Hawks take Shiloh 52-48 in thriller

Ranked in state top 10 Undefeated in conference

The Blackhawks' late start in getting their full roster in sync for the upcoming basketball season hasn't hurt too much as the 'Hawks hold the No. 6 ranking in the MaxPreps/CBS State 4A Poll and are 2-0 in league play.

The 'Hawks are 6-2 overall, losing only to the state's No. 1 ranked 3A team Drew Central in a close 60-56 battle, and losing a game early in the season to No. 3 ranked 2A team County Line 52-42 who was playing in their 15th game of the season at that time. Several 'Hawks were still out for football in that late November game with County Line being a non-football school. County Line's only loss has been to a 7A school, Springfield Glendale.

Last week was the 'Hawks' belated entry into conference play, taking down Greenland 72-44 last Tuesday then besting Shiloh in a barn burner at home 52-48.

Big Mike Mahoney scored the first two buckets of the game to get the 'Hawks rolling 4-2 with Nick Coble throwing down a pair of buckets to edge the Blackhawks further ahead 8-5. Shiloh's Russ nailed a trey with Thomson adding a field goal to get the visitors ahead 10-8 but Big Mike took it inside again, scoring twice to Pea Ridge back out in front 12-10. The privateers' Bryant tied the score but Mahoney's freebie got the lead back for the home boys. Hutchinson popped in a 3 to briefly regain the lead for the guests, but Hayden Holtgrewe returned the favor, nailing a trey to send Pea Ridge into the second quarter nursing a 16-15 lead.

The second quarter saw both team's defenses to assert themselves as neither team could score out of the single digits. Shiloh's Morrison hit a shot to grab the lead with teammate Neal shooting through a trey to give the guests a 20-16 lead. Denver Yates added free throw for the 'Hawks but Shiloh responded with Russ hitting a field goal followed by a pair of buckets by the visitors' Bryant as the hosts fell behind 24-17.

Blackhawk coach Trent Loyd then called a timeout with the 'Hawks shutting the privateers out for the rest of the quarter while adding a goal from Coble and a freebie by Holtgrewe as Pea Ridge narrowed the gap to 24-20 going into intermission.

The third period wasn't particularly kind to the 'Hawks, while the 'Hawks picked up their scoring, they couldn't keep a lid on the guests. Kobe Rose hit the first shot of the half to halve the margin to two at 24-22, but a trey by Neal and free throw by Turpin gave Shiloh a 6-point edge at 28-22.

Mahoney scored again in the paint with Holtgrewe doing the same on the next possession, but the visitors did the same with Hutchinson and Russ scoring to maintain their 6-point edge.

Up to that point, the 'Hawks had only canned a single 3-pointer which is a big part of their offense. Coble got one to fall to cut the deficit in half, 32-29. Rosenfeld answered the challenge for Shiloh by dropping in one himself and after a lone free throw by Holtrewe was answered with another goal by Russ, the privateers had their biggest lead of the game at 37-30.

Carson Rhine shot through the 'Hawks' third trey to cut the Shiloh lead to 37-33. Holtgrewe came up with a pair of free throws at the end of the quarter but a Rosenfeld trey and Bryant free throw sent the visitors into the fourth quarter with a 6-point lead, 41-35.

Rhine sent the fans into a frenzy when he swished a pair of 3-pointers to knot the score at 41-41 early in the fourth quarter. Holtgrewe hit a goal and two pressure packed free throws to overcome a Hutchinson basket as Pea Ridge took the lead 45-43. Rosenfeld then sank a pair of charity tosses to retie the game, but Holtgrewe dropped a trey in for a 48-45 lead with the clock winding down.

Bryant hit a free throw but missed the next to shave the 'Hawk lead to two with Pea Ridge carefully controlling the ball in the games final seconds. Rhine was fouled but he made both his shots to double the lead to four at 50-46. Bryant quickly tossed in a shot to cut it back to 50-48 but Shiloh was forced to foul Holtgrewe with the senior guard coolly dropping in both shots for the final 52-28 victory.

