
Five straight points by Ponder in the early stages of the third quarter brought Quitman to within 48-40 but that was as close as the Wolverines would come as Zwolle extended the lead to 65-45 at the end of three and coasted home with the victory.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | TOTAL |
| #16 Quitman (18-13) | 14 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 61 |
| #1 Zwolle (31-2) | 29 | 15 | 21 | 21 | 86 |
ZHS scoring: n/a
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