Pea Ridge boys basketball coach Trent Loyd felt the Blackhawks let one get away in a 46-44 loss to Farmington on Tuesday, Jan. 29.
Pea Ridge (18-6, 6-3 4A-1) absorbed its second conference loss of the season to the Cardinals and third overall while Farmington (18-6, 9-0) wrapped up the 4A-1 West Division and a bye into the Regional tournament.
Farmington 46, Pea Ridge 44
Farmington^8^12^15^11^—^46
Pea Ridge^13^10^7^14^—^44
Pea Ridge (18-6, 6-3): Will Feemster 5 3-3 15, Carson Rhine 3 1-4 8, Landon Allison 3 0-0 7, Noah Peterson 2 2-2 7, Nick Coble 2 0-0 4, Alex Wilkerson 1 0-0 2, Wes Wales 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 7-11 44
Farmington (18-6, 9-0): Will Pridmore 3 3-5 11, Jayden Whitmore 2 1-2 7, Marquevon Watson 0 7-10 7, Jalen Montez 2 0-1 5, Tony Mayo 1 1-2 4, Austin Shelley 0 4-4 4, Danny Valenzuela 1 2-6 4, Tyler Vollmer 1 2-4 4. Totals 10 20-34 46
3-Point Goals — Farmington 6 (Pridmore 2, Whitmore 2, Montez, Mayo), Pea Ridge 5 (Feemster 2, Allison, Peterson, Rhine)
"We didn't play very well tonight. I'm disappointed in our execution and that starts with me. We've got to be better than that," Loyd said. "They were in a little foul trouble. We should have taken advantage of it early in the first half and we didn't. And good teams are doing to do that. Farmington held in there and they hit some shots in the second quarter and then they made the plays down the stretch, but it wasn't because of lack of effort from us. We just got to be a little better on the execution side of things."
Farmington senior Will Pridmore, who came in as the Cardinals' leading scorer and acknowledged floor leader, was saddled with fouls throughout the contest. He fouled out on a charging call while pushing the ball up the floor against pressure with a minute left after scoring 11 points.
Pea Ridge had just cut Farmington's lead to 42-39 on Nick Coble's second chance jumper. Yet, as Loyd alluded, the Blackhawks couldn't capitalize.
An offensive foul against Pea Ridge turned the ball over and Farmington made 2-of-4 foul shots stretching the lead to 44-39. Carson Rhine's pullup 3-pointer for Pea Ridge was countered by Tyler Volmer's free throw keeping Farmington ahead 45-42. Noah Peterson drove the length of-the-court and laid the ball in but the Blackhawks were shy a point, 45-44, as Loyd called time-out with 3.9 seconds remaining.
Marquevon Watson made 1-of-2 foul shots and Pea Ridge in-bounded at the far end with 2.2 seconds showing. Rhine launched a 3-point attempt in the backcourt that was well off the mark and Farmington claimed a 46-44 victory.
"For Pridmore to never really be in the game offensively, we feel like we stole the game, but sometimes you got to do that," said Farmington coach Beau Thompson. "It's just a hard-fought, good team win."
Pridmore drew his second foul 14 seconds after making a 3-pointer, his only points of the half, and sat out the last 4:34 of the first quarter and all but 1:09 of the second quarter.
The scenario repeated in the third. Pridmore drained a trey quieting the crowd after Pea Ridge blocked a shot and the rebound was thrown out to Pridmore. Fourteen seconds later he went to the bench with his third foul.
Pridmore helped stave off a 12-3 Pea Ridge run which tied the game at 35-35 on Coble's steal and layup at the 5:57 mark of the fourth. Pridmore scored with the wrong hand on a twisting off-balance driving shot and made 3-of-4 free throws pushing Farmington back out to a five-point, 42-37 advantage.
With the win Farmington remains alone atop the 4A-1 boys basketball standings while Pea Ridge dropped into fourth overall and second among the West Division.
Will Feemster scored 15 points to lead Pea Ridge.
Sports on 02/06/2019