2023 6A State Basketball Championship: Jonesboro beats Springdale to secure three-peat

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (KAIT) - As they’ve done all season, Jonesboro locked in defensively, holding Springdale to 36 percent shooting from the field as the Hurricane beat the Bulldogs 48-43 to take home the 6A Boys Basketball Championship at the Bank OZK Arena Friday.

For JHS (30-3), it’s their third straight State Title, winning back-to-back 5A Championships in 2022 and 2021.

“It’s fierce, and I don’t know of another way to describe it,” head coach Wes Swift said of the team’s defensive mentality. “These dudes have held down the best players, teams in the country and they did it again tonight... but we’ve done it all year and last year’s team did the same thing.”

The two teams were all tied at 36 in the final frame, but a 7-0 run late in the quarter propelled Jonesboro to the win. Deion Buford-Wesson hit the key three to push the lead to seven with 1:16 to play. Buford-Wesson was named the Finals MVP, finishing with a game-high 15 points on 6-10 shooting.

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