The Blackhawk boys had a tough game Friday, Jan. 12, against West Fork's Tigers.
The last place team in the conference, West Fork was out shooting Pea Ridge from behind the 3-point line. That's something that hardly ever happens and the 'Hawks were trailing 35-33 in the last few seconds of the the third quarter.
West Fork had thrown down seven 3-pointers at that point as opposed to the 'Hawks' three long shots. Pea Ridge had taken a bunch of shots but they just weren't falling. The hardwood 'Hawks regained the lead to open the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer and a fierce defense by the home boys limited the guests to a paltry 5 points at crunch time. Meanwhile, the 'Hawks racked up 17 points in the final period to win going away.
I said to some folks at the media table that I would bet that the 'Hawks would shoot the ball lights out the next night when they hosted the Elkins Elks. That's just what happened as the boys shook off their cold shooting Friday to light it up Saturday, sinking a school record 17 treys as they whipped a much better team by a much wider margin.
The great thing about basketball is that any team can beat any other team on any given night. The bad thing about basketball is the same thing -- that any team can beat any other team on any given night.
In basketball, sometimes the better team doesn't win. It doesn't happen all that much, but it does happen.
Way back in the 1960s, I was with our high school JV team that was playing in a tournament in Nevada, Mo. We were the last seed and we played the host No. 1 team in the first round. We had already lost by more than 30 points to this team earlier so we were given virtually a zero chance to win.
The fact is that we were actually outplayed -- except for shooting percentages. The host Tigers had more shots spin out, bounce out, and just miss by the narrowest of margins while we were just throwing the ball up into the air and it was going in. We won by 20, shooting 65 percent with the host team shooting around 30 percent. It happens.
The next night, we shot 30 percent and got beaten badly, which was a bit below our normal shooting average but if you average the two games together, we were near our normal percentage.
Basketball is a game played with skill, physicality and emotion. The greater the physical fitness or strength of the players, the better they tend to play. Sometimes emotion can give a boost to a team that will spike their playing level to make up a talent differential and give them an edge.
The thing about good teams that depend on the long ball for their success, if they don't have the other parts of their game geared up to compete, upsets will happen. The West Fork game was won with a grinding defense and 10 of 11 free throw shooting over a four-minute stretch. Though Pea Ridge is known for their 3-point shooting prowess, it wasn't working last Friday but they won anyway. When is was clicking Saturday, the game was over early.
This is not to say luck determines the winners. Teams that work hard and put in the effort will have overall higher shooting percentages, more rebounds, more takeaways and more assists. Teams that go through seasons undefeated are few and far between in prep basketball.
Pea Ridge lost a ton of talent through graduation last spring, and virtually no prognosticator gave the 'Hawks a chance to be anywhere nearly as good as in years past. Gravette was deemed the top team in the conference for 2018 with the 'Hawks thought to be in a battle with two to three other teams for second.
With eight games left in the conference season, the 'Hawks have a two-game lead over the field. They were to play at Gentry Tuesday night and if they won, it will set up a big showdown Friday night when Gravette comes to town.
The 'Hawks beat the Lions in quadruple-overtime at Gravette and had Pea Ridge lost that game, the two teams would now be tied at 8-2. A victory by the Blackhawks this Friday will be huge as Pea Ridge would potentially be three games ahead of Gravette in the league race with six games left.
If the 'Hawks take the title, it would give them a top two seed for the district tournament to be played in Lincoln. The Bobcats have had a good season and will likely also get a top 2 district seed as they are easily winning their blended conference this season with the Huntsville Eagles uncharacteristically having a losing season.
The district semifinalists will qualify for the Northern Regional which will be played the following week in Berryville. The region meet will match the top four from the 4A-1 (us) with the top 4 from the 4A-4. Pottsville at 15-2 is the top team this year so far in the 4A-4 and they rate as a solid contender for the state finals. Ozark of the 4A-4 has been ranked in the state's top 5 overall and will also be a challenge.
