Charley Clarke’s hardwood Blackhawks lit it up early in an impressive win over Lincoln but couldn’t maintain their offensive punch in the district final against Farmington as they settled for the runner-up trophy in 4A-1 action.
In the game against the Lincoln Wolves, the ’Hawks were hoping to make amends after getting upset by their Washington County foe by a bucket in league action last month. In a game that was relatively close until near the end of the first half, ’Hawk sharpshooters dropped in four consecutive 3-pointers in just over 67 seconds to cruise into the intermission with a whopping 40-20 advantage.
The battle was even early on as a pair of free throws by Jacob Hall and a field goal by Isaac Mangrum kept the ’Hawks tied 4-4 with the Wolves. A breakaway lay-up on a fast break by Zach Davis gave Pea Ridge a momentary 6-4 lead but the Wolves tied it back up moments later on a 7-foot jump shot.
Hall broke the tie with a layup, and the ’Hawks kept the lead when Lincoln made only one of two free throw shots. Nick DeLeon then drove the lane to pull the defenses in, pitching the ball back out to a wide-open Hall who drained a trey for an 11-7 lead with about 3 minutes left in the first quarter.
Lincoln scored again to slice the lead but a pair of charity tosses by Logan Rose, and a short jumper by Hall put the ’Hawks in control as they charged to a 15-9 lead by the end of the quarter.
A Hall 3-pointer and a another score by Mangrum threatened to put away the Wolves as the lead zoomed out to 20-9 with 6:30 left in the half. Lincoln sank a pair of free throws, but Rose counteredby scoring off the glass. Hall then forced a turnover on the Wolves, and was fouled moments later.
The senior guard hit one of the shots to push the lead out to 23-11. Refusing to give up, Lincoln countered with a 3-point shot, blocked the ’Hawks’ next shot, then hustled down the floor and scored again, this time on an offensive rebound to tighten the game up as they closed to within 7.
On a spectacular inbounds play with 3:27 left in the half, the pass was lofted up near the goal where Rose made a tremendous to tip the ball in. A foul on the play allowed Rose the chance to complete the “old fashioned” 3-point play as the ’Hawks resumed a 10-point advantage.
The ’Hawks went a couple of minutes without a field goal with Rose’s two-for-two free throw shooting providing the offense.
Lincoln hit a lay-up and pair of free throws to get the deficit back into single digits as they trailed 28-20 with 2 minutes left in the half.
With 1:57 on the clock, DeLeon ripped a trey from the corner, which he repeated 20 seconds later after the ’Hawks had a defensive stop. Twenty more seconds passed and after the ’Hawks made still another defensive stop, DeLeon let fly again from behind the arc and dropped in his third straight trey, all coming within 45 seconds as Pea Ridge was suddenly ahead by a sizable margin 37-20. When DeLeon drew a crowd on the ’Hawks’ next possession, Davis had an opening and he took advantage by draining the ’Hawks’ fourth straight trey with 44 seconds left to send the ’Hawks into intermission with a seeming insurmountable 40-20 lead.
The Wolves decided to attack the lane after the half, and were successful in dropping twostraight lay-ups to cut the lead to 16. The Wolves’ long distance nemesis, DeLeon, stepped up to the arc and hit his fourth straight trey to instantly reverse Lincoln’s success coming out of the break.
Lincoln converted a pair of free throws, but Rose scored underneath to keep the lead intact.
However, Lincoln finally made a 3-pointer sandwiched between a pair of Wolf lay-ups and melted the ’Hawk lead to just 12.
Hall then threw a dagger at the heart of the Wolves’ comeback hopes with a trey shot to get the lead back to 15. DeLeon followed with a free throw and two Lincoln charity tosses in the quarter’s closing seconds left the score at 49-35 headed into the final period.
The offensive floodgates were opened in the final quarter with the Wolves outscoring the ’Hawks 22-17 but it was too little too late as Pea Ridge was never really threatened as they claimed their spot in the district championship game.
