2022 RECAP RUMBLE ON THE RIDGE, FORREST CITY AR

NLRock removes frustration with second tournament title

North Little Rock removed several years of frustration Saturday by winning the 25th edition of the Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving basketball tournament held at Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena holding off Jonesboro 57-53.

The Charging Wildcats, making their fifth overall appearance at the tournament and seeking their second title, while Jonesboro returned to the tournament for a record seventh time, still in search of a first Rumble championship.

Both schools were facing each other for the third time in the Thanksgiving tournament. North Little Rock defeated Jonesboro in the 2013 Rumble championship game to win their first title. Both teams returned for the 2014 tournament but did not play each other. North Little Rock, however, played their way back into the 2014 championship game, but lost to Forrest City, while Jonesboro finished fifth overall that year.

North Little Rock returned for the 2016 tournament and got back to the championship game, losing to El Dorado in that year’s final and returned to play in the 2019 tournament.

Before this year’s Rumble, Jonesboro last played in the 2014 tournament.

Saturday’s championship game was exactly what a tournament title game should be, contested from start to finish.

The Charging Wildcats (4-0) used a key third-quarter scoring run, fueled by baskets from Braylon Frazier, to turn a 31-28 halftime lead into a 43-36 advantage by the start of the fourth quarter.

The fourth frame remained close as Jonesboro stayed close and never trailed by more than seven points, getting within three points twice. Jonesboro dropped in 11 of their 16 free throws

Memphis Fairley Coach Anthony Jones is in his first year as head basketball coach at the school and his team will be making their first-ever trip to the Rumble on the Ridge.

Jones said he wanted to bring the team last year but was coaching at a different high school and wasn’t able to find a clear path to the Rumble.

About this year’s Fairley team, Jones says the team will be young, but believes they will be able to compete.

Jones attended and graduated from Lawton High School in Lawton, Oklahoma, and played basketball for two seasons with the Connors State Cowboys.

Jones was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers as the 25th pick in the 1991 NBA Draft as a small forward, the 52nd overall pick, but never played regularly in the National Basketball Association (NBA)

Jones’ two daughters have also been bitten by the basketball bug and play at ORU as well. My son plays at Southern Missouri and now there is no one home except me and my wife, and she played at WestArk Junior College in northwest Arkansas.

Jonesboro basketball coach Wes Swift has made a habit of bringing teams to the Rumble on the Ridge in Forrest City.

He continues that habit once again this season, bringing his Hurricane team to the 2022 Thanksgiving tournament for a seventh time, more than any other team in the Rumble field, except for the host team Forrest City.

The number seven continues to be very lucky indeed for the Hurricane.

Swift has won seven state basketball titles in coaching stops at three different high schools, Hughes, Lonoke and Jonesboro, but has never won the Rumble. His search for that elusive tournament title continues.

Jonesboro is making its first appearance in the Rumble since the 2014 tournament, which also included the North Little Rock team, which will be making its fifth appearance in the Rumble.

New to the 2022 tournament was the use of the 35-second shot clock mandated for all Arkansas high schools.

Memphis Overton head coach Shelvie Rose likes to do things right on time. Precisely “on the dot” in other words.

Rose is beginning his fourth season with the Overton Wolverines basketball team and his fifth as a teacher at the Memphis school, wrapped around the 2020 Covid year.

Rose and his Wolverine team are making their first-ever visit to this year’s Rumble on the Ridge.

To the Rumble on the Ridge, Rose brought a team which he thinks will be an in-between group of veterans and younger players.

The North Little Rock Charging Wildcats made  their fifth trip to the Rumble on the Ridge with a new head coach and visions of erasing the futility of past championship game.

North Little Rock won the Rumble title in their first tournament appearance in 2013, defeating Jonesboro in the finals.

The Charging Wildcats returned in 2014 and played their way into the championship game for a second consecutive time with visions of defending their previous tournament title. Those visions quickly vanished, which opened the door for future seasons of futility for the Charging Wildcats.

