The Blackhawk boys’ stellar season ran into some adversity as they lost a pair of conference games last week, both tied to a bizarre and roughly played game in Farmington the previous Tuesday.
With a mixed bag of officiating and a host Cardinal team showing more physicality than did their football team three months prior, the ’Hawks added poor shooting to the mix as they lost their first 4A-1 District game of the year, a 45-39 loss in which the ’Hawks lost more than the game. The level of rough play that the officials chose to allow in the game led to the loss of ’Hawks All-Star player Levi Pitts. Pitts was run over in the lane on a no-call, severely spraining his ankle in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. Pitts then didn’t play in the subsequent 52-50 loss at Lincoln and will likely miss the next 5 conference games.
Pitts was the star of the game early, scoring seven of the Hawks’ 12 first quarter points as they led the Cards 12-9 going into the second period.
Pitts hit a free throw for the first lead of the game at 1-0, then ripped a 3-pointer just after a Farmington score to put the ’Hawks up 42. On the next possession, Evan Tillman streaked in to steal a pass and return it the length of the floor for a lay-up and 6-2 lead.
The Cardinals responded by putting back a missed shot andgetting the old time “3” when a foul was called. After a Pea Ridge turnover, the ’Hawks were then called for a foul on the next Farmington shot with the Redbirds hitting both for a 7-6 lead with 2:19 left in the quarter.
Tillman responded in a big way with his first trey of the evening and a 9-7 lead with 2:03 left, but the Cards quickly tied it when they were called for a foul in the third possession in a row. Farmington hit the freebies to tie it at 9-9 but Tillman rattled home another shot from behind the arc to give the ’Hawks a 12-9 lead going into the next period.
A ’Hawk turnover to start the second quarter led to a lay-up for the Redbirds, shaving the lead to 12-11. Isaac Mangrum restored the lead with his own lay-up, but a flurry of three consecutive field goals over 80 seconds flipped the lead back to the home boys as they led 17-14. While the ’Hawks didn’t commit a turnover in that span, they did miss six shots of their own.
Nick DeLeon broke the four minute scoring drought with a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 17-all but the Cardinals were once again the recipient of a foul called, going to the line just before the end of the half.
They responded by rippingboth shots to take a 19-17 lead at the break. Farmington outscored Pea Ridge 7-1 from the line in the first half.
DeLeon repeated his feat of the second quarter by hitting a shot to tie the game again, with his 17-footer deadlocking the teams at 19-19. The Cards first trey followed by a ’Hawk turnover and subsequent score put Farmington firmly in the lead with a 24-19 advantage.
While the ’Hawks kept missing shots, Mangrum and De-Leon were both in position to grab offensive rebounds to put back up to melt the deficit to just 24-23 with 4 minutes left in the third. After the Cards scored again, Jacob Hall, who had drawn especially tight coverage throughout the first half, got his shot to fall in a lay-up to keep the deficit to just one.
A Farmington 3-pointer just before the end of the half gave the Cards a 4-point spread, leading 29-24 going into the final quarter.
The first play of the fourth quarter was an ominous one as the ’Hawks set up to defend the goal. A Farmington guard was driving for a lay-up until encountering Pitts set up to black his path. The guard passed off to another player then crashed into Pitts, falling on top of the ’Hawks leading scorer, thus far into the game.
No call was made with Farmington then taking the ball into to score for a 31-25 advantage.
With Pitts out, Zach Davis was inserted into the game and the sophomore sharp shooter dropped in two straight treys to shock the Cardinals as the ’Hawks tied the game at 31-31 after trailing for two quarters.
The Cardinals worked the ball around the perimeter until they got a pass in for a lay-up to retake the lead at 33-31 with 5:20 left in the game. A minute later Hall returned the favor and game was tied again at 33-33 with 4:17 left.
Farmington then got a shot to fall with 3:14 left to forge back ahead 35-33. After the ’Hawks missed their shot to tie the game, the Cardinals got sloppy with a pass, overthrowing a pass to where it struck a referee who was out of bounds. The referee inexplicably awarded the ball back to the Cards.
After a change of possessions, Hall was literally clobbered going in for a lay-up.
The senior sank both ends to tie the game again, this time at 35-35 with 1:54 left. The Cards weren’t long to respond with a goal in the paint as they clung to a 37-35 lead with 1:30 left in the game.
The ’Hawks were in position to re-tie the game but a turnover under the goal snuffed out the chance. With a 2-point leadand less than a minute left, the Cards elected to freeze the ball with a single player to dribble the ball until fouled. The ’Hawks then fouled but the strategy worked as the guard hit both shots for a 39-35 lead with 55 seconds left.
Mangrum got a pass inside and he converted it for a goal to cut the lead back to 39-37 with 41 seconds left, but the Cards went back into their freeze.
The guard was again fouled, and he again swished both shots. Although fouled in the lane, an off-balance falling Hall put up a hook “Hail Mary” shot in the lane that went in to cut the Card lead back down to 2.
This time the Cards changed tactics and decided to drive for a goal, but failed in the attempt with Pea Ridge coming away with the ball. A subsequent turnover on the ’Hawks cost them their chance to tie.
With the ball back in hand, the Cards went to the attack and drove for a lay-up as the game clock hit 10 seconds. The ’Hawk defender jumped with the shooter, bumping into him while going for the ball. The referee on the spot called Pea Ridge for a blocking foul, but a referee away from the play ranin and forced the first referee to change the call to an intentional foul. An intentional foul is properly called when no attempt is make to get the ball, or block the shot, but is just a blow to another player’s body.
Although the referee standing right in front of the play didn’t see it, the call was changed anyway.
The intentional foul call not only allowed the Cards to regain their 4-point lead, which they did, it also gave the ball right back to Farmington. The Cards used this extra opportunity to draw another foul which was called with 3 seconds left.
Both those shots were made and the game was over.
The loss dropped the ’Hawks into a 6-1 tie with Farmington for the conference lead. The injury to Pitts was severe, with the prognosis being that the senior stalwart would be out of action for most of the remaining regular season.
Hall led the ’Hawks with 8 points followed by Pitts with 7, DeLeon with 7, and Mangrum scoring 6 as did Davis while Tillman picked up 5 points.
The ’Hawks will travel to Prairie Grove this Friday for another road contest.
Sports, Pages 9 on 01/23/2013