SPORTS>>Bears not down very long

By Jason king

Leader sportswriter

CONWAY — Sylvan Hills did not show any ill effects from its first loss.

Jacksonville beat the Bears in the opening round of the John Stanton Wampus Cat Invitational on Monday, but Sylvan Hills bounced back Thursday with a 71-52 victory over Vilonia in the consolation bracket.

The Bears (5-1) got an early lift from junior guard Dion Patton while classmate Archie Goodwin handled the rest with a game-high 30 points. 

“We went deeper into our bench than we have been,” Bears coach Kevin Davis said. “We did not play very well the other night against Jacksonville. We didn’t bring the intensity, so we had some hard practices this week and really tried to focus on some things.

“So, I was a little concerned about our legs. I knew Vilonia would play us hard. But I was able to fully use the bench, and I thought Anthony Featherstone gave us key minutes in the paint.”

Featherstone and Pearson combined for four points, but their control of the lane forced the Eagles to rely on mostly outside shooting, which met with mixed results.

Vilonia cut Sylvan Hills’ lead to 57-47 midway through the fourth quarter, but the Bears responded as they had all night, with teamwork.

“That’s what those two practices will get you,” Davis said. “Tuesday’s practice was a three-hour — it was grueling. And that’s what that was about, not being selfish and being more team oriented. It’s a team sport, and the more you’re unselfish, the better off you’re going to be.”

Goodwin and Patton set the tone with three pointers and Patton tacked on two free throws with 5:35 left in the first quarter to put the Bears up 8-2. The Eagles stayed within six until Goodwin went on a tear early in the second period.

With University of Arkansas coach John Pelphrey in the stands, Goodwin, one of the state’s top college prospects, dunked to open the quarter and made a layup on another breakaway. He then made two three-pointers, the second of which put the Bears up 35-18 with 1:23 left in the half.

Goodwin scored 20 first-half points.

Vilonia junior guard Trevor Martin scored four first-half points but erupted with three baskets in the third quarter and hit two more in the opening minutes of the fourth to make it 57-47 with 5:25 left. 

With Goodwin in more of a prevent-type mode, junior forward Larry Ziegler took the reins and scored eight of his nine points in the last eight minutes. Goodwin added an exclamation point to his performance with a behind-the-back dunk in the final minute.

Patton added 14 points for Sylvan Hills while Trey Smith and Jacob Gates each had seven.

Martin led Vilonia with 18 points and Cody Brewer had 10.

With all the talent on Davis’ team, he has to occasionally remind people that with the exception of seniors Deveyaun Blair, Bruce Mack and Fred Washington, the squad is junior laden.

“They depended on the seniors so much last year,” Davis said. “They relied on them so much, so they are still young. Even though they have a year under their belt, they’re still young guys. And I think that’s where we’re still struggling a little bit is to totally trust the system and be where you’re supposed to be and do what you’re supposed to be doing, and not rely so much on your individual skill.”

Sylvan Hills will play Guy-Perkins in the fifth-place game today at 2:30 p.m.

EDITORIAL >> Simon says

Anybody who says, “Let’s get lunch sometime,” intends never to have lunch with you.

Anybody who says, “Don’t be a stranger,” wants you to remain a stranger.

You are really, really old if you know Morse code. You are really old if you ever cut a stencil for a mimeograph machine. You are old if your kitchen had linoleum.

Take it from me, “Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel is going to be the best book you read this year.

If everybody tells you that you are a snappy dresser, you are probably too much of one.

Strange but true: We all know that Julius Caesar “crossed the Rubicon,” but today nobody is sure where the river Rubicon really is.

What’s the difference between heaven and hell? In hell, all they have is basic cable.

Show me a person who can yodel, and I will show you a person who has no friends.

When is the last time you checked your oil? Do you even know where your dipstick is? Do you even know what a dipstick is?

Lingerie football? Really?

Am I the only one who always get Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci mixed up? Michelangelo did the statue “David” and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and a bunch of other great stuff. Leonardo da Vinci did “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper” and a bunch of other great stuff. But I know I’ll never remember who did what.

If someone says, “It may be none of my business,” he’s right.

Has one size ever really fit all?

Drivers who never give you a wave of “thank you” when you let them cut in front of you should be beaten with sticks.

Cheap flashlights are never worth it.

Does anyone still play the harmonica? Why?