North Little Rock lost the 2014 tournament championship game to the host team Forrest City that year. Two years later, the Charging Wildcats returned for the 2016 tournament, and once again played their way into the finals, only to lose to a powerful and state ranked El Dorado team, led by then senior Daniel Gafford.

Once again, in 2019, North Little Rock returned to the Rumble and for a fourth time played their way into the finals, only to find TriCities, Ga. waiting and wasted little time in taking home the title leaving North Little Rock 1-3 overall in their four Rumble on the Ridge championship games.

North Little Rock was scheduled to return for the 2020 Rumble, set up to be an All-Arkansas field, when Covid 19 intervened and shut down that season’s tournament as well as most of the state’s scheduled tournaments.

Each of North Little Rock’s previous appearances at the Rumble came under the guidance of longtime head coach Johnny Rice.

This year will be very different.

Rice retired earlier this year, after 10 basketball seasons at North Little Rock, where he won six state titles in his 10 seasons to go along with seven conference titles. Rice put together a remarkable 242-50 record overall, including 120-20 in conference games.

Anton Beard, Moses Moody, Nick Smith, Jr. and Kevaughn Allen are just some of the high-profile players coached by Rice, and all total 41 players went on to earn college scholarships.

When Rice took his seat on the North Little Rock sidelines in 1991 for the first-time ever as an assistant coach, there was no way he could’ve imagined the position he’d be in or the impact he’d have on the program some three decades later.

With Rice retiring, nine-year Charging Wildcats assistant coach Nathan Clayborn was elevated to the head coaching position and will wear that badge for this year’s Rumble, after making each trip to the Rumble as Rice’s assistant.

Aside from the Rumble on the Ridge host team Forrest City, Memphis Southwind was playing in the tournament for a sixth time, one of only three teams with six appearances in the tournament.

Jonesboro returns for its seventh appearance. Little Rock Hall, not among this year’s field, also owns six Rumble appearances.

North Little Rock, sometime in the future, might also notch a sixth Rumble appearance. This year’s tournament will be their fifth.

Southwind’s first appearance in the tournament in 2010 came during just the school’s fourth year of existence, loaded with an abundance of Division 1 prospects, but ended with a loss to Bossier City, La. in that year’s championship game.

The Jaguars returned the next year in 2011 and won the first of what would be two more Rumble titles in 2012 and 2017.

As a student and basketball player for the Forrest City Mustangs, Marcus Britt played in three Rumble on the Ridge tournaments: 2004, 2005 and 2006, before graduating in 2007.

Last year, Britt became the Mustangs head basketball coach after one of the longtime faces of high school basketball in Northeast Arkansas, Dwight Lofton, passed away in early 2021.

As the Forrest City boys’ basketball coach, Lofton roamed the Mustang sidelines for more than 25 seasons, leading Forrest City to 5A State Championships in 2014 and 2016. The Mustangs also reached the 2007 Class 6A state championship game losing to Jonesboro.

Last year, Britt head coached his first Rumble on the Ridge tournament and watched his Mustangs finish third.

On the eve of coaching in his second Rumble on the Ridge, Britt was asked what he learned from last year’s tournament.

His reply was simple and straight forward.

“I used all my time outs in one of the Rumble games last season and didn’t leave any to work with toward the end of the game when we needed one and it cost us a win,” Britt said. “We lost to Blytheville by two points 53-51. I should have known better, I just got caught up in the game, which was close all the way, and I used up all my time outs. It’s a good thing to be caught up in the game at times, and it can be a bad thing too if you’re not aware of how many timeouts you do have left toward the end of a game. If I could have called a time out, we would have probably had five or six seconds left to maybe get a five-second count or a steal. Blytheville let the time run out and that cost us the game.”

That may not be as big a problem this time around, since all high school basketball games with the 35-second shot clock presence for the first time.

“I think that a shot clock will benefit our style of play,” Britt said. “You can’t just hold the ball anymore. With a shot clock you have to do something or suffer a turnover.”

Britt’s Mustangs will go into this year’s Rumble with two games under their belts, having played and lost to Lake Hamilton before easily posting back-to-back preseason wins over Lonoke and Lakeside.

