Blackhawks head to Regionals as No. 2 seed
’Hawks earn key win against Shiloh Christian before falling to Huntsville
PRAIRIE GROVE — For the second consecutive season, the Pea Ridge Blackhawk boys lost against Huntsville 48-39 in the 4A-1 District Tournament championship. But the Blackhawks won the game that mattered the most by defeating a feisty Shiloh Christian team 61-51 in the semifinals.
That victory means Pea Ridge (21-5 overall) won’t have to beat one of the top two seeds from the 4A-4 district for a berth in the state tournament during this week’s 4A North Region Tournament in Prairie Grove. Instead, the Blackhawks can punch their state tourney ticket with a win against Pottsville, the No. 3 seed from the 4A-4, at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Early in Friday’s win against Shiloh Christian, it appeared coach Trent Loyd’s Blackhawks would cruise to an easy victory as they raced out to a 16-2 lead. But the Saints, coached by former Arkansas Razorbacks punter Jacob Skinner, used its full-court pressure to erase the deficit with a 20-3 run. By halftime, the score was deadlocked at 32-all.
Loyd said his team lost focus and “got a little careless with the basketball” while crediting the Saints’ defense with causing turnovers.
“Sometimes you get up big like that, and your kids can kind of take a break and take a step back and relax a little it,” Loyd said. “In postseason play, you can’t relax — ever — because teams are not giving up when it’s win or go home. So there’s that extra fight to it and we showed a lot of heart to regain our focus there.”
Shiloh Christian continued its momentum in the second quarter and led by as many as 5 points before Pea Ridge began battling back. Consecutive 3-pointers by Cole Wright and Westin Church allowed the Blackhawks to regain a 55-54 lead early in the fourth quarter on their way to the 10-point victory.
The competitiveness on both squads looked mirrored the last meeting between the two teams when Pea Ridge edged Shiloh Christian 69-66 on Feb. 12.
“It took a lot of fight for us to win,” Loyd said. “When times get tough, this group stays together and fights together and never gives up … These kids compete, they think they’re supposed to win every game we’re in.”
“It was a hard fought semifinal game,” Loyd said. “The guys played with a lot of heart and left everything out on the floor. We battled back from being down 5 in the second half. Cole Wright, Britton Caudill, Joey Hall and Westin Church were all in double digits.”
Church led the scoring with 21 points.
Finals
HUNTSVILLE 48, PEA RIDGE 39
The Blackhawks, which entered the District Tournament, as the No. 2 seed, also believed they were supposed to win against top-seeded Huntsville, but the Eagles were able to hold off a late rally attempt behind the play of Jack Eaton to repeat as district tourney champs.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Huntsville led 35-28 but the Blackhawks rallied behind a regular 3-pointer and a traditional 3-point play by Joey Hall, who led the team with 17 points. A steal and a layup by Wright cut the deficit to 39-36 with 3:05 remaining in regulation, but that was as close as they would get as Eaton hit all six of his free throws to help Huntsville secure the victory.