Why is daylight always “broad”? Has no one ever been robbed in “narrow” daylight?

I have the same feeling every time I see someone driving a convertible with the top up in beautiful weather: OK, so you don’t want to get your hair mussed or you don’t want to get too much sun. So why did you buy a convertible in the first place?

Since nobody predicted the recession, nobody is going to predict the recovery.

–Roger Simon

EDITORIAL >> Brief history of a motto

We were afraid of something like this. Rep. John Boozman is yet a few weeks away from becoming United States senator from Arkansas and he is already entangled in foolishness. He joined a group of fringe lawmakers in writing and widely circulating a letter to President Obama protesting his reference to “E Pluribus Unum” as the national motto.

Boozman and the others want the country to believe that the president has committed heresy in a speech in Indonesia last month in which he invoked the national slogan in an appeal to nations to overcome their religious and cultural differences. The story of America is wrapped up in the motto E Pluribus Unum, he said, and it shows that “hundreds of millions of people who hold different beliefs can be united in freedom under one flag.” Is that not a compelling message for the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Ireland—well, you can name any hotspot in the world.

What American could quarrel with the sentiment? But Boozman and his colleagues did.

Their motive, of course, is to impugn the president’s faith and contribute to the suspicion on the right that he is secretly a Muslim rather than the Christian he professes to be.

The national motto, Boozman said this week, is “In God We Trust,” and by saying that the motto is “E Pluribus Unum,” the president was refusing to recognize that Americans got their rights from God, the Creator.

Boozman and the others have a very tiny point—Congress did indeed adopt a resolution in 1956 designating “In God We Trust” as the official motto—but they are dead wrong in principle and in motive.

“E Pluribus Unum,” which means “out of many, one,” was the guiding principle in the founding of the nation. The Continental Congress put it on the Great Seal of the United States. The phrase appears by ancient law on all American currency. President Truman ordered the motto to be put on the Coat of Arms of the president of the United States, where it remains. Presidents for two centuries have referred to the slogan reverentially, and no one ever attacked them for it, even if they implied that it was the official motto of the country.

President George W. Bush in 2002 referred to E Pluribus Unum as the nation’s motto in an official proclamation. Boozman and friends never impugned Bush’s faith or patriotism. Their letter to Obama should have upbraided President Ronald Reagan, too. At the National Forum on Education, exactly 27 years ago today, Reagan declared: “The motto of the United States is ‘E Pluribus Unum,’ from many one.”

Reagan was never much of a churchgoer, but no one insinuated that he was a nonbeliever. Only Thomas Jefferson and Barack Obama have endured those attacks.

Oh, and Obama has frequently referred to God and the Creator. Only last week in an inspirational message to soldiers in Afghanistan he referred to God as the source of the inalienable human rights in America.

Sen.-elect and Rep. Boozman should stick to his agenda of stopping federal assistance to Arkansas communities and leave spiritual and patriotic matters to the better judgment of his constituents.

TOP STORY >> Base air show gets top prize at convention

This year’s Little Rock Air Force Base air show took top honors at the international air show convention Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The Air Force Thunderbirds, which headlined the air show in October, helped name LRAFB’s biennial show the best in the nation.

Annabelle Davis, executive secretary of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council, spread the news to council members after the announcement.

“This is a big deal,” she said. “This is huge.”

She said Chris Roberts, who heads Air Power Arkansas, the local group which helps organize the air show, relayed the news as soon as it was announced.

Air Power Arkansas also helps organize the air rodeo competition on alternate years when the air show is not being held.

This year’s air show, “Thunder Over the Rock,” drew some 250,000 people Oct. 9-10.

The Army Golden Knights parachute team also appeared at the air show.

Other attractions included several C-130s, the Super Hornet, Canadian Skyhawks, Otto the Helicopter, Mike Rinker and “Pink Floyd,” Shockwave jet truck, Alabama Boys and “Tora, Tora, Tora” World War II fighter planes and others.

Local businesses contributed $50,000 to make the air show possible.

TOP STORY >> Williams readies for new challenge

By JOAN MCCOY

Leader staff writer

With less than a month left as mayor of Cabot, Eddie Joe Williams says he now understands the term “lame duck.”

He hasn’t started any projects in the past 90 days that couldn’t be finished by the end of December, but he still takes care of day-to-day city business. And last week while in Washington, where state senators got together to discuss issues across the nation that impact all states, he met with Rep. Marion Berry to talk about the north interchange that he has been working to bring about for a decade.

