JACKSONVILLE -- With their 62-48 victory over Little Rock Hall on Friday night, the Jacksonville Titans have a pretty good idea of their seeding for the Class 6A Tournament.
"I think we will be a No. 2 seed behind Jonesboro (in the East) but we might be the third seed,'' said Jacksonville Coach Victor Joyner. "It's close between us and West Memphis. It's debatable, but I think on strength of schedule we get the edge."
The Titans' seed will be decided at a meeting Wednesday, but they certainly helped their case with the victory over Hall c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶e̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶w̶e̶e̶p̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶W̶a̶r̶r̶i̶o̶r̶s̶.*
Behind the play of guards Tyre Appleby with 21 points, 7 assists and 3 steals, and DeJuan Ridgeway with 17 points, the Titans (14-11, 7-6) eventually took the lead in the first quarter and never lost it despite several runs by the Warriors (14-9, 7-5).
After a slow start, the Titans, sparked by a pair of Appleby steals, went on a 7-0 run for a 7-3 lead. The Warriors managed a couple of early ties but a Christian White alley-oop dunk from Appleby made it 11-9 at the end of the quarter.
That was the start of another 9-0 run that included an Appleby dunk, a three-pointer from Ridgeway and a Appleby jumper that made it 18-9 with 5:23 left in the half. At the half, Jacksonville led 27-22.
Jacksonville's largest lead was 35-23, which came on an 8-1 run to start the second half. But four minutes later, helped by Jacksonville turnovers on four of five possessions, the lead was down to 39-37 with 2:10 left in the quarter.
With 8 minutes left, it was 42-39 Jacksonville.
Hall closed to within a point twice, and to within 2 points three times. But with 2:33 left and the score 50-48, Jacksonville scored the final 12 points as the Warriors had three turnovers and went 0 for 3 from the field.
"At this point and time of the year you are just trying to survive,'' Joyner said. "And you are just trying to win a game. You are never pleased. You are not trying to correct a lot of mistakes because it is time to go forward and win the next one because everything counts now. You're trying to stay positive because there is no tomorrow."
Hall was led by Mario Goggans with 18 points. Shawn Janiel scored 9.
Sports on 02/11/2017
*CORRECTION: Little Rock Hall and Jacksonville have split their two boys basketball games this season. An article and headline in a previous version of this story incorrectly stated the results between the teams.