'Hawks claim 2nd in Battle of The Ridge tourney

In a highly competitive tournament, the Blackhawks were on the cusp of claiming a championship trophy until a late cold shooting streak and a questionable action by a referee led to a double overtime 59-57 loss to Providence Academy Patriots of Rogers.

Providence Academy is technically an Oklahoma school located in Rogers, holding membership in the Oklahoma Christian School Athletic Association. Providence has been very successful in producing several athletes in baseball, basketball and track that have earned collegiate scholarships. The Academy does not play football.

Playing without a big chunk of their roster who were in Little Rock playing in the state football championship, the hardwood 'Hawks whipped the HFC Warriors 64-46 in the first round and then held off Earle 70-62 in the semifinals to reach the championship game opposite Providence.

In the finals, a layup by Joey Hall with 2:45 left in the third quarter followed by a free throw by Logan Johnson seconds later gave the 'Hawks a healthy 43-35 lead, their biggest of the half as it looked like the Pea Ridge their first "Battle of the Ridge" championship. As it turns out, the 'Hawks would not score another field goal again for the rest of regulation, missing all their shots in the fourth quarter. The Patriots compounded the 'Hawks' problems by scoring 8 points after four Pea Ridge turnovers to take a 46-43 lead with 3:08 left in the game. Blackhawk defenders tightened their defense enough to shut out Providence for the rest of regulation with three 'Hawk free throws by Hall and Kobe Rose sending the game into overtime.

Rose finally hit a 3-pointer to end the 'Hawks' shooting drought after 11 minutes and give Pea Ridge a 49-48 lead. Providence hit a layup and jump shot to stay close and after free throws by Matt Thomas and Cole Wright gave the 'Hawks a 52-50 lead, two free throws by Patriot Braden Thomas sent the game into a second overtime.

Thomas then made a layup in the second overtime to give the 'Hawks a 54-52 lead. After Providence's Shittu made a shot underneath to tie it, Hall made another driving layup to get a 56-54 lead. A subsequent 3-pointer by the Patriots' Thomas gave Providence a 57-65 lead with 1:44 left. Both defenses scrambled to keep the other from making a shot before Providence fouled Hall on a layup. The senior guard made the first to tie the score at 57-57, but the second shot bounced out with the Patriots grabbing the rebound and moving the ball to halfcourt to call a time out.

With the clock reading 0:02 seconds, the Patriot coach Austin Blevins leaped to his feet to demand the clock be reset to 0.03 seconds. Interestingly, the referee came over and instructed the time keeper to reset the clock to 0.04 seconds. When the Patriots inbounded the ball and then passed to Thomas, he barely got the shot off before the buzzer sounded, meaning the extra second the referee added became the difference.

In the game's beginning, the 'Hawks nailed four 3-pointers and a pair of layups to take a narrow 16-14 lead. The Patriots' Shittu, a 6'9" foreign athlete signed to play at UCA next season, controlled the boards, recording a number of blocked shots and scored six underneath in the first quarter.

A trey by Cole Wright and two consecutive 3-pointers by Hall followed by a reverse layup got the gap widened between the 'Hawks and their foe as Pea Ridge held a 9-point lead 27-18 with two minutes left in the half. Providence then scored 7 points while the 'Hawks were held to a lone free throw by Johnson to cut the lead down to 28-25 at the half.

The 'Hawks picked up their offense in the second half, at least for awhile scoring 15 points in six minutes to get ahead 43-35. Thomas and Wright each hit a trey, Thomas added a layup and Hall added two more, with Hall and Johnson scoring free throws in the rally. The 'Hawks then went as cold as War Memorial Stadium the evening before and it was their eventual demise.

Hall scored 19 to lead the team with Rose scoring 13, Thomas 11, Wright 9 and Johnson 5.

"We would like the thank Equity Bank for being our main tournament sponsor," Loyd said. "We would also like to thank the other tournament sponsors, community members, and volunteers who helped make this tournament run smooth. At Pea Ridge we have put together one of top tournaments in the state and we could not have done that without the community support."

Sports on 12/13/2016