CABOT — Not yet 24 hours after beating Pine Bluff 55-52, Watson Chapel hit the road again and took third place in the boys bracket of the Cabot Pre-Holiday Basketball Tournament with a 52-36 victory over Searcy on Saturday.
JoviOne Bailey scored 15 points to lead the Wildcats (4-1), and C.J. Robinson added 12 points off the bench.
“It was nice; our kids came out and played hard tonight,” Watson Chapel coach Matt Busch said. “Sloppy at times, sometimes lazy, but we really utilized our bench. We used all 15 of our kids tonight.”
Saturday’s victory marked the end of a busy week for Watson Chapel, which went 2-1 in the tournament and 3-1 for the week.
Watson Chapel played in the girls bracket Saturday against either Harding Academy or Shiloh Christian, but no score was available.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
FOOTBALL
4A championship
Pulaski Academy 63, Malvern 28
LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Player of the Year Fredi Knighten threw and ran for five touchdowns Saturday as the Bruins completed a 14-0 season in front of 5,976 at War Memorial Stadium.
Knighten completed 19 of 24 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns and ran 12 times for 106 yards and three more scores. Hunter Henry caught two of Knighten’s touchdown passes and had 114 yards on six receptions.
Austin Warford was 9 of 14 for 90 yards and a touchdown to lead the Leopards (11-3).
Pulaski Academy led 43-7 at halftime and finished with 567 yards of offense, holding Malvern to 237.
2A championship
Strong 45, Carlisle 20
LITTLE ROCK — Kenneth Dixon ran 28 times for 248 yards and five touchdowns as the Bulldogs (10-3) ended the Bison’s bid for an unbeaten season at 13-1.
Strong totaled 468 offensive yards to Carlisle’s 382. Three turnovers, however, hampered the Bison, who are now 0-5 in state championship games since 1989.
Bo Weddle had 166 yards on 21 carries for Carlisle.