All top seeds advance in the 3A-3 JH district

WILSON – The 3A-3 Junior High District tournament followed script as the four one- and two-seeded boys and girls teams advanced to the championship games in their respective divisions.

The Manila junior boys and girls, both one seeds, posted double-digit wins over their opponents, Newport and Walnut Ridge, respectively. Hoxie upended three-seeded Rivercrest Jr. Lady Colts and the Osceola junior boys needed overtime to oust Rivercrest from the tournament.

OJHS 55, RJHS 47 OT (boys)

Osceola dominated the extra period outscoring Rivercrest 11-3 on their way to the eight-point win.

As overtime started with the score knotted at 44-44, Jaylen Hatch stuck back a miss to give OJHS the lead but Christian Nunn answered with a put back of his own.

Fabious Hughes then worked inside for a basket as the Jr. Noles went up for good at 49-46. And the host team scored just one more point in the final minute of play with Osceola advancing to play Manila, another day three winner, in the finals.

Rivercrest seemed to have the game in hand late in the fourth quarter leading by seven with a little more than two minutes left. However, Osceola rallied from 42-35 down to tie the game on two free throws from Marvell Carr, who scored 11 points in the game.

Deon Spears connected on two from the charity stripe to give RJHS the lead at 44-42 but Hatch answered inside off an assist from Carr.

Rivercrest turned the ball over with 12 seconds left but Osceola couldn’t capitalize.

The Jr. Colts followed suit with a miscue in the backcourt with 1.8 seconds left but Ekulyn Perez’s launch from 25 feet was no good leading to the overtime.

Hatch scored a game-high 25, and Hughes contributed 15 for Osceola, while Spears and Hayes tied for team-high honors for RJHS with 14 points each. Nunn chipped in nine.

Manila 63, Newport 34 (boys)

The Jr. Lions improved to 24-0 with the romp over the Jr. Greyhounds.

Three Manila players reached double figures with Espn Burrow leading the way with 18, followed by Noel Salomon’s 15 and Daniel Azucena’s 10. Danton Skaggs chipped in eight.

Manila led by 10 at the end of the first quarter and extended its lead to 15 at 33-18 at the break. They doubled up Newport, 22-11, in the third quarter before the reserves outscored the Jr. Greyhounds 8-5 in the final period of play.

Travairs Hardaway paced Newport with 12 and R.J. Hardaway added 10 points.

Manila 44, Walnut Ridge 21 (girls)

The Jr. Lady Lions secured their spot in the championship with the 23-point win over the Lady Cats.

The game was never in question as Manila, regular season conference champions, raced to a 13-4 first quarter lead and pushed the advantage to 24-11 at the break.

Behind Madyson Rounsaville’s 13 points and Harleigh McGuire’s 12, Manila kept rolling in the second half outscoring the WRJHS, 20-10, to set the final.

Langley Austin tallied seven points to lead the Jr. Lady Cats.

Hoxie 40, Rivercrest 32 (girls)

In the day’s third game, the Jr. Lady Colts controlled the first half over the two-seed Jr. Lady Mustangs but Hoxie rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to advance in the tournament.

Rivercrest led 20-14 at the break, but only mustered 12 points in the final two quarters of play. This while Hoxie scored 26 second half points. The Jr. Lady Colts didn’t do themselves any favors missing 11 of their 18 free throw attempts, including seven in the second half.

Jayci Simms scored 11 for Hoxie, while Maddox Orrick reached double figures with 10. Dialyla Davis added eight. Armani Facon and Aniyah Wood had 11 points each for Rivercrest.