The mayor left for the nation’s capital early last week and the conference ran through Saturday, but at 4 p.m. Friday, he was driving back from the airport in Little Rock.

State Sen. Bobby Glover, whose seat Williams is taking over in January, told him once to always take care of his constituents first, Williams said. And though the conference was chock full of educational topics such as what to do about the backlog of unprocessed rape kits, and how to implement health-care reform that will cost states hundreds of millions, he had committed to welcoming guests at the Christmas- lighting ceremony behind city hall and he intended to be there, he said. Nancy Cohea and Alderman Ann Gilliam had worked hard getting ready for the celebration and they are his constituents, Williams said.

He said he is a little disappointed that the new National Guard armory won’t be finished before he leaves office.

“It would have been nice to have a ribbon cutting,” he said.

But the estimated completion date on that multimillion-dollar project is April.

“It was one of the single biggest projects in my administration with a $1 million-a-year economic impact,” he said.

Williams also has been working with Bill Cypert, who takes over as mayor on Jan. 1.

Cypert has signed off on his budget for 2011, so that is ready for the council to pass, Williams said.

Asked if he regrets giving up his job as mayor, Williams said he might if he was retiring.

“I think I have something really exciting to look forward to,” he said.

The natural-gas industry is now huge in Arkansas, he said. And regulating it to protect state residents will require legislation that he wants to be a part of.

So while he’s still dealing with the issues that Cypert will soon face like traffic and drainage, he’s also committed to attending a fish fry in Hazen and a breakfast in Keo.

“I think it’s important that people get to know who I am and that I intend to work for them,” the new state senator said. “Your constituents come first.”

TOP STORY >> Base could depend on Snyder as real friend

By GARRICK FELDMAN

Leader executive editor

Rep. Vic Snyder, a Democrat who is retiring from Congress at the end of the year, is getting some heat from Republicans for wasting time on the House floor to praise this community’s support of Little Rock Air Force Base.

The new Republican majority in the House says it will end those feel-good proclamations next year. But what’s the harm in singling out local achievers or honoring the year of the blues, as long it’s done after hours?

Allocate time for such activities, say, between midnight and 7 a.m. when C-Span is rerunning the previous day’s events in Congress.

Snyder’s successor, Tim Griffin, who won in the GOP landslide, says we don’t need any compliments from Congress. He may be right because in Snyder’s case, the backslapping should have been the other way around: Central Arkansas should have saluted Snyder for his work in behalf of the air base.

The last time we looked, Snyder helped pass some $60 million worth of projects for the base: Getting funds for new squadron headquarters, a fitness center, a dining hall, runway repairs, a nearly completed Joint Education Center, a couple of dozen C-130Js when the plane was on life support and much more. Remember, Sen. John McCain wanted to kill the Js.

Some two dozen C-130Js are to be assigned to LRAFB worth more than $1 billion.

The C-130Js are a tremendous asset, carrying troops and supplies in and out of war zones around the clock.

Snyder, a member of the Armed Services Committee, will take a community leader’s call in the middle of the night while a bill is making its way through Congress, where he’s served for 12 years.

He won’t brag about his achievements, yet no politician has done more for the base: This former Marine is always there when he’s needed.

Maybe he’s attentive because he’s also a physician — and a lawyer who can read the fine print. (If he returns to medicine, he can always defend himself in the unlikely event of a malpractice suit.)

Sure, one community’s improvement project is another’s pork barrel or earmark, but give him credit for securing millions for this small state. It helps that the Pentagon thinks highly of LRAFB—it’s in a terrific location with unlimited air space — and so does the community, which recently won the Abilene Trophy for its support of the base.

Here are some numbers to consider:

Snyder helped shepherd through $9.8 million to rebuild the landing strips, which have been in disrepair for many years.

n $10.7 million for a C-130 fuel-cell corrosion-control hangar for environmentally safe repair of fuel cells as well as corrosion control of aircraft parts.

n Consolidated Family Support Ser-vices at a cost of $6.8 million for a community center, library, airman family-readiness center and thrift shop.

n Airman dormitory costing $18 million

.

n Security forces operations facility for $10.4 million.

n Joint Education Center received $9.8 million from the Air Force. Jacksonville contributed $5 million with a penny sales tax. Construction will be completed in January.

