Mustangs take conference title, will wear top seed into regionals

Playing their final regular season game Friday at Stuttgart, the Forrest City Mustangs nailed down the outright 4A-6 regional conference crown with a 78-67 win over the Ricebirds. The win over Stuttgart also gives the Mustangs a 24-2 overall season record, and the top seed as well headed into this week's Class 4A-2 regional tournament, scheduled to be played at Highland. The Mustangs will face the host team Highland in the regional opener scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 26, with that winner taking on the Brookland-Lonoke second-round game winner. Leaning on seven roster seniors, Jarvis Palmer Jr. and Marcus Britt Jr., two of the team's senior leaders led the way once again for the Mustangs in the win over Stuttgart, who enters regionals as the No. 2 seed. Forrest City's finished conference play with a perfect 9-0-mark, 19 consecutive season wins and 24 victories. Palmer led the Mustangs with 21 points, four rebounds and handed out three assists, but were not the lone Mustangs to help with the final game. Sophomore Jamarian Morris tossed in 24 points, grabbed three rebounds and handed out three assists. Britt Jr. added 15 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed our four assists. The Mustangs dropped the Ricebirds 75-47 in the first season meeting between the two teams back on Jan. 28 at Mustang Arena. Stuttgart finishes regular season at 8-2 in the conference and 19-9 overall. Headed into this week's regional tournament, the Mustangs are still holding on to the No. 8 slot in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Overall Top 10 Conference Boys poll and ranked second behind Little Rock Mills in the Class 4A Super Six poll. The top two seeds from the 4A-3 district will play in the championship game. ••••• Hoping to equal the Forrest City Mustangs by attaining the girls' top seed into the upcoming the regional tournament, the Lady Mustangs were unable to match the boys. Looking for and hoping for a conference title as well as a regional top seed, the Lady Mustangs fell flat Friday in their final regular season game against Stuttgart, falling flat in a 51-49 loss to the Lady Ricebirds. The loss leaves the Lady Mustangs with the No. 2 slot in the final 4A-6 conference standings and the second seed into the upcoming regional bracket. The Lady Mustangs will play Blytheville in the open regional tournament round Thursday, Feb. 27, at Highland in a 7 p.m. game. "We played terrible," Forrest City Lady Mustang coach Caronica Randle Williams said following Friday's loss. "Worst I've seen us play all season," Williams added. "Stuttgart had a really fantastic crowd and I think that helped them get the win over us as well. My leading scorers had no more than six or eight points in the game, and we turned the ball over too many times and didn't play defense." The Lady Mustangs were also without their starting guard, who missed the game sick. "I'm hoping we will better and back to winning in practice by then," Williams added. The Lady Mustangs finish the regular season at 19-8 and 7-3 in the conference, behind Stuttgart 19-9 overall and 9-1 in the conference. Top-seeded Highland held off Brookland in girls district play Friday, while No. 3 seeded Westside upset Blytheville in the tournament semifinals. Blytheville will next take on the Forrest City Lady Mustangs. The Class 4A boys state tournament will be played at Magnolia beginning March 4.

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