By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
There isn’t much difference between home and the road in the 7A/6A-East Conference.
The Jacksonville Red Devils beat West Memphis 58-52 at the Devils Den on Tuesday night. But, coach Vic Joyner said, there is no real homecourt advantage in what is considered one of the toughest conferences in the state.
“Any court. When it’s this tough you’ve got to go everywhere and play at a certain level everywhere you go. You can’t have a drop-off anywhere. You’ve got to make somebody else’s court your court.”
Jacksonville took a first-quarter lead it never relinquished but had to break open a one-point game with a fourth-quarter tear, and even then West Memphis managed to cut it close.
West Memphis used a 9-0 run in the third quarter to pull within 41-40, but Deshjon Penn scored from the inside and a turnover led to Raheem Appleby’s fastbreak dunk with three seconds left to give the Red Devils a 45-40 lead entering the final quarter.
Jacksonville ran its lead to 54-42, allowing the Red Devils to survive a 10-4 run that West Memphis used to close out thegame on the way to losing its fourth straight.
“It’s their demeanor,” Joyner said of the Red Devils’ ability to hang on. “They’re very, very competitive. Even in practice.”
Joyner, who has seen his team lose close conference games to defending state champion Little Rock Hall at home and to one of the conference favorites Marion on the road, was asked if the conference was the best he’s ever seen.
“Period,” Joyner said. “Look man, like tomorrow it can rain any time. Three, four, five of them can rain on your head any time in this conference. You have one moment of lapse in this conference, the clouds are going to open up.”
Appleby led Jacksonville (14-2, 3-2) with 18 points and Terrell Brown scored 12.
“They’ve got great guards, they can shoot, they can score, they penetrate real well,” West Memphis coach Larry Bray said. “That’s a great ball team. We just weren’t able to contain their outside play and they were able to get to the rim and they made a lot of baskets.”
Bray said he wanted to contain Appleby, or at least slow him up, but Appleby wouldn’t be denied, and the Red Devils got points from 10 players.
“I had a few guys that were out there that weren’t giving me anything,” Joyner said. “And I told them, if some upperclassmen aren’t doing anything, I’m starting to put those youngsters out there, starting to get their feet wet.”
West Memphis’ Marcus McVay led all scorers with 20 points and Tony Jeffries scored 10.
West Memphis was moved up to 7A in the last round of reclassification but continues to play against what is primarily the old 6A-East lineup.
The Blue Devils will compete in the 7A state tournament and a power ratings system, criticized by many of the state’s basketball coaches, has been devised to help determine the tournament seedings.
Coaches feel West Memphis gets an advantage playing mostly 6A schools during the regular season, but right now the Blue Devils, who lost their fourth straight, have their hands full.
West Memphis’ losing streak has coincided with the loss of senior shooting guard Arthur Jackson, who has missed four games with a hand injury he sustained in a fit of anger in the lockerroom.
“Sure we miss him but right now we’re just not playing smart,” Bray said. “I’m not going to put it all on that. We’re just not playing smart. We’re not taking advantage of what we have. There’s a lot of things I think we could do better that we’re not doing right now.”
Joyner said if a few more outside shots had fallen for West Memphis, the outcome could have been different.
“Bray has been an idol of mine since I’ve been coaching,” Joyner said. “He always has his teams prepared. I thought my kids came out and battled hard. They just couldn’t hit a few outside shots here and there.
“If they had shot the ball like they shot it in the second half, it would have been a different story.”