The loss was Shiloh's first of the season, dropping them to a 5-1 conference mark. Pea Ridge at 2-0 is the only undefeated team left in the 14A-3A Conference.

Holtgrewe led the team with 19 points, with Mahoney and Rhine coming up with 11 each and Nick Coble with 9. Rose added 2 and Yates 1 to round out the scoring.

1 4A-3A Conference boys standings

1.^Pea Ridge^2-0

2.^Shiloh^5-1

3.^Elkins^4-1

4.^Gravette 3-1

5.^Prairie Grove 3-3

6.^Gentry 2-3

7.^Greenland 2-4

8.^Gentry 2-4

9.^Haas Hall 2-4

10.^West Fork 0-5

1 4A-3A Conference girls standings

1.^Gravette^5-0

2.^Elkins^4-1

3.^Gentry^4-1

4.^Pea Ridge^1-1

5.^Shiloh^3-3

6.^West Fork^3-3

7.^Lincoln^2-3

8.^Greenland^2-4

9.^Prairie Grove^2-4

10.^Haas Hall^0-5

MaxPreps/CBS 4A

State boys basketball poll

1^Baptist Prep^9-1

2^Pottsville^10-1

3^Southside^7-2

4^Brookland^8-2

5^Ozark^8-1

6^Pea Ridge^6-2

7^Stuttgart^6-1

8^ESTEM^10-4

9^Bauxite^7-4

10^Riverview^9-2

11^Westside^5-3

12^Warren^7-2

13^Berryville^8-3

14^Shiloh^5-1

15^Gravette^5-2-1

16^Fountain Lake^6-4

17^Subiaco Academy^7-4

18^Robinson^4-3

19^Mena^6-3

20^Malvern^5-2

21^Dover^6-3

22^Star City^4-2

23^Hamburg^6-3

24^Lonoke^4-5

25^Pocahontas^3-3

26^Trumann^3-5

27^Dumas^5-3

28^Harrisburg^4-3

29^Monticello^3-5

30^Booneville^7-4

31^Dardanelle^5-5

32^Gosnell^4-4

33^Cave City^6-4

34^Lincoln^6-5

35^Huntsville^5-6

36^Waldron^4-5

37^Gentry^3-5

38^Central Arkansas^3-6

39^Prairie Grove^3-7

40^Highland^3-5

41^West Fork^4-5

42^Heber Springs^1-6

43^DeWitt^1-8

44^Dollarway^0-7

45^Arkadelphia^1-6

MasPreps/CBS 4A

Girls state basketball poll

1^ESTEM (Little Rock)^10-0

2^Ozark^9-0

3^Central Arkansas Christian (North Little Rock)^9-1

4^Berryville^12-0

5^Lonoke^9-2

6^Monticello^8-1

7^Southside^6-2

8^Gravette^6-2

9^Dumas^7-0

10^Pottsville^8-3

11^Star City^9-3

12^Brookland^8-3

13^Riverview^8-3

14^Pocahontas^6-4

15^Dardanelle^7-3

16^Warren^7-2

17^Bauxite^7-4

18^Heber Springs^5-2

19^Highland^6-2

20^Ashdown^2-4

21^Stuttgart^6-3

22^Huntsville^6-8

23^West Fork^5-4

24^Hamburg^6-3

25^Lincoln^5-6

26^Pea Ridge^3-4

27^Prairie Grove^4-6

28^Trumann^5-4

29^Dover^5-6

30^Gentry^4-5

31^Cave City^5-4

32^Gosnell^5-4

33^Shiloh^5-4

34^Harrisburg^4-5

35^Mena^3-3

36^Baptist Prep^2-4

37^Arkadelphia^4-6

38^Fountain Lake^4-6

39^Booneville^4-6

40^Waldron^2-10

41^Malvern^0-7

42^DeWitt^1-8

43^Westside^0-9

44^Dollarway^0-6

45^Crossett^0-8

•••

Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. The opinions expressed are those of the author. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].

Sports on 12/20/2017