A Lincoln 3-pointer started the quarter, but a trey by Levi Pitts matched it and accompanying buckets by Mangrum and Hall, along with a free throw by Hall had the ’Hawks back up by 19, leading 57-38 with 5:55 left in the game.
Pea Ridge suffered a pair of turnovers which the Wolves took advantage of to score a trey and two free throws to narrow the lead. From there on out, the ’Hawks played ball control basketball, having but a solo field goal by Mangrum for the rest of the contest. Pea Ridge put up 10 free throws, converting eight of them while Lincoln was suddenly deadly in the lane as they drove in for five consecutive lay-ups, rebounding the sixth one for an offensive putback. DeLeon was four-for-four from the line in that stretch with Hall making one oftwo. Evan Tillman sank the other two free shots.
Halls’ shots from the line was the last score of the game as the ’Hawks went on to post a 66-57 victory. Hall was the scoring leader with 20 points, with DeLeon ramming through 17. Rose scored 11, Mangrum 6 and Tillman and Davis both scored a deuce to round out the scoring.
Farmington 59, Pea Ridge 36
Arguably Pea Ridge’s worst game in a long time, the Blackhawks proved the validity of Murphy’s Law that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. Numerous turnovers, bad passing, cold free throw shooting and colder field goal accuracy, along with a lack of rebounding led to an easy win for the Cardinals.
The game started well with Hall draining a 3-pointer to start the game. After Farmington responded with a rebound shot, Mangrum hit a lay-up as Pea Ridge led 5-2 with 5:27 left in the first quarter.
The Cards then exploded for two lay-ups, a trey and a score in the paint as they zoomed past the cold-shooting ’Hawks to assume a 14-5 lead. DeLeon’s jump shot just before the period buzzer left the ’Hawks on the short end of a 14-7 game.
It looked like the ’Hawks were back in gear with Levi Pitts nailing a trey shot to go with two Hall free throws that got the ’Hawks challenging for the lead, trailing just 14-12 with 6:53 showing. A Cardinal trey shot put a damper on things, then when the ’Hawks turned the ball over three times with the Cardinals scoring on all three extra chances, the ’Hawks were looking at a hard night as they trailed 23-12 mid-way in the second.
Pea Ridge stepped up the defensive pressure, stopping the Cards on five of their next six possessions. However, Pea Ridgemissed five straight free throws, three of them the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. The ’Hawks did get treys from Tillman and Davis but the missed free throw opportunities allowed Farmington to keep a lead into half-time. Although Farmington scored but a lone goal in the final four minutes of the second quarter, they still led when the half buzzer sounded. Things were a bit better in the last minute with Hall breaking the drought with a two-for-two showing. Pitts scored the last point of the half via the charity stripe as the favored ’Hawks trailed 25-21 at the break.
The Pea Ridge fans’ hopes of a comeback was quashed when numerous turnovers aided the Cards in keeping their lead intact through the third quarter. The ’Hawks could make but just four field goals while Farmington was pouring through seven. A pair of goals by DeLeon, a trey from Hall and a Pitts’ lay-up sparked the ’Hawk attack. The ’Hawks also got lone free throws by Tillman and Rose but it wasn’t enough as Farmington expanded their half-time lead to 42-32, a 10-point deficit.
Whatever hoped the ’Hawks had of a comeback were smothered by their missing their first five free throws of the final period. Pea Ridge cut the turnovers way down, but still could not hit as they made but a lone field goal (Tillman 3-pointer) for the rest of the game. Forcing the ’Hawks to foul to get the ball, Farmington hit nine straight free throws to ice the game and hand the ’Hawks their worst loss between the two schools in many years.
The ’Hawks will play statepower Pottsville in the first round of the regionals in Maumelle Thursday while Farmington will take on the fourth-seed Booneville boys today.
Sports, Pages 7 on 02/20/2013