POTTSVILLE -- More than 5 minutes elapsed before Joey Hall finally gave Pea Ridge's boys their first basket Thursday night in Regional Tournament play.
It was a second shooting drought that proved to be the Blackhawks' downfall. Pea Ridge went the final 5 minutes without a bucket, which allowed Dardanelle to make a furious comeback and claim a 54-50 first-round victory in the Class 4A North Region tournament in George S. Jones Gymnasium.
Class 4A North Region Tournament
Boys
Dardanelle 54, Pea Ridge 50
Dardanelle 12 10 10 22 — 54
Pea Ridge 11 18 12 9 — 50
Dardanelle (19-10): Luster 19, Carranza 12, Depaz 8, Kershner 6, Rhinehart 4, Crowe 3, Metcalf 2.
Pea Ridge (20-10): Hall 16, Caudill 10, Davis 9, Trundle 6, Church 4, Buttry 2, Hardy 2, Sheppard 1.
Subiaco Academy 70, Prairie Grove 39
Prairie Grove 10 10 12 7 — 39
Subiaco 13 21 16 20 — 70
Prairie Grove (14-14): Pursell 13, Galligan 10, Soehner 6, Heltemes 4, Disney 2, Strong 2, Ellis 2,
Subiaco (18-9): Krueger 18, Strobel 13, Vines 11, Bergen 9, Hollis 8, Lowery 4, Timmerman 3, Walker 2, Post 2.
Jerome Luster's 3-pointer with 37 seconds remaining gave the Sand Lizards (19-10) a 51-50 lead, and Pea Ridge never recovered.
"At this stage of the game, if you don't play your best game you're not going to win," Blackhawk coach Trent Loyd said. "We just got into a funk at the end of the fourth quarter, and we couldn't overcome it. Credit to Dardanelle, they played their guts out and they got us."
Nick Hardy's driving layup with 5 minutes, 3 seconds remaining gave Pea Ridge (20-10) a 47-39 lead, but the Blackhawks only managed a Westin Church free throw. That allowed Dardanelle to come back and tie the game at 48 on Luster's bucket with 2:50 left to play.
Hall put Pea Ridge back in front by hitting two free throws with 1:41 remaining, and that lasted until Luster's 3-pointer from the top of the key. Luster added two free throws with 16.1 seconds on the clock, then Chaz Crowe clinched it with another free throw after Hall's 3-point attempt barely drew iron.
"I was super proud of the last 6 minutes of that game," Dardanelle coach Russell Sturdivant said. "We were so much tougher. We got every loose ball, we took charges -- things that I felt like we didn't do for three quarters of play. We made a big shot when we needed and made free throws."
Hall finished with 16 to lead Prairie Grove while Britton Caudill chipped in 10. Luster had 19 points for Dardanelle, which plays Arkansas Baptist for the fourth time this season in an 8:30 p.m. today, while Jorge Carranza added 12.
Henry Apple can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAHenry
Sports on 03/04/2015