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Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers this afternoon. High 79F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..
Scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Updated: April 26, 2024 @ 4:29 am
The West Memphis Wonders tip the ball during a match-up against the Junior Lady Pioneers.
The Batesville-West Memphis match-up action packed.
A player guards the Pioneers.
Batesville junior boy’s coach Rian Puckett was verbally coaching his Pioneers until the buzzer sounded at the end of his team’s most thrilling win to date.
The Junior Pioneers kept a fast pace going on the court against a talented West Memphis Wonder team to hold on for a 50-45 conference win at Batesville gymnasium on Thursday night.
Ryan Barber led Batesville with 17 points, while Rafael Thomas added 10 points and Malcom Hammack added nine points in Batesville victory.
“Wonder is a good team,” Batesville Junior Pioneers head basketball coach Rian Puckett said. “Their point guard is one of the best I have ever coached against. They have very good players and they really pushed us. I was proud of our guys.”
Once the Pioneers took the lead in the second quarter, they never relinquished it.
“It took us a while to get the stops we wanted,” Puckett said. “They have some kids who can go off the dribble. I was happy with the guys. We won a close one. Playing two or four points ahead is tough.”
Wonder took a 5-0 lead before Barber hit his first of four three-pointers in the first quarter. After another score by Wonder, Barber hit a trey and after a turnover made a third three-pointer to tie the game at 9-9. Following a Wonder basket, Barber made his fourth three-pointer to put Batesville ahead 12-11. Wonder grabbed the lead back, but Carter Richardson put in two free throws, then Cole Bentz made a steal and passed to Richardson for a basket and a 16-15 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Wonder hit a three-pointer to go up 18-16, but free throws from Thomas tied the game.
After two made free throws from Wonder, Thomas tied the game again with a short jumper in the lane. With 2:50 to play before halftime, Hammack canned a three-pointer to put the Pioneers up by three points, 23-20. The Pioneers never trailed again.
Thomas added two more free throws and Barber hit a layup off a fast-break with 1:02 to go and Thomas completed a traditional three-point play with 2.8 seconds to go in the half to put Batesville on top 30-26.
Talen Foree made a jumper from the left side to increase the Pioneers lead to six points, then two free throws from Thomas made an eight point cushion. Wonder came back to tie the game 34-34 with 3:01 to play in the third quarter, but Richardson scored inside and Foree hit another basket to make it a 38-34 Pioneers lead.
Hammack completed a three-point play for Batesville to start the fourth quarter after he made a mid-court steal off a Wonder inbounds pass. Rylan Wycough completed a three-point play with 3:49 to play for the Pioneers to push the lead to 43-39. Wonder got as close as two points twice in the final 3:35. Baskets from Barber and Richardson put Batesville up 47-41 with 2:26 to go, but Wonder close the gap to two points, 47-45. Hammack was able to sink three free throws in the final 1:06 to secure the win for Batesville.
“Any time you get a win in our conference, it is a good win,” Puckett said.
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