Wildcats earn 15th win of season
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Anna-Jonesboro Community High School boys’ basketball team split in recent action.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>A-J 49, Fairfield 44:</strong> The Wildcats held on for the win over Fairfield at the Benton Shootout Saturday, Feb. 6.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Ryan Stark, who led the way for the Wildcats with 17 points and a rebound, made 9 of 10 crucial free throws in the final quarter to stop a come-from-behind bid by Fairfield.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Ryan really played well in the fourth quarter,” A-J coach Mike Chamness said. “Nine of ten free throws in the fourth quarter was the difference in the game.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Jake Parr added 15 points and 8 rebounds for A-J. Dakota Earnhart had 8 points and 3 rebounds. Sheldon McGrath had 3 points and 3 rebounds. Collin Prather and Wyatt Smith had 3 points and a rebound apiece. Garrett Nimmo and Hunter Garver had a rebound apiece.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We were focusing on getting the ball in the post and we did that, but our three-point shooting wasn’t that good,” Chamness said. The A-J coach said when his team gets its “post game and three-point shooting going, we can be pretty good.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Wildcats were 14 of 25 in shot attempts from the floor, 2 of 7 from 3-point range and 15 of 20 from the free throw line.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Mules were 13 of 22 from the floor, 5 of 22 from 3-point range and 3 of 3 from the charity stripe.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Carterville 48, A-J 44:</strong> The visiting Wildcats couldn’t hold a first half lead in the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference Mississippi Division loss Friday, Feb. 5.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Earnhart and McGrath led the way for A-J with 12 points and 3 rebounds apiece. Parr added 10 points and 7 rebounds. Garrett Nimmo had 10 points and 2 rebounds. Garver had 5 rebounds and Ryan Stark had 2 rebounds.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A-J was 9 of 32 in shot attempts from the floor, 6 of 17 from 3-point range and 7 of 10 from the free throw line.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Lions were 17 of 29 in shot attempts from the floor, 1 of 11 from 3-point range and 11 of 16 from the charity stripe.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">A-J, 15-11, is scheduled to play Friday at home against Pinckneyville and Saturday at Du Quoin.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“We’ve got 15 wins and we haven’t had that in several years,” Chamness said. “We felt like we played good enough to win Friday, but we didn’t. Saturday was a big win.”</span></p>