The current Blackhawks could well return to the state tournament this season, and who knows? They have shown proficient trey shooting, rebounding, passing, driving the lane and defending.
The sky is the limit.
Boys 4A-3A-1 Conference
1.^Pea Ridge^9-1
2.^Prairie Grove^7-3
3.^Gravette^7-3
4.^Shiloh^6-4
5.^Gentry^5-5
6.^Haas Hall^4-6
7.^Elkins^4-7
8.^Greenland^3-7
9.^Lincoln^0-9
10.^West Fork^0-10
MaxPreps Boys 4A-1 District poll
1.^Pea Ridge^13-4
2.^Berryville^13-5
3.^Gravette^12-5
4.^Shiloh^7-5
5.^Huntsville^9-9
6.^Prairie Grove^8-9
7.^Gentry^8-8
8.^Lincoln^7-11
Boys 4A State poll
as of Jan. 12, 2018
1.^Pottsville^14-4
2.^Baptist Prep 14-4
3.^Westside 10-4
4. Ozark 13-1
5. Stuttgart 14-1
6. Southside 13-4
7. Brookland 13-5
8. ESTEM 14-8
9. Bauxite 12-4
10. West Helena 9-1
11. Pea Ridge 13-4
12. Berryville 13-5
13. Riverview 15-4
14. Gravette 12-4
15. Warren 10-4
16. Malvern 11-4
17. Trumann 9-8
18. Nashville 9-1
19. Fountain Lake 9-6
20. Subiaco 8-6
21. Dover 12-4
22. Ashdown 8-4
23. Star City 9-5
24. Robinson 8-8
25. Mena 10-7
28. Shiloh 8-6
30. Huntsville 9-9
33. Prairie Grove 8-9
41. Gentry 8-8
43. Lincoln 7-11
Girls make move into upper tier
The girls were 3-0 in conference play last week to surge into 4th place in the conference race, just a game back of Elkins.
The LadyHawks whipped Prairie Grove on the road 55-32, eased past West Fork at home 50-42, and finished up their big week with a 38-29 conquest of the Elkins Elks. This week they played current 3rd place holder Gentry on the road last night with the Lady Blackhawks hosting league leader Gravette this Friday night.
Coach Neal's charges have made some strong moves since New Year's Day, going 4-2 since then.
Girls 4A-3A-1 Conference
1.^Gravette^9-1
2.^Gentry^8-2
3.^Elkins^6-4
4.^Pea Ridge^5-5
5.^Lincoln^5-5
6.^West Fork^5-5
7.^Prairie Grove^5-5
8.^Shiloh^4-6
9.^Greenland^3-7
10.^Haas Hall^0-10
Girls 4A-1 District poll
1. Berryville 17-1
2. Gravette 13-4
3. Gentry 10-7
4. Huntsville 9-12
5. Shiloh 9-7
6. Lincoln 9-9
7. Prairie Grove 8-9
8. Pea Ridge 8-11
MaxPreps 4A STATE POLL
1.^Central Arkansas^18-1
2.^Ozark^13-0
3.^Pottsville^15-3
4.^Berryville^17-1
5.^ESTEM^13-2
6.^Gravette^13-4
7.^Southside^12-5
8.^Pocahontas^12-6
9.^Brookland^10-5
10.^Riverview^14-5
11.^Lonoke^15-6
12.^Star City^14-5
13.^Monticello^14-4
14.^Warren^14-3
15.^Dardanelle^12-6
16.^Heber Springs^9-6
17.^Bauxite^10-6
18.^Highland^11-7
19.^Dumas^13-3
20.^West Helena^8-3
21.^Stuttgart^12-5
22.^Gentry^10-7
23.^Ashdown^6-8
24.^Nashville^6-5
25.^Huntsville^9-12
26.^Shiloh^9-7
27.^Lincoln^9-9
30.^Prairie Grove^8-9
36^Pea Ridge^8-11
•••
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 01/17/2018