Trent Loyd's Blackhawks jumped out ahead of the visiting Gravette Lions 9-0 to start their 4A-1 conference game and kept their foot on the gas on their way to cruising to a 63-43 victory Friday, Jan. 17. The win kept them on top of the district standings as the only team without a conference loss with a 5-0 record.
The state's seventh-ranked Lady Blackhawks led by Heath Neal suffered a 52-41 setback in a physical, foul-scarred battle. The Hawks led at the half 25-21 despite suffering 12 turnovers to the Lions 5. Extremely rough play in the second half limited the Hawks to just four field goals allowing the guests the opportunity to post the upset.
Game summaries
Boys
Pea Ridge^63
Gravette^43
The visiting Lions traveled through rains to get to Pea Ridge, then they suffered through rains inside Blackhawk gym as senior Hunter Rains poured in a season high 17 points to lead the Hawks to an easy victory.
Senior Noah Peterson gave the visitors a glimpse of what was to come by knocking down a trey just seconds into the game for a 3-0 Hawk lead. Senior Wes Wales then hit one from behind the arc a minute later for a 6-0 lead, after which Rains drew in the defense while driving to the basket then pitched the ball back outside for Peterson to drop in another 3-pointer as the Hawks led 9-0 with 5:10 showing on the clock. Gravette's Brayden Trembly hit a short jumper and two free throws to blunt the Hawks' drive, but Rains ripped another trey to place the Hawks ahead 12-4.
The Lions' Tristan Batie made a layup on the Lions' return trip, but Rains threw in another dagger, hitting one from downtown to restore the Hawks' original 9-point lead, 15-6. Wales demonstrated his defensive prowess by pulling off a steal then went down the floor moments later to execute a tip-in on a Hawk miss, boosting the lead to 17-6. Lion Kaleb Furlow dropped in a trey just before the end of the quarter to set the score at 17-9 going into the second period.
The Rains continued in the second quarter with the Hawks' speedy guard hitting two field goals, one trey and a free throw to threaten to turn the game into a rout in the first 3 minutes of the second. Gravette could only manage a lone free throw during this time as the Hawks threatened to blow their guests out with a 25-10 lead.
A minute later, senior Brandon Whatley stroked what was originally ruled to be a 3-pointer but what went into the books as a 2-point goal to get the Hawks on top 27-10. Lions Trembly and Colby McCarthey converted both their free throw attempts to shrink the lead a bit but Wales scored on a rebound shot to put the Hawks into intermission with a 29-14 lead.
The Hawks were exceptional passing the ball around with Peterson attracting defensive pressure on the perimeter early on, allowing the Hawks' leading scorer to pass into Wales in the paint for two buckets. The Lions responded with a short jumper by Trembly, but Rains pushed the lead out to 20 as his fourth 3-pointer gave the Hawks a 36-16 lead with 6:26 left in the third quarter.
Gravette decided to try deep shots to catch up with McCarthey and Trembly connecting, but the feat was blunted by a pair of field goals by Whatley, one a 15-foot jumper and the other a layup on a great lead pass from Rains. Senior Mazon Harris hit a short jumper to restore the 20-point edge at 42-22 with 3 minutes left in the third period. The Lions McCarthey scored an old fashioned 3 with a layup and free throw but whatever flickering hopes the Gravette faithful may have had were dashed with Peterson and sophomore Jared Brewer tossing in 3-pointers to give the Hawks their biggest lead yet at 48-25. Brady Hunt then hit a trey for the guests with the Hawks scoring the last points of the quarter when Peterson drew the defense in allowing him to thread a pass to Whatley underneath. Whatley's bucket set the score at 50-28 heading into the final quarter.
The Hawks came close to mercy ruling the contest when Brewer, then junior Greydon Edwards hit from behind the arc to start the last period, putting the Hawks inexorably ahead 55-28. At this point, the Hawks began clearing the bench.
The scoring then became an inside contest with McCarthey racking up three goals in the paint. The Hawks' junior Mike Ericson took two passes in traffic then laid both shots off the glass to score to keep the Lions at bay 59-34 with 3 minutes left. Brewer and Ericson scored on layups to give the Hawks their biggest lead at 63-37 with a minute left. The third wave of subs hit the floor for the final minute with Gravette's No. 4 scoring 6 points in the last 40 seconds to get the Lions within 20 at the buzzer.
"We played fantastic on defense," Loyd said after the game. "We played well on both ends, but we made it extremely difficult for Gravette to score, and with the way we play, our defense feeds our offense."
To illustrate Loyd's point, the Lions scored but one solitary layup until the final period when substitutes entered the contest. Loyd lauded Whatley's defensive efforts to lead the Hawks in that category along with Rain's offensive scoring as Pea Ridge has now swept their four West Division foes in district contests.
