Article and image by Kevin Johnson, The Voice of the Mountain View Yellowjackets on Arkansas 103.3 KWOZ
The Mountain View Yellowjackets defeated the Newport Greyhounds 53-42 to win the 3A-2 District Tournament Title on Saturday at Cave City High School.
Mountain View jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game on a layup by Sam Fletcher and two 3-pointers by Beck Morrow.
Newport would battle back to close the lead to 10-8, but Mountain View closed the first quarter with a jumper by Morrow and a layup by Collin Johnson, who was fouled on the play. He hit the free throw to close the first quarter, with Mountain View leading 15-8.
Newport opened the second quarter with a 9-1 run to take their only lead at 17-16 with 4:14 to go in the second quarter. The Yellowjackets closed the quarter on an 8-2 run, with Camyn Vickers getting a steal and driving the full length of the court for the layup to end the quarter and give Mountain View a 24-19 halftime lead.
The game was back and forth in the third quarter, with Newport closing the Yellowjackets’ five-point lead to three headed to the fourth quarter.
Mountain View opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to take control of the game to take a 41-31 advantage. During that run, the Yellowjackets got baskets from Jack Newton, Trevor Downs, and Morrow. Newport would not get closer than five points, as Mountain View got free throws from Fletcher, Johnson, and Morrow to close the game and the 53-42 victory.
Fletcher and Morrow led the Yellowjackets scoring 13 points each, followed by Vickers with nine points, Johnson with eight points, and Newton with six points.
Newport was Aamoni Wren and Kylan Crite with 10 points each, Demetric Denton added eight points, Brendon Curry six points, and Jonathan Moore five points.
Mountain View improved to 21-7 and will be the number one seed from the 3A-2 Conference in the 3A-2 Regional Tournament later this week in Mountain View. They will play the Rivercrest Colts on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Newport fell to 13-11 and will be the number two seed and will play the Corning Bobcats Thursday night at 8:30.
Friday night, the Mountain View Yellowjackets advanced to the Championship game with a 54-45 victory over the Tuckerman Bulldogs.
The Yellowjackets controlled the game throughout, building a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter after Tuckerman had a brief one-point lead in the first quarter.
The Yellowjackets defense held the Bulldogs to 29% shooting as they defeated Tuckerman for the third time this season to advance to the District Tournament Championship game.
Johnson led the Yellowjackets with 18 points and six rebounds, Fletcher and seven rebounds added 13
points, Downs eight points, Morrow seven points and 10 rebounds, Newton six points and four assists.
Tuckerman was led in scoring by Eli Tackett with 15 points, Waylon Tackett added 12 points, eight points from John Metzger, and seven points from Amare Neal.
Also, on Friday night, the Mountain View Lady Yellowjackets lost to the Melbourne Lady Bearkatz 46-36. Melbourne took control of the game outscoring the Lady Yellowjackets in the second quarter 18-8 to take a 31-16 halftime lead. Mountain View would outscore Melbourne 20-15 in the second half but could not overcome Melbourne’s halftime lead.
Kaitlyn McCarn led the Yellowjackets with 14 points and 11 rebounds, Emma Akins added 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Ellie Akins scored seven points.
Melbourne was led by Kaylee Love with 21 points, and Kyle Morgan added 14 points.
Mountain View fell to 19-10 and will be the number three seed from the 3A-2 conference. They will play the Corning Lady Bobcats on Thursday at 4 p.m.
