Wildcats close out regular season play with win over Sparta
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Anna-Jonesboro Community High School boys’ basketball team closed out regular season play with a 64-52 win over Sparta in Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division play Friday, Feb. 19.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">It was a big win on A-J’s Senior Night and all nine seniors were honored prior to the game with a bouquet of flowers from head coach Mike Chamness.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats pulled ahead 4-0 early on a pair of baskets by Jake Parr and Dakota Earnhart.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Bulldogs made a pair of 3-pointers and pulled ahead early to a 14-10 advantage. Wyatt Smith, Earnhart and Garrett Nimmo countered with three unanswered baskets to close out the quarter for a 16-14 A-J lead.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Sparta outscored A-J 10-8 in the second quarter for a 24-24 tie at the half.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We came in at halftime and we were 0-6 from 3-point range and 0-3 from the free throw line,” A-J coach Mike Chamness said. “We just needed to make some shots. We made some big shots the third quarter.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Fueled around 3-pointers by Hunter Garver and Nimmo, the Wildcats made a 27-12 scoring run in the third quarter to build a 51-36 lead headed into the final period.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Nimmo and Ryan Stark added a 3-pointer apiece in the final quarter to help hold off Sparta.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats connected on 6 3-pointers with Garver making three, Nimmo two and Ryan Stark 1.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Earnhart led the way for the Wildcats with a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Garver and Nimmo both had 13 points and 3 rebounds apiece.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Parr added 10 points and 7 rebounds. Sheldon McGrath had 6 points and 2 rebounds. Ryan Stark had 3 points and 4 rebounds. Smith had 2 points and a rebound and Logan Mattingly had a point and a rebound.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats were 17 of 33 in shot attempts from the floor, 6 of 13 from 3-point range and 10 of 22 from the free throw line.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Bulldogs were 15 of 36 in shot attempts from the floor, 4 of 16 from 3-point range and 6 of 9 from the charity stripe.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A-J finished the regular season with a 16-13 overall mark and was 3-7 in the conference. </span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats play this week against the host Eagles at the Vienna Class 2A regional.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We’ve just got to go out and execute against Vienna. We know they’re scrappy and play extra hard,” Chamness said.</span></p>