Blackhawks escape Cardinals with 1-point win

Boys

Pea Ridge 64, Farmington 63

The Blackhawk boys started cold with only a lone bucket by senior David Andrus to offset two treys and two layups by the hosts as the Cardinals led 10-2.

Sophomore Bric Cates scored on a layup but the Cards dropped in their third trey for a bigger lead. The Cards then stole an inbounds pass to score again, leading 15-4. Senior Malik Bagsby nailed a trey but Farmington responded with a jumpshot to keep the lead in double figures at 17-7.

Senior Mike Ericson then led a rally with a shot in the paint followed by a senior Greydon Edwards' 3-pointer. A free throw by Farmington was offset by another Ericson shot underneath as Pea Ridge closed to within 5 at 19-14. The Hawks' good fortune was blunted a bit when the Cards stole an inbounds pass under their goal, leading to the quarter's last score, with the hosts on top 21-14.

Farmington scored first in the second, but Bagsby scored on a rebound to keep the deficit at 7. The hosts then pulled off a steal and layup to extend the lead.

Edwards dropped in a layup but Farmington shot through a trey for a 28-18 lead, which became an 11-point lead 4 minutes before the half after a free throw.

Cates then scored on a layup with a Bagsby free throw cutting the lead to 8. Two free tosses and a jumper gave the Cards their biggest lead at 33-21. Bagsby's trey and Cates' free throw offset a Cardinal trey to get to within 11, trailing 36-25 at the break.

Bagsby started the third quarter slipping in behind the defense to score on a back door play. Farmington hit a trey, but junior Jared Brewer answered with one of his own and, after Edwards converted two free throws, Pea Ridge was down only by 7.

Farmington scored on a jumper but the Hawks countered with an Andrus score, two free throws by Ericson and a Bagsby layup to close to within 3 at 41-38.

The Cards stopped the rally with a pair of field goals. A subsequent Brewer layup and free throw got the Hawks close again at 45-41.

The Hawks then had a turnover problem, losing the ball five straight times with Farmington using the opportunity to grab a 10-point lead at 51-41. A Brewer 3-pointer before the buzzer left the score at 51-44 going into the final period.

Ericson came up with a pair of scores in the paint early on, but Farmington scored 5 points to extend their lead to 56-48.

The Cards decided to go to a slow down game, working the ball around to melt the clock scoring on an entry pass to take a 10-point lead, 58-48, midway through the quarter.

Bagsby's two free throws and Edwards' steal and layup cut the deficit to 6. A Card bucket was followed by an Ericson score and a Bagsby trey got the Hawks within 3 at 60-57 with 2:30 left in the game.

Edwards blew through the lane to close the gap to a single point then Brewers' trey gave Pea Ridge their first lead of the game at 62-60 with 90 seconds to go.

The Cards dropped in a free toss but Brewer matched it to maintain the Hawks' 2-point edge.

The Cards scored on a layup with 1:05 to go, knotting the score at 63-all, setting the stage for a frenzied final minute. Neither team could score until the final 15 seconds when Brewer scored one from the line to give Pea Ridge a 64-63 lead.

The last few seconds saw the Cards scrambling for a possible game winning shot, but their two attempts were off the mark, sealing the Hawks' final victory.

•••

Editor's note: Mark Humphrey contributed to this article.