PEA RIDGE — The Pea Ridge Blackhawks celebrated their first home game in some time by snapping a three game losing streak with a 73-48 drubbing of the Gravette Lions.

The ’Hawks capitalized on a barrage of accurate three-point shooting to put the Lions away early.

Through three quarters, the ’Hawks sank nine from behind the arc, led by Dakota Woodward’s five treys. Woodward and Kasey Cooper shared high scoring honors as both registered 17 points each.

During the same time span, the visitors suffered nine turnovers with the ’Hawks losing the ball only once to help spur the one sided affair.

The game started slowly enough as both teams maneuvered for shots in the first two minutes without either taking one officially. Scoring did occur, however, on numerous fouls racked up by both sides.

Cameron Thompson made three of four fouls with Gravette making their two as Pea Ridge led 3-2 with six minutes left in the first quarter.

The ’Hawks’ first official shot didn’t come until less that six minutes remained and their first basket occurred when Woodward hit a 12 foot jumper to push the lead to 5-2 with 4:48 left. The Lions hit their first shot of the game with 4:07 left in the first; a 3-pointer that knotted the contest at 5-5.

Thompson scored on a rebound shot on the next possession and the ’Hawks would never trail or be tied after that. Cooper and Woodward teamed to sink a trey each with Cooper and Ethan Higgins dropping in layups towards the end of the quarter as Pea Ridge went into the second quarter leading Gravette 17-8.

The ’Hawks would double their lead in the second quarter by outscoring the Lions 23-15 in the period sparked by four three-point shots. Cooper made one from deep which was followed seconds later by a long distance shot by Higgins. The third three-pointer in a row was made by Woodward with 5:49 left in the half to put Pea Ridge up 26-9 and that was followed by still another three-point shot by Woodward as the ’Hawks threatened to blow the Lions out of the gym, leading 29-11 with 5:10 left.

Gravette hit their second straight three-pointer to give the visitors some hope, but three straight turnovers led to a layup by Cooper and a rebound shot by Levi Roughton.

Higgins free throw mixed in to give the ’Hawks a 34-14 lead with 4:05 showing. The Lions scored four consecutive baskets to give the visitors some hope but a pair of layups by Thompson and two points from the charity stripe by Cooper sent the ’Hawks into the halftime break leading 40-23.

Thompson kept working the middle by driving in for a pair of layups after intermission, and when Woodward found Roughton driving toward the goal, a great lead pass netted another layup and score.

The Lions tried to keep pace with three of their own baskets but a Cooper three-pointer with 5:05 left in the third sent the Hawks ahead 51-29. Then for a while, the ’Hawks and Lions just traded buckets as Cooper hit a layup as did Higgins before Cooper swished through another three. Woodwards fifth trey in the last minute was followed by a free throw seconds later by Higgins as Pea Ridge ended the quarter with an insurmountable lead, 62-37.

The fourth quarter was all subs as Gravette and Pea Ridge both cleared their benches. Ryan Roughton scored from underneath with Tillman pulling the trick twice as the bench players kept the pressure on the Lions.

Cameron Tidwell and Isaac Mangrum scored the ’Hawks last four points on goals from underneath.

The bench battle was a tie as each team scored 11 points in the final period.

The win advanced the Hawks conference record to 6-3, good enough for a second place tie. Games with Farmington, Prairie Grove, Ozark, Shiloh and Berryville still remain ahead for the ’Hawks as the home boys hope to get a top two seed heading into the district tournament which is scheduled to held at Pea Ridge High School at the end of the season.

With rapidly deteriorating weather conditions on Monday, the game was moved up from its scheduled Tuesday night start time. The ’Hawks have already missed a pair of conference games this season due to bad weather, which must be made up prior to the district tournament.

Sports, Pages 8 on 02/02/2011