Snyder also pushed the avionics-modernization program, which extends the life of aging C-130s with updated features that save the military millions of dollars a year.

Perhaps the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council, which includes civic leaders like Snyder, will issue a proclamation in his honor and give him a plaque before he leaves office.

TOP STORY >> New rules to go into effect for fracturing

By JOAN MCCOY

Leader staff writer

The companies in Arkansas that contract with the natural-gas industry to break up the shale that holds the gas will be required to give the formula of their hydraulic fracturing fluids to doctors who need it to treat their patients when a new rule tentatively approved Tuesday by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission goes into effect Jan. 15.

But those formulas won’t be available to the public, who can access only the list of ingredients.

Larry Bengal, commission director, said after a commission meeting Tuesday that environmental groups may have wanted more, but the public will have everything it needs to, for example, have chemists check water wells thought to be contaminated by fracking fluids.

Frankly, the gas producers don’t care if the formulas for fracking fluids are public knowledge, Bengal said. But the fracking companies, like the Canadian-based Calfrac in Beebe, want to protect their secret formulas from the competition.

“In my opinion, everybody got exactly what they needed,” Bengal said, adding he doesn’t think it is necessary for the public to have access to the formulas.

Bengal said the commission approved the new rules contingent on seeing the actual typed version of what was discussed during the commission meeting.

The meeting follows a public-comment session held in October on proposed changes that would require greater transparency about the makeup of fracking fluids.

As would be expected, environmental groups wanted more disclosure and the fracking companies wanted less. Both sides addressed the commission on Tuesday before the commission voted to limit access of the fluid formulas to doctors.

Bengal said concerns that emergency workers tending injured gas-field workers not having access to all the information they need are groundless.

OSHA already requires a list of fracking-fluid ingredients to be posted at every well site, he said.

In its original form, the new rule would have required companies to report detailed information about their fracking formulas including the specific names and concentrations of the ingredients.

Environmental groups complained that the language was vague. The proposed rule said the ingredients were to be reported, but not who would have access. The clarification approved on Tuesday makes it clear that the general public won’t have access to the formulas.

Bengal likened the ruling to knowing that flour and chocolate go into making a chocolate cake but he said each baker is entitled to keep the exact recipe secret.

TOP STORY >> Atwoods helping abused children

 From left, Atwoods Ranch and Home staff members Bill Harris, Buddy Brumett, officer manager Donna Corley and assistant manager Steven Holbrick gather around the Wade Knox Christmas tree on Tuesday.

By JOAN McCOY

Leader staff writer

Atwoods in Lonoke, the farm and ranch store that opened in October in the old Walmart, has an angel tree unlike any other.

The 26 children represented on the tree are all victims of abuse who have been served by the Wade Knox Children’s Advocacy Center. And instead of buying clothing and toiletries, those who take angels from the tree are agreeing to buy for the children the one gift they want the most.

Karen James, the center’s director, said last week that a few of the children have asked for high-dollar items such as electronic games. But most had simple requests: baby dolls, hair bows, an Easy Bake oven, remote control cars….

“For the most part, their wishes were very childlike,” James said. “It makes you realize they really are just children.”

Keith Jones, the store manager, said Friday that all but eight of the angels have been taken from the tree.

Store employees took several, he said. They also have encouraged customers to participate either by donating money or taking angels.

For the most part, the angels left on the tree represent the expensive wishes of teenagers, Jones said. If they aren’t taken, the store has a backup plan – pictures of pets with Santa.

Jones’ wife Darla is the photographer, and volunteers wear the Santa suit. Photos are $10 for the first sheet and $9 for additional sheets.

The only cost to the store is the price of processing and all the proceeds not used to buy those expensive gifts will be donated to the center to be used as needed.

Jones said he and his wife started the Santa- and pet-picture fundraiser when he managed an Atwoods in Poteau, Okla.

When he suggested raising money for a charity to his new staff in Lonoke, they were excited about helping. The Wade Knox Children’s Advocacy Center was the obvious choice in part because it is practically next door, he said.

The center opened in August 2005. Since then, 835 children between the ages of three and 18 have been interviewed there by a trained forensic interviewer.

The interviews are taped and shared so the victims of abuse are not traumatized further by having to repeat their stories several times.

The current center is only 900 square feet, but a new, 3,700-square-foot facility is in the works.

James said the lot and plans have been purchased and some headway made toward grants to pay for construction.

