Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wolves finish season in tie for district title

Prescott's Curley Wolves ended the season on an up note beating both De Queen and Mena.

This put the Wolves in a three-way tie for the conference crown with the Bearcats and Ashdown. However, Prescott is the top seed for the 7AAA district tourney at Mena this week and will play Thursday night.

The Wolves hammered De Queen 74-59 on Tuesday, Feb. 10, but needed a clutch free throw from A.J. Lewis with 1.7 seconds left Friday, Feb. 13, to beat Mena 45-44.

The game with the Cats could best be described as a brawl as neither team gave the other anything easy. Every point was earned and paid for with extreme effort.

Prescott won the opening tip against Mena, missed the shot, and fouled the Cats on the ensuing possession. With 7:39 showing Mena managed a 1-0 lead.

The squads swapped buckets with neither able to dominate the other. The Cats largest lead in the first quarter was five points at 9-4, while Prescott's best efforts was one at 4-3.

Period one ended with Mena up 11-9.

Mena opened the second quarter with a bucket, as both defenses stepped up and prevented much in the way of scoring early on. The Wolves battled to tie the game at 13-13, then took a 16-13 lead and were up 20-16 with 2:57 left in the half.

However, at this point, the Cats went on a 7-0 run and went to the lockers with a 23-20 advantage at the break.

It took more than 90 seconds to get the first points on the board in the third period, and this came from a free throw by Prescott to cut the score to 23-21. From there, though, the clubs simply slugged it out, trading baskets and making life miserable for one another.

The third quarter came to an end with the score deadlocked at 35-35.

Prescott missed a couple of free throws to start the final eight minutes, but still managed to score first in the period with 5:36 showing to go up 37-35.

At this point, the game turned into an old fashioned donnybrook as defense dominated. But, the Cats did manage to build a 43-39 lead with 1:58 to go, forcing the Wolves to foul and stop the clock.

The pressure may have gotten to Mena, or it could have been the volume coming from the Wolf Den section of the bleachers where the din was unbelievable. Either way, the Cats failed to convert vital free throws, and Prescott tied the game at 44-44 with 5.9 seconds showing.

Mena turned the ball over and fouled Lewis as he was going in for two. With 1.7 left in the game time was called to try and "freeze" Lewis at the line. It appeared to have worked as the first shot bounced off the back of the rim. However, the second shot rolled in to put Prescott up 45-44.

A desperation mid-court shot wasn't even close as the Wolves escaped with the win.

Prescott was 13 of 18 at the line, while Mena hit nine of 14 free throws.

Robert Malone was the game's leading scorer with 18. Lewis chipped in 13.

Jacob Pitchford led Mena with 11.

On Tuesday, though, the Wolves pretty much had their way with De Queen in posting a 74-59 win.

Both teams were cold early on, but the Wolves heated things up to take a 15-9 lead at the end of one, building this to a 29-19 halftime advantage.

Prescott opened the third quarter by nailing a three-pointer and outscoring the Leopards 21-15 to build the lead to a 50-34 margin at the end of three.

Lewis went on a tear from the outside, forcing De Queen to quit packing the paint and guard him closer beyond the arc. This, though, resulted in the back door being left open for relatively easy buckets.

The Wolves manhandled De Queen in the final eight minutes, with Prescott Coach Larry Newsom clearing the bench to get the younger players time on the court.

Prescott spent plenty of time at the charity stripe as the Wolves shot 43 free throws, making 25. De Queen was 11 of 18 at the line.

Lewis had the hot hand scoring 26, including five three-pointers for the Wolves. Malone was next with 19.

Kirby Atkins led De Queen with 17. Dan Seal had 15.