Bison, Lady Bison sweep Palestine-Wheatley

Carlisle's Arius McClain drives to the basket against Palestine-Wheatley on Tuesday night. (Photos by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

CARLISLE — The Carlisle Bison and Lady Bison swept their 2A-6 conference openers from Palestine-Wheatley on Tuesday night at Bison Arena. 

Lady Bison rout Lady Patriots

The Carlisle Lady Bison finally got in the win column, beating Palestine-Wheatley 64-24. The Lady Bison are now 1-2 on the season. The two losses were to Lonoke and Poyen.

In Tuesday's game, Carlisle scored the first eight points of the game. Arius McClain started the scoring with a three-pointer. Kylie Warren then scored three in a row. Kayla Golleher and McClain then each hit 1 of 2 foul shots before the Lady Patriots got on the board with 4:06 left in the first quarter. 

Carlisle led 27-7 after one quarter and 51-12 at halftime. 

The Lady Bison outscored Palestine-Wheatley 11-7 in the third quarter. The Lady Patriots outscored Carlisle 5-2 in the fourth quarter. 

Carlisle coach Jonathan Buffalo was proud of his team's effort against the Lady Patriots.

"We played outstanding from the opening tip," Buffalo said. "We brought good energy on both ends of the court. We played much better defense."

Warren led the Lady Bison with 19 points. Arius McClain had 14. Nikita Harper had nine. Golleher and Ashley Harbison had five points each. Elex McClain and Ashby Terry had four points each. Mattie Staggs had two. Peyton Hitchings and Blakely Ellis had one point each.

Carlisle's Demarcus Houston shoots for 2 of his game-high 25 points against Palestine-Wheatley

Bison get second win

The Carlisle Bison got their second consecutive win, routing the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots 73-43.

The Bison are now 2-1 on the season.

Palestine-Wheatley led 3-0 before Carlisle's Brynden Weems hit a short jumper and Dominic Castleberry hit a three-pointer to make the score 5-3. 

After the Patriots tied the score at 7-7, the Bison went on a 9-0 run to lead 16-7. Weems started the run with a free throw. Devon Kendrick hit a short jumper. Demarcus Houston scored four in a row off steals and Kendrick scored on a drive to the basket.

Palestine rallied to tie it at 16-16 after one quarter.

After a Palestine-Wheatley free throw made the score 17-16, Houston hit the first of five three-pointers in the second quarter to give the Bison a 19-17 lead. Houston hit five three-pointers in the second quarter as the Bison led 43-24 at halftime.

Carlisle outscored Palestine-Wheatley 24-10 in the third quarter to lead 67-34 heading into the fourth quarter.

Houston led Carlisle with 25 points. Weems had 12. Kendrick had eight. Castleberry, Gray Amaden and Ty Golleher had six points each. Jamarious Harper gadded four. Zach Caviness had three. Tristan Seidenschwarz scored two. Garnell Harris added a free throw.

"They have worked so hard without complain to get to this point because they are true champions," Carlisle coach Jayson Lowery said via his Facebook. "Many kids, and I have coached some in the past, shut down when bad things continue to happen. Not these boys. With all the losses that piled up on them and the coaching changes, these boys could have decided that one more coach with some far-out ideas on basketball just wasn't worth following. These boys didn't. Instead, they listened and learned. They are a true family in the fact that they are constantly building up each other and pushing each other to be the best."