James said it will have two waiting areas, a conference room, consultation room and a medical and mental health room.

“We’ll be able to offer more services than we do now,” she said.

But those plans are for later. Now, the focus is the upcoming holiday and James said “putting the twinkle back in the eyes” of children who have endured more than anyone ever should.

“With the very gracious help from the community, we’ll make it happen,” Jones said. “Taking care of God’s children is everyone’s responsibility.”

The deadline for bringing gifts to the store is Dec. 18. Santa will be at Atwoods from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

TOP STORY >> Thompson jury selection goes slow

By STEPHEN STEED

Special to The Leader

Jury selection in the trial of a Cabot man and a North Little Rock alderman on various weapons charges stalled Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Little Rock when the pool of potential jurors ran low.

U.S District Judge Bill Wilson Jr. will call on 25 new ones when the trial resumes at 9 a.m. today.

Court opened at 1:30 p.m. Tues-day with 55 potential jurors. The pool was down to 33 two hours later, and prosecutors and defense lawyers hadn’t yet gotten to the point where they could question potential jurors individually and use preemptory challenges to strike them from the panel. Eventually, they’ll settle on 12 jurors, plus three alternates. The trial is expected to take two weeks.

Running short of potential jurors was a first for him in his many years on the bench, Wilson said, calling it a learning experience.

George Wylie Thompson, 65, of Cabot, faces six charges, including being a felon in possession of guns and ammunition, possession of unregistered silencers and conspiracy to commit illegal gambling. Sam Baggett, who has remained on the North Little Rock City Council since his arrest and indictment, is charged with selling guns and ammunition to a felon and making false statements to federal agents.

Their case took another turn Monday morning with a guilty plea being entered by a third defendant, Cary Gaines of North Little Rock. He pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Gaines, too, was a North Little Rock alderman, but he resigned shortly before indictment. He had been scheduled to join Thompson as a co-defendant in a separate trial next year but could be called to testify this week in the Thompson-Baggett case.

Gaines is listed as a potential witness by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Hoey and by John Wesley Hall of Little Rock, the lead defense lawyer for Baggett. Thompson’s attorneys are Blake Hendrix and Jason Files, both of Little Rock. They didn’t offer a list of potential witnesses, or ask to read theirs aloud.

Wilson excused several potential jurors after Hall read off his list of potential witnesses. Other than Gaines, it included North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays, former Mayor Terry Hartwick, who now heads the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, and several former or current city aldermen and policemen. Those jurors, all apparently from North Little Rock, said they knew those witnesses too well to be unbiased in their consideration of the case.

Wilson excused two others because Baggett, a long-time barber in the Levy neighborhood of North Little Rock, had cut their hair, or a family member’s hair, for years.

“That’s cutting it a little too close,” Wilson, known for his dry, home-spun humor, deadpanned in excusing those pool members.

A federally licensed gun dealer at the time authorities were investigating Thompson, Baggett contends he didn’t know about Thompson’s past conviction on drug charges. The sales of guns and ammunition, according to prosecutors, were arranged during a series of telephone calls in January and February of 2009 between Baggett and Thompson. Unknown to Thompson or Baggett, federal investigators had a wiretap on Thompson’s telephone.

In May 2009, agents with the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched Thompson’s properties in Cabot and northern Pulaski County and seized 147 firearms and some 88,000 rounds of ammunition for a variety of handguns, rifles and shotguns. Some of the shipping boxes had Baggett’s address, according to prosecutors, who also have said at least two of the guns came from Baggett.

Baggett’s defense attorneys have said it was only then that Baggett found out Thompson was a felon.

In the case against Gaines, 65, a former executive director of the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association, federal prosecutors alleged that Gaines worked with Thompson in a bid-rigging scheme in which Gaines would receive kickbacks from contractors who win city jobs. The kickbacks involved some $30,000 to $70,000, according to prosecutors, but never fully developed. Gaines said he needed the money to pay gambling debts owed to Thompson.

In exchange for Gaines’ guilty plea, prosecutors dropped other charges against him, including one of public corruption. Gaines, who is free on bond, faces up to 20 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines when he is sentenced April 22. Outside court Monday, he said he was “ashamed and embarrassed” about his actions and was prepared for the consequences.

