By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The North Pulaski freshmen got a pair of relatively easy wins Monday night in their home opener against Pulaski Rob-inson. The girls cruised by Joe T. 32-14, and it wasn’t even that close. The boys got a tussle early on, but pulled away from the Senators for a 52-34 victory. The Lady Falcons had the game easily in hand at halftime, allowing coach Cordell Flowers to substitute freely throughout the second half.
The first group ran up a 27-4 lead by the end of the second quarter. Brianna Cash led a balanced scoring attack with eight points. Laura Dortch scored seven while Ashlyn Carney added five. Breyana Trent, Macie Fellows and Holly Hall scored four each to round out the scoring.
North Pulaski’s Kyron Ware led the Falcons charge in the boys game. He scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the first half, and in a tremendous show of consistency, scored 11 more and had seven boards in the second half, bringing his game totals to 22 points and 15 rebounds while also picking up six steals. The Falcons pulled ahead right away and took an 11-7 lead into the second quarter. The Senators came back and briefly took a one-point lead in the second quarter, but two quick buckets by Ware and running jumper by Agee put control back in the hands of the home team. Again Robinson came back to tie the game just before halftime, but a late flurry led by Agee’s five points sent the Falcons into halftime with a 24-18 lead.
Robinson’s run near the end of the second quarter proved to be its last salvo. The Falcons stretched their lead to as many as 12 points in the third quarter, then took command of the game and secured the win with an early run in the fourth. Agee contributed 13 points for the Falcons while Michael Evans scored eight. Daniel Otry led the Senators with 17 points and nine rebounds. The wins lift the Falcons and Lady Falcons to 2-0 on the year. They will travel to rival Jacksonville next Monday.
The Red Devils got their second win in a row and improved to 2-0 in conference play Monday night by knocking off Central Arkansas Christian 54-38. The Mustangs controlled the action throughout most of the first half. The visitors held a 14-13 lead after one quarter and a 25-23 lead at halftime. That changed along with Jacksonville’s defense in the second half. Red Devil coach Roy Jackson came out of the zone he ran in the first half, and put his players in man to start the second. Equally as important, the Red Devils began hitting outside shots and took 36-29 lead into the fourth quarter.
That forced CAC to come out of its zone. When it did, Jacksonville’s guards took over the game and led the Red Devils to the win going away. “When they had to try to press, our quickness was just too much for them,” Jackson said. “It really goes back to the third quarter though when they just clamped down on defense. They just played harder than they did in the first half and gave CAC all kinds of trouble. They were really making it hard for them to score.”
Cailen Davis led the way with 14 points. Deshaun McClure added 13 while Deonta Swain scored 11 for the Red Devils, who improved to 2-2 overall.