Rains led the offense with 17 points, with Wales scoring 11, Peterson 9, Whatley 8, Brewer 8, Ericson 6, Harris 2 and Edwards 2.
Pea Ridge (5-0) has a two-game lead in the 4A-1 West Division standings over second-place Farmington (3-2). The Blackhawks are the lone undefeated team in conference play. Huntsville is the leader in the East with a 3-1 mark.
Girls
Gravette^52
Pea Ridge^41
Extremely physical play and multiple turnovers overcame an early Hawk advantage and paved the way for a loss to the visiting Lions.
Gravette took an early lead on a short jumper by Abigail Beranek, but senior Lady Blackhawk Allisa Short put the Hawks ahead with a layup and a foul shot as Pea Ridge led 3-2. The Lions' Shylee Morrison returned the favor with a layup and free throw to grab the lead back but Short tied it at 5-all with a shot in the paint. Junior Aidan Dayberry then gave Pea Ridge a lead with a pair of free throws, with Morrison retying it 7-7 with another layup at the 6:10 mark.
The Hawks suffered through four straight turnovers with bad passes, but tough Hawk defensive play kept the Lions from taking advantage. Junior Ravin Cawthon swished a pair of free throws to give the Hawks the lead back but Morrison again slipped through for another layup to tie it again, 9-9. Junior Blakelee Winn scored underneath for a 11-9 lead, but Morrison came right back with another shot in the paint to tie it for the third straight time. Sophomore Lauren Wright dropped in a trey before the buzzer to send the Hawks into the second period nursing a 14-11 lead.
Junior Josey Goldberg ripped a pair of free throws to start the second period, and after a Reese Hamilton layup, Pea Ridge jumped further ahead with a Winn layup and a Goldberg 3-pointer to lead their Benton County rivals 21-13. The Hawks then suffered through five turnovers, scoring but a lone free throw by Short as Gravette crept back into the game via a Morrison layup and free throw and two free tosses by Kaylan Chilton. Morrison's free throw cut the lead to 22-18. Winn's three free throws offset three free throws by Gravette as the half ended with Pea Ridge holding a 25-21 advantage.
Winn hit a free throw to start second-half scoring with Short hitting a subsequent 7-footer for a 28-21 lead with 6 minutes left in the quarter. Morrison dropped a trey on Pea Ridge to cut the lead back to 4. A Hawk miss on the other end was rebounded by the Lions but their chance to close the gap even more was frustrated when Wright pulled off a steal. The Lions, however, got the ball right back when Winn was knocked to the floor on a no-call and the guests recovered. This time Gravette made the most of their gift by hitting a 3-pointer to shrink the lead to just 1 at 28-27.
The Lions then stole the ball in what could have been a foul with Morrison later fouled driving in to score. The junior sharpshooter shot Gravette back ahead by making both her free throws, 29-28 with 4:34 left.
The teams traded turnovers over the next 90 seconds until Wright scored in close to get the lead back, 30-29 with 3:02 left. Brook Diehl then hit her second straight trey to put Gravette ahead again, 32-30. Short then hit a free throw with Winn scoring on a rebound to regain the lead for the Hawks at 33-32 with 1:28 left.
In what was the most peculiar play in an evening of peculiar no-calls, with the clock about to expire, the ball was knocked loose in the corner by the Gravette goal. With a Lion guard actually crawling along the baseline with the ball (normally a traveling violation), the Lion pushed the ball out to Beranek who gathered it in and beat the buzzer with a 7-footer, giving the visitors a huge lift and a 34-33 lead heading into the final period.
Gravette started the fourth with a Hamilton trey, then a layup by Chilton following a Pea Ridge turnover. Short closed the gap to 39-35 by sinking two free throws but Gravette shot further ahead with another Morrison trey, 42-35 with 6:31 left in the game. Winn, who was knocked to the floor with seeming regularity, converted three free throws over 80 seconds to give the Hawks a chance, trailing 42-38 with 5 minutes left.
Gravette then hit a charity toss to widen the lead, but Winn threw a great lead-in pass to Wright who took it in for a layup to narrow the gap to 3 at 43-40 with 4 minutes left. However, the Lions immediately responded with a layup and two free throws to climb out to a 47-40 lead. Winn would score another free throw but the Lions scored three free throws and a Morrison layup to close out the game.
Winn led the scoring for the Lady Hawks with 14 points followed by Short 11, Goldberg 5, Wright 5, Dayberry 4 and Cawthon 2.
The Lady Hawks are scheduled to travel to Berryville Friday, Jan. 24, for a very important 4A-1 contest. The Hawks (2-3) are in third place in the West, a game behind Gravette (3-2). Farmington leads the West with a 5-0 mark.
Sports on 01/22/2020