For one Jackson Parish boys basketball team the difference between 2024 and 2025 is like night and day. For the other two, the new year has brought pretty much the same results as the other.

In what is turning out to be a remarkable turnaround in Fred Hearne’s first year at the helm, Jonesboro-Hodge won their third straight of the new year without a loss by beating neighboring Saline 47-44, avenging the opening game loss to the Bobcats. With the victory JHHS improves to 5-11 on the year while Saline dropped to 10-10 with their first loss since the calendar switched to 2025. 

In Quitman it was much of the same as the Wolverines stretched their winning streak to 17 straight by taking a tightly contested 72-68 victory over a talented Castor squad in a battle of top ten Class B teams. The win improved the 3rd ranked Wolverines to a sparkling 18-2 on the year and more importantly to 1-0 in District 1B play while Castor, who entered at #8 in the power rankings, fell to 12-5 on the season after suffering the district opening loss. 

The fortunes at Weston also continued to be the same as Simsboro dropped the Wolves to 6-15 overall and 0-1 in District 1B play with a 89-49 thumping. With their  6th victory in the last 8 games, the Tigers from Lincoln Parish improved to 10-8 on the year. 

JHHS 47 Saline 44: ZaMauryian Palmer scored 15 and Dylan Hayes added 10 to pace the Tigers who rallied from a 37-35 deficit after three quarters. Ariy’un Bradford chipped in with 8 points and Samuel Combs added 6 . D.J. Palmer hit a pair of clutch fourth quarter baskets and both Kamerin Bradley and C. Gray tallied two each. Gavyn Dailey and Eli Ferguson led Saline with 17 and 10 points respectively while Jackson Bougues chipped in with 9 points. Conner Roberts and Jay Nash scored 5 and 3 points to round out the scoring for the Bobcats. 

Quitman 72 Castor 68:The Wolverines hit 10 of 15 shots in the first quarter to open up a 26-16 lead and then held fended off a late Castor rally to hold on for the hard fought victory. Brayden Martin and Gavyn Caskey led four Wolverines who posted “double digits” in scoring with 22 and 15 points respectively, both reaching their totals on the strength of making 4 shots from behind the arc. Taden Thomas and Brayden Smith added 10 points each while Larsen Thomas chipped in with 7 points and Noah Leach contributed 6. Abel Leach made a basket as well for the Wolverines who shot 51% from the field and 48 percent from the three point line. 

Simsboro 89 Weston 49: After one period of play Weston trailed by only a 22-20 margin but a 32-12 second quarter deficit proved to be fatal as the two teams exploded for 86 first half points. Bryce Zehr scored 16 points to lead the Wolves in scoring and Daniel Williams turned in a “double-double” with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Nathin Wages also had a big game with 11 points. Brody Tidwell and Ashad Harris scored three points apiece and Lajavion Harris added two but also came up with 9 rebounds.