Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wolves advance

CAVE CITY - The Prescott Curley Wolves swept

through the Class 3A bracket of the state tournament

and secured a championship game against Rose Bud in

Hot Springs on Saturday.

After defeating Harding Academy handily in the

first round last Tuesday, 51-20, Prescott (29-1) faced

the Flippin Bobcats in round two on Friday. The Curley

Wolves again had no problem advancing, beating the

Bobcats, 70-33.

Prescott led 41-11 at halftime of a game that saw

four Curley Wolves enter double digits in the scorebook.

Tramaine Henderson led all scorers with 14

points and pulled down eight rebounds. Dominic

Brewer, Demario Murphey and Ray Smith each scored

10 points. Prescott reached 70 points when Josh

Newsom hit a three-pointer for the final bucket of the

game.

"We played pretty good," said Prescott Coach Larry

Newsom, "but I still think we can play better.

Tomorrow will be different and it will be a lot tougher."

Coach Newsom was right. Prescott faced the

Conway St. Joseph Bulldogs Saturday in the semifinals,

and came from behind to notch a 50-34 victory.

The Bulldogs led for most of the first half and took

a 21-20 lead into the locker room at intermission.

Prescott captured the lead, 22-21, on the first bucket of

the second half when B.J Haynie connected at the 6:32

mark of the third quarter.

St. Joseph battled back. Daniel Antoine hit a three-

pointer to reclaim the lead for the Bulldogs, but Jermaine Henderson answered with a layup to tie the score at 24-24.

After the score was tied again at 27-27, Tony Gillard hit a shot that would give the lead permanently to the Curley Wolves. Gillard hit another shot near the end of the third period that would make the score 34-31 going into the final stanza.

Prescott outscored the Bulldogs 16-3 in the final period and cruised into the state championship game.

"That was monumental!" said Coach Newsom. "This is the first time Prescott has made it to a state championship game in basketball since 1970. This is huge!"

"I'm so proud of our kids," continued Newsom. "They fought hard and proved that they are championship game ready."

Brewer led the way this time for the Curley Wolves, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight boards. Haynie scored nine and Gillard added eight points.

The 3-0 sweep by the Curley Wolves sets the stage for their championship matchup with the Rose Bud Ramblers on Saturday at the Summit Arena in Hot Springs. The Ramblers are undefeated at 35-0 and are ranked No.1 in the statewide Class 3A rankings.

Rose Bud is also the team that eliminated Prescott in the second round of the state tournament in 2007.

"Our guys will be glad to play them again," said Coach

Newsom. Tipoff is at 6pm.