Arkansas State signee R’Chauan King wins MVP

Delta Digital News Service

Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023

Brayden Morse | Sports Editor

JONESBORO, Ark. – Arkansas State signee and Bartlett Bulldog center, R’Chaun King, won the Most Valuable Player Award of the 38th Annual Barry Pruitt Hurricane Classic, as Bartlett defeated the Rossview Hawks 74-56 in the championship game on Saturday night at Don Riggs Hurricane Gymnasium.

King expressed his thoughts on winning the tournament and MVP in his future college town.

“It feels great. It feels like home already. I’m ready to get down here and get going,” King said.

King scored 15 points in the championship game. 

As for the third and fourth place finishers, the Fayetteville Bulldogs beat the Jonesboro Golden Hurricane 59-56.

Jonesboro fought hard once again but came up short in the end. With less than two minutes left in the game, Golden Hurricane guard Chris Stacy shot a three-pointer and-one to minimize Fayetteville’s lead by two, but it was not enough to come back and win.

Jonesboro head coach Wes Swift shared his thoughts on Stacy’s shot late in the game.

“It was huge. I love the fact that he wants to shoot that shot. He’s not scared of that moment and that’s what I talked to him about,” Swift said.

“It was huge. I love the fact that he wants to shoot that shot. He’s not scared of that moment and that’s what I talked to him about,”

Jonesboro head coach Wes Swift

Stacy finished with 14 points while guard CJ Larry led the team with 18 points.

Coach Swift also expressed his thoughts on the weak areas of the team that need to be fixed moving forward, after being down 36-28 at halftime.

“Starting a game. I thought the first half was not a very good half for us. It snowballed off yesterday. I didn’t think we were good defensively yesterday. We weren’t communicating, we were getting lost on screens, getting lost in defensive transitions and the first half of this game looked just like it,” Swift said.

For the fifth and sixth place finishers, the Nettleton Raiders defeated the West Memphis Blue Devils 57-53.

With a minute and a half left in the game, Nettleton drew a foul and made both free-throws to tie the game 53-53. 

West Memphis ended up shooting their own free-throws but missed both, while the Raiders scored four more points in the final seconds to win.

Nettleton head coach Bubba Deaton shared the importance of drawing fouls late in the game to tie the game and eventually win. 

“It was huge. We made free-throws late which we haven’t done in the past. We’ll take this one and to be 2-1 in this tournament is huge. We’re happy about it,” Deaton said. 

Raider guard Taylor Smith led the team with 18 points in the win. 

For the seventh and eighth place finishers, the Cedar Ridge Timberwolves beat the Osceola Seminoles 63-56.

-30-

---

---

---

---

NOTE: Feature Photo shows Bartlett’s R’Chaun King (25) playing against Rossview during the playoffs of the 38th annual Barry Pruitt Hurricane Classic on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023.