PEA RIDGE — The ’Hawk boys basketball team started slow in a one-sided blowout of Hartford opening the Northwest Arkansas Invitational Tournament, played excellent defense and shot superbly in a semi-final win over Gentry, then almost overcame a big hole against Siloam Springs as they dropped the finals to the Panthers to finish up winning their third straight runner-up trophy in the annual early season tournament.
“We didn’t come out ready to play in the opening round against Hartford, although they did pick it up considerably after the half,” head coach Charley Clark said. “We had a much better effort against Gentryand played a pretty good game to win the semis.
After we got so far behind Siloam in the finals, the boys did a good job to make several runs at them but like all good teams do, Siloam answered our every challenge to win the tournament.” Game summaries: QUARTERFINALS: Pea Ridge 77, Hartford 50
A offensively sloppy first quarter blunted some good defense as the ’Hawks couldn’t break free of the heavy underdog Hartford squad. Pea Ridge came up with five steals in the first quarter only to hand the ball right back to the Hustlers as the game was a see-saw affair until the final minutes of the first quarter.
Hartford took an initial 3-0 lead until a pair of goals by Cameron Thompsongave Pea Ridge a 4-3 lead with 5:41 left in the first.
Hartford traded goals with Kasey Cooper and Levi Roughton as Pea Ridge led 9-7. A pair of ’Hawk turnovers led to Hartford buckets as the seventh seed team got back on top of Pea Ridge 11-10 with 1:42 left in the quarter. The ’Hawks’ outside threat burned the Hustlers as Cooper drained a pair of 3-pointers with Woodward sinking one of his own as Pea Ridge assumed the lead by quarter’s end, 19-13. The ’Hawks would not trail again.
A Jacob Hall rebound goal and a rebound shot and 3-pointer by Cooper shot the ’Hawk advantage up to 26-15. Hartford responded with a 7-point explosion in less than a minute to get to within four at 26-22. Pea Ridge then started their own run with Ethan Higgins dropping ina goal, followed by scores by Thompson underneath, a free throw, a layup by Levi Roughton and a rebound shot by Thompson as the ’Hawks roared into intermission leading 35-24.
The game was put out of reach in the third quarter as Pea Ridge outscored their opponents 25-14 to double their advantage. Higgins started the onslaught with a layup followed by a Thompson layup and free throw, a pair of Roughton scores and free throw, and a pair of steals and following scores by Higgins as Pea Ridge led 48-29. Cooper hit a short jumper Thompson dropped through a pair of free throws, Woodward recorded a steal and score, with Roughton scoring in thepaint as the game turned into a rout with the ’Hawks leading 57-33. After a few Hartford scores, Higgins drilled a 3-pointer in the quarter’s final seconds to put Pea Ridge ahead 60-38.
Reserves took the floor in the fourth quarter as Ryan Roughton swished 4 points, as did Cameron Tidwell, Joe Adams, with Isaac Mangrum scoring underneath, Jacob Hall draining a three with Dayton Winn rounding out the scoring with a free throw.
FINALS: Siloam Springs 68-58
What amounted to Siloam’s winning edge inthe game came in the first few minutes of the contest as the Panthers jumped out in front the ’Hawks 14-0. With two quick fouls on the ’Hawks’ front court power Cameron Thompson helping dampen the Pea Ridge attack, the home boys were shut out until senior forward Kasey Cooper managed to put through 6 points to cut the deficit to 14-6 by the end of the first quarter.
Reserve forward Joe Adams came up with two big buckets to open the second period with Cooper helping out with a basket in the lane and a pair of free throws to get the ’Hawks to within 7, trailing 21-14. The Panthers then exploded for 7 points to more than offset a score underneath by Jacob Hall as the visitors raced out to a 28-16 lead. A score by Adams before the end of the half along withThompson’s first field goal left the ’Hawks down 8 going into intermission.
The third quarter saw Thompson turn into a scoring machine as he sank eight field goals. Although Cooper aided the scoring with a late quarter dunk, Siloam Springs answered the ’Hawks 18-point effort by ringing up 19 points of their own to slightly extend the lead to 47-38 heading into the final period.
Three straight missed free throws and a ’Hawk turnover leading to a Panther score seemingly doomed Pea Ridge as they trailed by 11, 49-38. However, a 3-pointer by Cooper and free throws from Ethan Higgins and Cooper cut the lead down to six, trailing 50-44 midway in the quarter. As in previous ’Hawk rallies, the Panthers answered with a flurry offree throws and layups to push their lead back to an imposing 57-44.
Not to abandon hope, Pea Ridge came back with a bucket by Adams and Hall, a steal and layup by Woodward, followed by a 3-pointer by Woodward to cut the deficit to just six as Pea Ridge trailed 59-53 with 1:35 left in the game. With the Panthers content to run out the clock, however, the ’Hawks were forced to foul and Siloam canned nine of 10 free shots to blunt a field goals by Levi Roughton and Woodward as Siloam eventually won by a 68-58 count.
The ’Hawks continued their season last night as they traveled to Gravette to begin 4A-1 District play. This weekend they will participate in another tournament, this time in Rogers, although scheduling information wasn’t available at press time.
Sports, Pages 7 on 12/08/2010