It was an exciting, interesting, but in some ways a peculiar week in the 4A state tournament down in Nashville.
The two games the 'Hawks participated in were amazing in the lack of concern the referees had in calling offensive fouls. The last time I saw offensive plays ran like that was back during football season when that kind of thing was a good thing.
Maybe the most peculiar play of the game was when two Pottsville players leveled the Blackhawk bringing the ball across mid-field with the ball bouncing free back the other way. A Pottsville player briefly touched it, then called timeout. Timeouts aren't allowed for teams without possession during play. This time, the refs granted the timeout and gave the ball to Pottsville.
Despite it all, the 'Hawks played through, won out, and are now heading to play in the school's first state championship game in basketball.
Perhaps the greatest attribute displayed by the 'Hawks in both games was their cool, levelheadedness. There were so many bad calls, and most players would have lost it, or retaliated. If there is a sportsmanship trophy awarded to any team, the Blackhawks would be first in line to deserve it.
The officiating was kind of a carryover from regionals where those refs had the same difficulties enforcing the rules. During the Ozark/Pea Ridge game, for example, the Hillbillies had a player who was taking much more time than 10 seconds to attempt her free throw shots.
Someone must have pointed that out to a referee because in the third quarter, one of the refs started counting out to 10. When he got to 8 or 9, he just stopped counting and about 4 or 5 seconds later, that player finally shot the ball. That ref actively decided not to enforce the rules.
While exceeding the 10 second rule is rarely called, it's because it rarely happens. But, it does happen.
Back in the 1970s when I was coaching in Missouri, Scott Central played Oran for a state championship. Scott Central was ahead by 2, but Oran was fouled with 1 second left in the game. The player hit the first one, but stood and stared at the goal for a long time for his second throw. So long, in fact, that the referees called him on it, no second free throw was allowed and Oran lost. Oran complained, but the rules are there for a reason.
Back to the action in Nashville, head coach Trent Loyd, obviously highly pleased with his team's performance, remarked: "I was so proud of the way they held together defensively. They shared the well extremely well, and they kept their cool in some very difficult situations. They did have a problem in the last 60 seconds of the Robinson game, but they did enough to win and move on."
The boys will be traveling down to Hot Springs Thursday where the Arkansas Activities Association will allow the boys exactly 30 minutes on half the court the game will be played on. Hot Springs Convention Center will be hosting the 14 state title games, from 1A through 7A.
Coach Loyd will be taking his team to another high school somewhere to get in a real practice session later Thursday.
The game will cap an exceptional run of basketball excellence for the class of 2017. From their days as seventh-graders, they have cut a wide swath through basketball opposition in Northwest Arkansas.
No matter what happens in Hot Springs, the 'Hawks already have established themselves as the best public school in the state in 4A. Now they seek to prove they are the best, public or private.
Baptist Prep, formerly Arkansas Baptist, is the defending state champion. Their 7'3" center Connor Vanover, is a much desired player for a number of top collegiate programs, and he is already drawing interest from NBA scouts. Vanover already has an NBA web page tracking his progress.
Standing flat on the floor, he can reach up and come within a couple of inches of touching the rim. Dunks are no problem for the lanky junior who may still have some growing yet to do. Vanover, of course, is a great rebounder who can actually shoot 3s if need be.
Their main perimeter player is sophomore Isaac McBride. The quick 6'1" point guard is the Eagles' leading scorer and the offense goes through McBride more than Vanover.
As good as those two are, it takes five and the depth of players the 'Hawks can call on gives Pea Ridge an edge in that area.
If the 'Hawks can be moderately successful in keeping McBride from doing his thing, and prevent entry passes to set up Vanover underneath, they have a chance to take down the defending champs. Prep has likely never seen a defense as stout as the one that 'Hawks can bring to bear, and in the narrow wins the Eagles has won this year, 3-point shooting teams had the best results.
If the 'Hawks can keep hitting their 3s and free throws, and keep up their pressure defense, they could well defy the predictions and upset the mighty Eagles.
I'm betting on it.
Can you buy a state title?
I noticed on the AAA web page, that Nashville High School was the top bidder to host not only their district tournament, but also their regional tournament, and their state tournament as well.
In other words, the Scrappers would be home for the whole postseason until the final one at Hot Springs, if they had made it. But they didn't.
They led higher ranked Cave City throughout the first three quarters until the Cave Men pulled a Blackhawk on them. Trailing by 3 to start the final quarter, Cave City hit five straight treys to jump ahead then held the ball, forcing the Scrappers to foul and they made their free throws.
Cave City was crushed by Prep by 35 in the Regionals but it was fairly close most of the time before losing by 15 in the semi-finals. Prep got past the No. 4 seed from the south, Bauzite, by only 3 points in the quarter-finals. The Miners are a 3-point shooting team and they almost got the Eagles.
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Editor's note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, 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 03/08/2017