State tournaments pushed back again

Jonesboro Coach Wes Swift anticipated there might be hazardous traveling conditions after listening to weather forcasts earlier this week, so he decided to take his boys basketball team across the state to the Class 6A state tournament in Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday, three days before the Hurricane were scheduled to play.

Thanks to back-to-back weather delays, Swift's team must now wait until Sunday to play its first game in the tournament that is being held at Siloam Spring.

Spending six nights in a hotel before playing a game may not have been the perfect situation, but Swift doesn't regret the decision.

"We thought we might get a lot of snow and, in this case, we were right," Swift said. "We thought we might not get out of there, so we made the decision to travel early."

The Arkansas Activities Association postponed all of Thursday's state tournament games at all seven sites for the second day in a row. Action is scheduled to resume today at six sites. The Class 5A tournament in Paragould isn't scheduled to resume until Saturday.

Five of the tournaments are now scheduled to play their semifinal games Monday. The Class 5A and 2A tournaments will play their semifinal games Tuesday.

For Swift and the Hurricane, the delay will force Jonesboro to play its opener Sunday, eight days after the Hurricane's most recent game.

"It's one of those deals that's out of our control," Swift said. "We don't have a choice, but we're not the only ones. We've had to travel on Sundays before, getting to a tournament. Our parents don't seem to have an issue with it."

The tournament appears to be back on track as clearing skies and no snow are in the forecast for the next five days. Championship games remain scheduled for March 12-14 at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs.

Much of the state received either sleet and/or snow Wednesday. Northeast Arkansas was the hardest hit, with Paragould receiving 8 to 10 inches of snow.

But temperatures in the Greene County area hovered just below the freezing mark, resulting in little melting, which led the AAA to delay the Class 5A tournament for another day.

Sports on 03/06/2015

Upcoming Events