“We got out of those games what we were wanting to see,” Britt added. “My son actually played summer ball with the Lake Hamilton coaches son, which brought about scheduling the game. I thought it would be a good look for both teams.”

That being said, Britt’s Mustangs have been tabbed as the No. 6 team in the early Class 4A preseason rankings by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

The Mustangs play from the 4A-3 conference this season, after spending the last two seasons as members of the 4A-5 conference.

Britt’s Mustangs will once again play the first day of the Rumble in the 6:30 p.m. game against Memphis Fairley, making their first trip to the tournament.

The Mustangs will most likely be led by Britt’s son, Marcus Jr., sophomore Melvin Shaw and senior Mykeion White.

Missing from this year’s team is Kesean Washington, who was a vital part of the Mustangs team last season but transferred to Blytheville. Antonio Jordan, Harold Johnson and Jarvis Palmer could be strong coming off the bench.

Britt expects to be able to go eight or nine deep into the bench if needed.

The Mustangs, as the host tournament team, won the Rumble title in 2014, knocking off North Little Rock in that year’s final.

Britt, once again this season, will be assisted by another former Forrest City Mustang, Trey Thompson, who also played for Arkansas under then head coach Mike Anderson. Thompson was also part of the two Forrest City Class 5A state title teams.

Power Center Academy head coach Marcus Williams is a “disciplinarian to the heart.”

He believes and punctuates that statement by calling himself “the last of a dying breed of coaches who preach discipline on and off the basketball court as well as in the classroom.

His kids will be the first to tell you he loves each one of them, but that he will also not hesitate in doling out any disciplinary actions that may be needed.

PCA, located in Memphis is a small charter school, sitting in Memphis’ 2A classification. Don’t let that bait other schools. PCA has the talent to be a very big deal in a very small classification.

PCA is one of three teams making their way for the first time, to the 25th Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving tournament, which will be played Nov. 24, 25 and 26, at Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena in Forrest City.

The PCA Knights are led by Williams, who is beginning his fourth season at the school, his third tenured program in the last 10 seasons.

Williams, not only known for that discipline, is known for putting quality basketball teams on the floor. Just ask any of the other Memphis head coaches and they will verify that. His discipline and quality during those years have guided PCA into the heart of two city championships district titles as well.

Not only a basketball coach, but Williams is also a school administrator.

“I’m bringing some seniors who have been a part of this program,” Williams said. “I have a couple of 6’4″ players, seniors Matthew Green Braytin Dillon and 6’6″ senior Jordan Brooks and 6’7″ junior Nazir Allen. Despite our height, this is a team that likes to run and play transition basketball but can also slow the pace if that is what needs to be done. They are all really great kids and the true meaning of scholar athletes. We have some 4.3 and 4.5 GPA players on the team.”

There are also a couple of players getting college looks and a couple who have received offers, according to Williams.

“I really believe in taking kids who are diamonds in the rough and making them polished diamonds,” Williams added. “I believe in making sure these kids get recruited that’s what a head coach does.

“Last season was the first time for us to reach the state tournament,” Williams added.

Williams is a Memphis University graduate but did not play basketball for the Tigers.

“I did play high school basketball,” Williams added.

And just as a foot note, Williams is wearing a 130-40 overall record over the past 10 seasons as a head coach.

Whether Williams is coaching AAU ball or high school ball, he believes in getting the best from his players and developing incoming kids into players.

PCA opened its season recently against a team coming off a state tournament run who lost to the eventual state champs a year ago.

Williams and his PCA team learned about the Rumble on the Ridge through friends and other coaches, especially Bartlett coach Deon Real, whose team played in and won the 2018 Rumble on the Ridge title.

“Coach Real is like a true mentor to me,” Williams added. “I have always heard about Rumble on the Ridge and how is known for great competition as well as being a great atmosphere for prep basketball. Coach Real wanted us to go to the tournament this year and I knew then, we would have to make it happen.”

PCA will open play at the Rumble on Thanksgiving Day when they face North Little Rock, making its fifth trip to the tournament, in the late game.