After Gaines’ guilty plea Monday morning before U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, Judge Wilson considered an effort by Thompson’s attorney, Files, to contest the seizure of 102 guns from Thompson’s property at 1800 Lusby Lane in northern Pulaski County. The 102 guns were among the total of 147 seized in the May 12, 2009, raid.

Wilson eventually sided with prosecutors but expressed doubt about the validity of the search warrant issued by a federal magistrate. Wilson said evidence showing probable cause to issue the warrant appeared to be vague but, in the end, he ruled that agents relied in good faith on the magistrate’s decision.

In October, a federal jury in Little Rock convicted Thompson on drug-trafficking charges, along with Ralph Francis DeLeo of Somerville, Mass. That makes three separate trials for Thompson arising from the same 2009 investigation: the October drug trial, this week’s trial with Baggett, and the Feb. 1 scheduled public-corruption trial that once involved Gaines.

Early in the case’s development, federal prosecutors in Boston, Mass., after indictments of DeLeo and Thompson on charges of extortion, loan sharking and drug trafficking, claimed that DeLeo

Thompson eventually was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.

SPORTS >> Hurricane gets edge on Falcons at Conway

By TODD TRAUB

Leader sports editor

CONWAY – Jonesboro had an open invitation to the free-throw line as it beat North Pulaski 66-47 in the second round of the Wampus Cat Invitational at Buzz Bolding Arena on Monday.

The Hurricane (5-1) outlasted the Falcons in a game that featured 51 fouls while senior post player Ojo Ayo led with 22 points and 17 rebounds.

The Falcons struggled to handle pressure from Jonesboro’s full-court defense and to overcome 29 fouls. Jonesboro was able to reach the double bonus with 6:22 left in the first half and again early in the fourth quarter.

“He lost a lot of guards — a lot of experience from last year,” second-year Jonesboro coach Wes Swift said of coach Ray Cooper and North Pulaski, which reached the 5A state semifinals last season. “We thought our pressure might disrupt a little of what they were doing. We got beat Saturday in our own finals, and this is our fourth game in five days.

“On the one hand, I was concerned about our legs; on the other hand, I thought they were pretty motivated because they felt they gave one away Saturday night.”

Saturday’s loss to East Poinsett County became a distant memory for the Hurricane once they got the early jump on the Falcons.

Jacob Gibson’s buzzer-beating three pointer to end the first quarter gave Jonesboro a 16-13 lead, and it held the lead with three straight trips to the free-throw line before Ayo led Jonesboro on an 11-0 run that stretched the lead to 31-18 with 3:11 left in the half.

Senior guard Marcus Williams picked up his third foul with 7:03 left in the second quarter, and a foul by Shyheim Barron moments later sent Jonesboro’s Colby Inboden to the line for the first of seven trips by the Hurricane before the half.

Jonesboro capitalized by going 10 of 14.

Williams and Barron eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter.

The Hurricane had similar difficulties as it committed 22 fouls.

It was not Jonesboro’s 22 of 36 showing at the free-throw line that made all the difference, as the Falcons made 15 of 29 free throws. The Hurricane controlled the game by controlling the rebounding 43-16 over a greatly outsized North Pulaski team.

Most of that success was because of Ayo’s power-finesse presence inside. Ayo single-handedly out rebounded the Falcons by one.

“I thought Ayo set the tone,” Swift said. “We threw it to him early; I thought he got some baskets. I don’t know how many rebounds he had, but it was a lot.”

Junior guard Braylon Spicer was the Falcons’ only consistent scoring threat most of the night. Spicer helped keep things close early and scored five of North Pulaski’s final six points of the first half once the Hurricane crept out to a double-digit lead.

Spicer made two straight baskets inside the lane with less than two minutes left in the half, and hit the back end of a two-shot free-throw opportunity with 52 seconds left to make it 32-23.

But the Hurricane shut Spicer out in the third quarter, though he went on to lead the Falcons with 17 points.

After a successful run at Lonoke, Swift replaced longtime Hurricane coach Barry Pruitt last season and is beginning to see the program adapt to his style.

“Last year was kind of a culture shock for them going from one coach to a new one,” Swift said. “A coach that had been there for 25 years to a new, young, whatever you want to call me. It took them a little while to get used to what I expected, but things are moving the way I want them to.”

Sophomore Dayshwan Wat-kins added 11 points for the Falcons while senior post player Bryan Colson finished with eight.

North Pulaski will play Thursday at 5:30 against the loser between Fayetteville and Guy-Perkins.